Toffler\'s the Third Wave Written

Toffler's The Third Wave

Written in 1980, Alvin Toffler's the Third Wave seems almost prophetic twenty-five years later. When Toffler set forth to pen the 500-plus page tome, he probably wasn't a web surfer and probably didn't use Tevo or have a plasma television. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, the Third Wave was written pre-September 11. Even so, Toffler's book accurately and adequately defines and describes the changes taking place in the world at large as well as in the microcosmic world of individual human consciousness. The Third Wave is an all-encompassing work of magnificent proportions, one that delves into themes of sociology, psychology, philosophy, spirituality, consumerism, economics, politics, and the environment. Toffler builds upon and expands his earlier work, Future Shock by explaining the merits of embracing change on a grand scale. According to the author, the transformations currently under way in human society are inevitable; as such they need to be welcomed, not scorned. Toffler shows how resistence to change might be the greatest enemy of human civilization and that though change might be traumatic and painful that in the end the human race will emerge stronger and more mature. The Third Wave is therefore an optimistic work, based on the simple yet simultaneously complex thesis that human civilization and consciousness are currently in a "third wave" of change. The first wave was the advent of agriculture; the second wave was the Industrial Revolution. The Third Wave is the post-industrial world in which we live and which is still being formed and defined. The third wave world can be referred to also as the Information Age.

The theses that Toffler makes and the conclusions he draws are based on his observations and theories. The book is well-thought out and although long, the Third Wave is also well-organized. Toffler divides the work into several sections and chapters, describing for his readers what the first two waves implied for society, the impacts they had. From his historical hindsight, Toffler then theorizes about what the third wave will mean for the future. Among other things, Toffler proposes that the third wave will include alterations in human interpersonal relationships and family life; in economic and political systems; in technology and how technology is implemented. The changes that accompany the third wave resonate on all levels of human society: the microcosmic and the macrocosmic.

Toffler also suggests that as with all major shifts in consciousness, the third wave brings with it immense challenges and conflicts. These conflicts, Toffler believes, stem not so much from the changes themselves but from resistance to those changes, to believing that the world will remain on the same course. Toffler urges his readers to be aware and conscious of the implications of the third wave and consciously choose how to react to and incorporate the new paradigm in their lives.

In a post-September 11 world, readers can find Toffler's work particularly poignant. The author touches on terrorism here and there in the book but even with the absence of specific references to the current war, it is clear that American foreign policy represents now a sort of third wave of military tactics. Perhaps in future writings Toffler will address the "war on terrorism" as an integral part of the third wave and maybe show how the human race can extricate itself from some of the darker manifestations of the new world order.