1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm truly declare Julie. 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 1: I was on the way to work this morning, and 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: I was waiting on the train at the station. And then, 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: as sometimes happens in our modern world on a Wednesday, 7 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: I looked over. I saw a robotic humanoid standing there 8 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: reading a kindle, and uh, you know, I just shut down. 9 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: I just I just started screaming. And then it was 10 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: like a silent stream, you know, clutching my face. And 11 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: then I'm just just crawl into a into a corner 12 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: of the martat station and I just hold myself for 13 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: about fifteen twenty minutes until someone comes. Then came in 14 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 1: an administered medication to me, to to to wake me 15 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: back up and get me back in my body and 16 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: move me again. Yeah. Classic case of RS replicant shock. Yeah, yeah, 17 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: a s upset, a future shock, future shocked. Yeah, it's 18 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,320 Speaker 1: a It's a wonderful concept and at heart it deals 19 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: with change, with the rate of change in our world. Um, 20 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,479 Speaker 1: you know, generation after generation, we we of course clan 21 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: to illusions of consistency of continuity, as we discussed in 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: a recent episode, but we're always in the state of 23 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,199 Speaker 1: constant change. Our society is, our bodies are, our science 24 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: or art, our values or technology. Everything is really in 25 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: the state of flux. But we end up sort of clinging. 26 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:36,039 Speaker 1: I think to these these illusions that that there's a 27 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: set way that things should be. You know, well, I 28 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: think because change illustrates to us that time is ephemeral, 29 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: it's passing, and change is a real marker, right It's saying, essentially, hey, 30 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: guess what You're gonna die one day, and that's a bummer. 31 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: Nobody wants that. And we've talked about this before in 32 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: terms of normalcy bias. You know, even though we know 33 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: it changes on the horizon or there's something that we 34 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: need to re act to, a lot of us just 35 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: kind of go back to the baseline and like to 36 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: assume that everything is going to remain the same, even 37 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: though we have evidence swirling around us all the time 38 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: that changes happening. It's interesting. I think back to when 39 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: I was a kid trying to imagine what I would 40 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: be like as an adult, and it's this kind of 41 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: weird mix of ideas because obviously there were plenty of 42 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: sci fi ideas around me, and sci fi ideas about 43 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: what the future might might consist of, and so to 44 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: a certain extent, I might have imagined myself going into 45 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: space or that maybe being in the cards, you know. 46 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: But still my idea of my immediate future self and 47 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: my immediate surroundings was very much based in my present 48 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: of the time, without you know, without wow giving it 49 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: a lot of thought. But it was kind of like 50 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: the default setting, and we base our assumptions on the 51 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: most readily available model. I think that's because there's so 52 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: much routinization in our lives that it gives us this 53 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: false sense of continuity, and we're doing the same thing 54 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: over day in and day out, and so you get 55 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: the sense that there maybe maybe there is a stasis. 56 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: But also some of it is just rooted and past thinking, 57 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: past structures and audiologies, um. And I was thinking about 58 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: this the other day. We are at a point in 59 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: history technologically at least, where we can actually look back 60 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: in the universe past and understand that the universe has 61 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:30,079 Speaker 1: always been changing and there's a constant rate of change, 62 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: uh in effect, and we look at this just in 63 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: terms of something like the cosmic background radiation that we 64 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: can measure and we can say, oh, you know, after 65 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: the Big Bang, it wasn't just you know, you know, 66 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: this void. There was always something that was going on, 67 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: and there were a great many changes that were only 68 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: now beginning to completely um understand in this coherent way 69 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: that the physical world is about entropy. Yeah. I mean, 70 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: you look back at older our k given primitive views 71 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: of the universe, and not all of them, but a 72 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: lot of them were exceedingly human centric. They time began 73 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: with humans, and if it ended, it ends with humans. 74 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: And our modern understanding is, of course that we're just 75 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: this blip on the on the cosmic timeline, and there 76 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: are things that have existed before, things that will exist afterwards. 77 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: Like we're essentially we're like beta max in the technological timeline, 78 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 1: you know. And at the time, it seems like we're 79 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: the most important. It seems like we're we're the thing. 80 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: But VHS is just around the corner, uh, compact us 81 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: just around the corner, the Blu ray digital, all of 82 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: it's coming well. And it's interesting that you say that 83 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,559 Speaker 1: you you point to technology as a way to begin 84 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: to mark the passing of time. And if you look 85 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: at Moore's law, um, this is something that is the 86 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 1: idea that computing power doubles every two years, which brings 87 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: more and more features and greater rates of change in 88 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: terms of our technology. But Moore's law isn't just a law, 89 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: it's it's a it's ah, this very real idea that 90 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: is playing out that the juggernaut of technology is real, 91 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: if not in our minds. And so we begin to 92 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: see More's law at play in all sectors of our lives, 93 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: things seeming to speed up. Yeah, innovation feeds back on 94 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: the innovation of computing. Processes just become more and more 95 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: complicated and more and more powerful, and eventually, hypothetically we 96 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:32,039 Speaker 1: reach that point where computer aies reach and surpass human 97 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: cognitive power. Uh, the technological singularity. That's right, when when 98 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:38,839 Speaker 1: computers just kick us to the curb because they're like, wow, 99 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: really that's all you guys got. But in the meantime, 100 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 1: computers have also created just an intense amount of data, 101 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: and some would say that data would then give us 102 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: so much information to make choices about that we would 103 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: be in a state of over choice or information overload. 104 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: And we owe this term as well as a number 105 00:05:58,200 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 1: of terms we're gonna talk about here in the podcast, 106 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: and the overall theme of Future Shock to Alvin and 107 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: Heidi Toffler, authors of the Future Shock. Yes, Howdie Toddler 108 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: is an unacknowledged co author, but of course later on 109 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: after publication she became known as the person who also 110 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: influenced this book quite a deal. But in Future Shock, 111 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: they write, if over stimulation at the sensory level increases 112 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: the distortion with which we perceive reality, cognitive over stimulation 113 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,280 Speaker 1: interferes with our ability to think. This was the first 114 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: time people had said, hey, look, let's take a big 115 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: view of what's going on, what's happened in the past, 116 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:39,239 Speaker 1: what's happening in the present, in the future, and see 117 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: this rate of change and how it's affecting us. What 118 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: I love about Future Shock is that it is prophetic 119 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: in places, its hyperbolic in places. Uh, there's stuff that 120 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: holds up, there's stuff that doesn't hold up. We're gonna 121 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: talk about all of that in this podcast. But in 122 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,359 Speaker 1: it's in what it gets right and in what it 123 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: gets wrong. It's it stands as this, uh, this this 124 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: potent exat ample of of how we've come to view 125 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: the future and and also you know, our fear of 126 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: the future, our fear of change and uh. And I 127 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: feel like anytime we're we're contemplating our fears, including the 128 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: fear of the future, the fear of change, the fear 129 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: of impermanence, you have to have a certain about amount 130 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: of overreaction built into the model. You know. It's kind 131 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: of like, uh, the idea of of monsters as symbols, 132 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: and they symbolize things about ourselves in our lives, and 133 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: they often have to be outrageous examples to drive home 134 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: something that is less frightening at times. Well, I think 135 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: it's not so much frightening to us anymore because a 136 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: lot of the concepts that are covered in this nineteen 137 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: one book are kind of old hat for us now. 138 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: But at the time it must have been just terrifying 139 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: to people. And I think that that is borne out 140 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: in the numbers, because if you look at this book 141 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: of something like six million copies worldwide, in the first year, 142 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: there were fifteen printings of this book and it's shot 143 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: up on the best seller lists. So people had very 144 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: real reaction to this idea. Because I think this is 145 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 1: probably the first time that that people had really stepped 146 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: back in this way and presented all of the information 147 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: and all the change that was on the horizon based 148 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: on the evidence at that time. And UM, now if 149 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: you look at this era of the nineteen seventies, this 150 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: is an important era because there's so much stuff going 151 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: on here. I mean, you have the whole peace and 152 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: love thing which is disintegrating. Um, You're seeing a lot 153 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: more strife, economic imbalance, violence. Um. The culture of the 154 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: seventies is it's just itself very interesting. Yeah, I mean, 155 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 1: just think about some of the things we have going 156 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: on during this era. We have all the psychedelic drugs, 157 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: we have Vietnam, we have rock and Roll still going strong, 158 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: we have oh yeah between two man was visiting the 159 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: moon and uh, and it seemed like we would continue 160 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: to maybe do that the in the following decades. You 161 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 1: have the birth of modern computing, the world's first general microprocessor, 162 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: the Intel four thousand and four, which came out the 163 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: in seventy one. You have fiber optics, you have microwave ovens, 164 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: so you have a lot of big changes that are occurring. 165 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: You have birth control, birth control, a lot of this 166 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: is huge. And then the sort of base stock of 167 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: all of this. I think of it this way, is 168 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: that science fiction has been in full bloom since the fifties. Right. Um, 169 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: you have Philip K. Dicks do Androids, dream of Electric Sheep, Right, 170 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: so you have all these ideas swirling around on how 171 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: humanity is changing and how it could potentially change in 172 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: the future. Yeah, and I think you know, in the 173 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:47,320 Speaker 1: in the previous decades, you saw plenty of these like 174 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: short films like The Kitchen of Tomorrow, you know, and 175 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,839 Speaker 1: these ideas of how technology was gonna affect the way 176 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: we live, but they seemed a little a little further 177 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: off in the future. But by the seventies were really 178 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: really seeing things begin to integrate around us. And it's 179 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: sort of like that that day when you realize that 180 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:10,679 Speaker 1: some life event or some work uh deadline that had 181 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: been approaching is now here and you realize, Wow, the 182 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: future is here, in a in a in a way, 183 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: in a shape that I'm not quite ready for. Yeah. 184 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: And um, you know, before, like you said, in the nineties, 185 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: it was all kind of shiny and new and you know, futurist. 186 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 1: And look, this product is going to make your life 187 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: so much easier and then you fast forward to the 188 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: seventies and there's a lot of different fracturing going on 189 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:38,360 Speaker 1: in society. And so Alvin Toffler, who at times has 190 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: been a student, radical, a welder, a newspaper reporter, and 191 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: Fortune editor um, he and his wife Heidi decided to 192 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:51,319 Speaker 1: try to describe the psychological state for individuals and societies 193 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,040 Speaker 1: who hold this perception that there's too much change into 194 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 1: short of a time period, and that there's no acknowledgement 195 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: that there's this enormous structure all change going on, and 196 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: that we're transitioning. This is really important from an industrial 197 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: society to what they call a super industrial society. Now, 198 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: the one criterion for for for UM trying to figure 199 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: out what is super industrial side as opposed to industrial 200 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: society is that there's more laborers and post industrial businesses 201 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: than in agriculture based businesses. And of course we do 202 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:26,839 Speaker 1: see this, we see this flip a lot of people 203 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:31,240 Speaker 1: going to post industrial um types of companies during this time, right, 204 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 1: So that example I gave at the beginning of the 205 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: episode about just sort of shutting down psychologically mar On Marta, 206 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,439 Speaker 1: when you see an android or something that is in 207 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: a kind of handy way. The essence of future shock 208 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: the future doesn't always all the interpretations don't necessarily involve 209 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,319 Speaker 1: like complete physical shutting down or madness. It's not future 210 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: madness per se. But we're talking about the perceived premature 211 00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:58,800 Speaker 1: arrival of the future. We're talking about the shock of 212 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 1: rapid change. We're talking about too much change in too 213 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: short of time. And it's important to note that all 214 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: of these things, it's going to depend on who's viewing 215 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: the present and who and what their idea of the 216 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: future is. It's gonna vary from case to case, right, 217 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: what's your perception of change in the world. For instance, 218 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:20,679 Speaker 1: in a Wired article by Jason Kingdom, he referred to 219 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,439 Speaker 1: quote Van Winkle syndrome, which is sort of a take 220 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: on future shock. And this is the idea that you 221 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:31,440 Speaker 1: feel amazed and bamboozled on stumbling over an innovation that 222 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: you've failed to notice before. So you know, it's easy 223 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 1: you can have something like future shock based on something 224 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:39,679 Speaker 1: that is actually not new at all. You just you 225 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: did weren't aware of. And if you have a hyper 226 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: awareness of what is going on in the tech, the 227 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,600 Speaker 1: tech industries and and in in culture, then you're maybe 228 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 1: not gonna be shocked by by the next h you know, 229 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: bit on the local news about what the youth are doing. Now. 230 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:56,439 Speaker 1: One of the reasons why we really wanted to cover 231 00:12:56,559 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: this topic in this book is because, um, and some 232 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,719 Speaker 1: ways we feel this way today, right, we feel like 233 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,480 Speaker 1: we are completely inundated with data. We are um you 234 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:10,880 Speaker 1: know sometimes uh met with a lot of anxiety and 235 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: paralysis about all the choices before us. So the reason 236 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: that Future Shock is so interesting the book is because 237 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: it is a very thoughtful treatment of this topic. And 238 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,440 Speaker 1: some of the stuff is still relevant today and some 239 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: of it, um, you know, the Toppler's got wrong, and 240 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,319 Speaker 1: we'll discuss what they got right and what they got wrong. 241 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:30,840 Speaker 1: But at the heart of it is this idea of 242 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:37,320 Speaker 1: trying to um understand how these abstract and concrete systems 243 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: are working together on the human being. And this was 244 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: something that was that was captured in a documentary in 245 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: nineteen two. It doesn't quite I don't think it quite 246 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:48,959 Speaker 1: gives justice to the book, because I think it plays 247 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,719 Speaker 1: more on the sort of alarmist, the Cassandra elements of 248 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: the book. Because I really actually feel like the book 249 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,200 Speaker 1: is presented in a in a kind of calm manner 250 00:13:57,240 --> 00:13:58,839 Speaker 1: and just saying, well, these are the things that are 251 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:01,880 Speaker 1: going on right now. Um, but it does have this 252 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 1: sort of reefer madness flavor to it that I really love. Yeah, 253 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: the book is is absolutely wonderful and and and it 254 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:12,280 Speaker 1: is still in print. You can still get a copy 255 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: of it. I highly recommend anyone who's interested to pick 256 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: it up. I mean you do have to put yourself 257 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:18,840 Speaker 1: in the mindset a little bit and realize that this 258 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: is a voice of the nineteen seventies speaking to the 259 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: people of the nineteen seventies. For instance, that he uses 260 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 1: the term ropot here a robot here, Yeah, who works 261 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: on artificial intelligence. So there's some very quaint terms in there. Well, 262 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,080 Speaker 1: he's also coining a lot of terms too, So um, 263 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: there are there are a lot of words that he's 264 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: rolling out that that I later realized, oh, well he 265 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: invented That's he's the first person who is actually talking 266 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: about this particular com Hetty Toddler actually is the person 267 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: who um created the aphorism that the only thing that 268 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: says the same as change. Um. Yes, but but if 269 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: you if you can't get ahold of the book, or 270 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: you're not sure you want to do. Check out the documentary. 271 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: It's been in its entirety on YouTube for like almost 272 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,280 Speaker 1: ten years now, so it's I'm pretty sure you'll be 273 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: able to find it. But they made the documentary in 274 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: seventy two. It is narrated by Orson Wells, the great 275 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:18,040 Speaker 1: Orson Wells Um who was also great in Size and 276 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 1: Uh and you think maybe a little bit intoxicated. He 277 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: seems a little intoxicated. And in the clips that I 278 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: saw and he's kind of a turtleneck wearing cigar puffing. 279 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: He It opens with him on a airport moving walkway. 280 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,560 Speaker 1: He's kind of lumbering down that. Oh yeah, And that's 281 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: after our fantastic intro where there's a couple walking towards 282 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,160 Speaker 1: the camera in a park setting. We can't quite see 283 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 1: their face because the gleam of the sun, and then 284 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: when they get closer, the blur moves out, the glare 285 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,480 Speaker 1: goes away, and we see that their robots. And there's 286 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: this wonderful music because, as it turns out, um the 287 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: musician gil Melli did the music for the Future Shock 288 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 1: short film, and this is the same artist responsible for 289 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: the soundtrack for the film The Andromeda Strain as well 290 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: as Night Gallery the classic Rod Serling. So that's why 291 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: it has that refrimendous sense to it, like that wonderful, 292 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: ominous music with a little jazz, but also some some 293 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: wonderful synthesizer effects going on. So even if you're just 294 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 1: a fan of crazy cool voiceovers and and weird seventies uh, 295 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: you know, the weird seventies look and feel of things, 296 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: than Future Shock, the documentary is definitely worth checking out. Yeah, 297 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 1: it's great. Orson Well says, in the course of my work, 298 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,160 Speaker 1: which has taken me to just about every corner of 299 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: the globe, I see many aspects of a phenomenon which 300 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: I am just beginning to understand. Our modern technologies have 301 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: changed the degree of sophistication beyond our wildest dreams. But 302 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: this technology has exacted a pretty heavy price. We live 303 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: in an age of anxiety and time of stress, and 304 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: with all of our sophistication, we are in fact the 305 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: victims of our own technological strength. We are the victims 306 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:06,480 Speaker 1: of shock. Future shocked. Nice, that's not really well, but 307 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 1: you know, you get yeah, but you definitely get a 308 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,919 Speaker 1: sense of it because there's a there's a gravity to everything. 309 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: He's saying, and there there's a there's a fear that 310 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,639 Speaker 1: the film really does turn the dial up on the 311 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,680 Speaker 1: fear factor of future shock and and at times it's 312 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: it's hammy and hilarious and and and I love it, 313 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: like when he's talking about an artificial elbow being quote 314 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:34,160 Speaker 1: one more step towards an artificial man, which yes, technically, 315 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: Like there's a whole scene there where they talk about 316 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 1: about that some of the health topics, and they show 317 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: an individual whose life was saved by I can't remember 318 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 1: his artificial heart, art artificial heart valve or some sort 319 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: of device, but they managed to make it seem a 320 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: little scary and you have to step outside of me, like, wait, 321 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: this technology saved this guy's life, while are you trying 322 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: to convince me to be afraid of this? And and 323 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: that it's just a slippery slope to androids because it's 324 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: Toppler in the brings us up sort of obliquely like 325 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 1: at what point, and we've talked about this before, like 326 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: at what point are you augmenting ourselves and becoming transhuman now? Again, 327 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: Toughler just sort of puts that out there in the book. Um, 328 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: and it's not as if he's saying that if you 329 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: have a pacemaker, you are all of a sudden not human. 330 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: But he's bringing up the question of what direction are 331 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: we moving? Yeah. One of the important things to keep 332 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 1: in mind about Future Shock is that, even though it's 333 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: it's fun to focus on some of these uh sort 334 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: of you know, fear of the youth, fear of the 335 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: technology aspects, so much of it is about, first of all, 336 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: how is this technology affecting me in my perception of 337 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: the world, my ability to work with the world, But 338 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: also how our advances in technology, how are changes in 339 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 1: society and culture, how are they affecting systems that are 340 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: already in place in the world. Um. One one particular 341 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 1: aspect that is not mentioned in the book that instantly 342 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: comes to mind here is, of course, when you see 343 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 1: uh say uh, the Internet arriving and that being ahead 344 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: of various UH industries and systems, such as how a 345 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: napster affected the music industry, where music sharing in our 346 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: ability to digitally use music was way ahead of the 347 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: industry's ability to regulate it or or may make money 348 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: off of it and even understand it, and so a 349 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 1: certain amount of chaos erupted out of that and we 350 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:15,960 Speaker 1: still do a certain extent are are are dealing with 351 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 1: the after effects of that. Yeah, and actually Toddlers, they 352 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: would say that right now that there's not the infrastructure 353 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: that's needed still that we intellectually intellectually property rights are 354 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: just one example of how, you know, the law has 355 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,639 Speaker 1: not really kept up with what's going on on a 356 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: technological level. And we'll talk more about that and some 357 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:37,000 Speaker 1: of their ideas about how we are still lagging behind 358 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: in those departments. But let's talk about some of the 359 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,200 Speaker 1: themes covered in this book before we talk about what 360 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: the Toddlers got wrong. And we are talking about twenty 361 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: chapters with main themes and then about a hundred and 362 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 1: eight sub topics. So really the Toddlers took a massive 363 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:57,680 Speaker 1: introspective look into what was going on and really tried 364 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: to cover all of the ground that they could. And 365 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,479 Speaker 1: that's why it's such an amazing book. Yeah, it's one 366 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,840 Speaker 1: of those books. You know, sometimes you read really important 367 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:08,040 Speaker 1: works and you think I could have written that. But 368 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: Future Shock is one of those books that I look 369 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: at and I'm just in awe and how thorough it is. 370 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,120 Speaker 1: Because some of some of the topics that they cover 371 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: here include UM over choice, pressure to keep up with 372 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: the latest technology, rapidly expanding knowledge, information overload, computer field society, 373 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: temporary consumer culture, UM, youth movements, new transient lifestyles, instant intimacy, cyborgs, 374 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: modular bodies, cybernetics, plastic surgery, UM, as well as robotics, 375 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,880 Speaker 1: changing the definition of man, artificial insemination, test two babies, 376 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 1: changing families, group marriages, communes, pornography, UH, general unrest, genetics, 377 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 1: genetic arm races, genetic engineering, mind and body control, cloning. UM. 378 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: It just see it just it just changes and changes 379 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: and changes at every level of of our existence, every 380 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: level of our current nineteen seventies world. Yeah, and it's 381 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:05,800 Speaker 1: it's really interesting the way that he approaches them because 382 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: something like um, the artificial elbow, you know that that 383 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:12,840 Speaker 1: might lead to the cyborgs among us, which is actually 384 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 1: a chapter title. UM. He's basing that on what he 385 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,919 Speaker 1: sees as modularism in architecture, because he's seeing this in 386 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 1: other sectors of industry, like you have this push toward 387 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: trying to make things compact, trying to make things so 388 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 1: that they can be transported and changed up. And he's 389 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,160 Speaker 1: beginning to see in robotics, the infancy of this where 390 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,679 Speaker 1: the same sort of thing is happening with the human 391 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: body in terms of trying to replace parts or make 392 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:45,119 Speaker 1: them more adaptable. And that's what's so interesting about it. 393 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 1: Just the way that he's coming at this, or I 394 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: should say he and his wife, Heidi Toffler coming at this, 395 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: is that they're really basing that on the sort of 396 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: things that they are seeing. And it's not just in robotics, 397 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: but you know, spreading out through society. And I just 398 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: wanted to read this one little bit that Toffler says 399 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:03,959 Speaker 1: about unrest and young people. And he talks a lot 400 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: about young people. It's really interesting. I mean, we have 401 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,640 Speaker 1: to because it's it kind of goes back to Yates Byzantium. 402 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: Uh that no country for old men. We've always been 403 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: afraid of what the young people are doing and what 404 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,399 Speaker 1: changes they're going to bring to our world. Yeah, but 405 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,959 Speaker 1: it's the youth culture and and one I think one 406 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,919 Speaker 1: of the chapters two is like the youth ghetto. But 407 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: he says it is clear that many of our young people, 408 00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:29,119 Speaker 1: products of television and instant access to oceans of information, 409 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 1: also become precocious intellectually but what happens to emotional development 410 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: as the ratio of vicarious experience to real experience rises. 411 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: Does the step up of vicariousness contribute to emotional maturity 412 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: or does it in fact retard it? This is these 413 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,640 Speaker 1: are the same sort of conversations that we're having today, Exactly. 414 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,439 Speaker 1: I think about that every time I used tumbler, because 415 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of young people used tumbler 416 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:55,719 Speaker 1: as well as myself. So yeah, and we'll get more 417 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: into that, but let's take a quick break and when 418 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: we get back, we'll talk about what futures talk the 419 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:11,199 Speaker 1: book got wrong. All right, we're back. You know you 420 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,720 Speaker 1: mentioned some movies of the future, and in reading future Chalk, 421 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,360 Speaker 1: I couldn't help but think a blade Runner and replicants 422 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:23,000 Speaker 1: because the Toffler's touch on this this idea that one 423 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: day we could have clones or we could have robots 424 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 1: of ourselves, and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Yes, 425 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 1: So the idea that I think the example is that 426 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: you go to the store and there's a young woman 427 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,200 Speaker 1: behind the register, and you have to have that moment 428 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: we try and figure out is she a real person 429 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: or is she a computer? Is she a machine of 430 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,359 Speaker 1: some sort, and Topfler, of course suggests she might be 431 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,200 Speaker 1: both that the answer could be a little calm, a 432 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,680 Speaker 1: little calm beat huh. And then he's got an asterisk 433 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: next to that. And if you follow that asterix, it 434 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,919 Speaker 1: actually says I'm paraphrasing. But by the way, this kind 435 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: of brings up, you know, sexual ethics between men and machine, 436 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: and we probably should figure that out one day. Although 437 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: thankfully he doesn't go deeply into that topic, or maybe 438 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: too bad he doesn't. I mean, indeed, that's a whole 439 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: topic right there. I think we've touched on that a 440 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,239 Speaker 1: time or two in turn. And when we, you know, 441 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: to discussed human robot interactions and the idea of love 442 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: machines for lack of a better term. Yes, now, um, 443 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: In terms of cloning or creating super races, the book 444 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: says we are hurtling towards the time and we will 445 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: be able to breed both super and sub races. As 446 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: Theodore Jay Gordon put it, in the future, given the 447 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,879 Speaker 1: ability to taylor the race, I wonder if we would 448 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: create all men equal, or would we choose to manufacture apartheid. 449 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 1: Might the races of the future be a superior group, 450 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 1: the DNA controllers, the humble servants, special athletes for the games, 451 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 1: research scientists with two i Q and aminutive bodies. And 452 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:56,119 Speaker 1: then he goes on to say, we shall have the 453 00:24:56,119 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: power to produce races of morons or of mathematic savalants. 454 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,359 Speaker 1: We shall also be able to breed babies with super 455 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:05,639 Speaker 1: normal vision and hearing, and go on, he goes on 456 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 1: and on. He even goes on to say girls with 457 00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 1: super memories and perhaps more or less than the two. 458 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: Oh wow, well there's some straight up total recall stuff 459 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: right there. Yeah. Indeed, so thankfully this is a concept 460 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,480 Speaker 1: that either you can think you look at it too, uys, 461 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 1: either that's just not happening or happened, or it's going 462 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: to happen. But cloning, as we have seen, is something 463 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:33,400 Speaker 1: that has fallen under you know, ethical guidelines and has 464 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: been restricted for a number of reasons. Yeah. I mean, 465 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: we've we've danced around with cloning, um when in terms 466 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,359 Speaker 1: of animal cloning, but no one's really committed to the 467 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:45,400 Speaker 1: full on human cloning effort as yet. There's just there's 468 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: just too many ethical and ultimately governmental and economic barriers 469 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: that that prevent us from from going there, and you know, 470 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 1: he also gets on the cloning. I could go on 471 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: and on, but there's there's one part two where he's 472 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: talking about that, where he says, quote, but clone could 473 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: also create undreamed of complications for the race. There's a 474 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,879 Speaker 1: certain charm to the idea of Albert Einstein bequeathing copies 475 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,440 Speaker 1: of himself to posterity. But what about of Hitler? Should 476 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,640 Speaker 1: there be laws to regular like cloning? And of course 477 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: in this we get into this area where where he's 478 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:21,000 Speaker 1: he's at least entertaining some of the more drastic and 479 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:24,679 Speaker 1: uh and hyperbolic ideas about what cloning is the idea 480 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: that you could, oh, my goodness, they cloned Hitler. Now 481 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: we have five extra Hitlers in the world, and what 482 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: we're gonna do about it? Without realizing that even the 483 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,159 Speaker 1: reverse of that cloning Albert Einstein. We've discussed in the 484 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: past what is genius, and genius is not just something 485 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: you can cook up in a pot. You know, there 486 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 1: are a number of factors that go into into into 487 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: what makes a great mind. Not only am I capable 488 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: of of of achieving of various things, but actually capable 489 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: of pulling them off as well? Yeah, there's this, Um, 490 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: remember this episode on This American Life, and it was 491 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: about a cow that had been cloned, and it was 492 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: just farmers over cow had a very distinct, very deep 493 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:10,239 Speaker 1: relationship with this cow, right, and so yes, yes it's right. 494 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,960 Speaker 1: And so the clone turns out to mean nothing like 495 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:18,439 Speaker 1: this this other bowl that he had, and and it 496 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,359 Speaker 1: completely disappoints him. And so on some level you have 497 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 1: to wonder, like there's been so much research in the 498 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,240 Speaker 1: animal world in cloning that you know, perhaps we humans 499 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,520 Speaker 1: have come to the conclusion that it's not really worth 500 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: it for us at this point. Um, things are not 501 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: going to turn out the way that we thought they would. 502 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: That that bowl, that human is not going to be 503 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 1: the person that you loved or the Marilyn Monroe that 504 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:43,879 Speaker 1: the film industry wants to create again. Right, I mean, 505 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,399 Speaker 1: if you clone Hitler, Hitler's clone might very well just 506 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: become a yoga teacher. You know, they're just too many 507 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:50,679 Speaker 1: factors at play. There is like does this clone if 508 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: Hitler have have the exact same circumstances that will that 509 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,680 Speaker 1: allow him to to reach this end point? Does do 510 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: they have the same levels of our the same levels 511 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,679 Speaker 1: of power at their their fingertips to pull. They're just 512 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,320 Speaker 1: so many factors there. Yeah. Now, in terms of where 513 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,400 Speaker 1: the rubber meets the road here, we know that researchers 514 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 1: have used cloning to make human embryo for the purpose 515 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,679 Speaker 1: of producing stump cells, so we know that we can 516 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:14,719 Speaker 1: do that. But beyond that, it gets a little bit 517 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:17,959 Speaker 1: tricky because cloning requires that researchers first remove the nucleus 518 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,360 Speaker 1: of an egg cell, and then when that's done, they 519 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 1: also remove proteins that are essential to help cells divide. 520 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: Now and mice not a big problem, right, because essentially 521 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,239 Speaker 1: they can replace those proteins, but they have found that 522 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:35,000 Speaker 1: primates aren't able to do this, and as a result, 523 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: there's this molecular process known as imprinting. Um it does 524 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: not occur properly in cloned embryos, and they can it 525 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: can cause the fetus to spontaneously aboard or the animal 526 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: to die shortly afterward. So bear all that in mind, 527 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: along with the fact that there's like huge ethical implications 528 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: and it just doesn't seem that cloning is going to 529 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: be a thing. And in my thing too is that 530 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,880 Speaker 1: And if cloning became a thing, I feel and you 531 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: would have to have a circumstance where again it made 532 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: sense and it was safe and uh and everything lined up. 533 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,160 Speaker 1: But essentially you would get into it, into this scenario 534 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,080 Speaker 1: where you would have children with only one parent, and 535 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 1: that's about as scary as it would be. It's not 536 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 1: a situation where oh, the Koch brothers uh clone themselves 537 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,240 Speaker 1: and now they're Littlekoch brothers that are gonna inherit the 538 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 1: millions and they live forever and ever, you know, on 539 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 1: into infinity. No, they would just essentially be children, children 540 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,720 Speaker 1: of a of a different genetic construction of you know, 541 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 1: essentially almost an a sexual construction. But they would still 542 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,960 Speaker 1: be children, and they wouldn't be like the scary clone 543 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,160 Speaker 1: army material or anything of that nature. Yeah, well, they 544 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: wouldn't have the genetic diversity. I d no, they wouldn't. 545 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: But but I feel like as children, as people, and 546 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,640 Speaker 1: as a reproductive choice, I think we would we would 547 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:54,440 Speaker 1: get used to it if it were happening. I don't 548 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:56,240 Speaker 1: think there would be I don't think we'd have a 549 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: lot of future shock. If there was a book Susie 550 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:03,360 Speaker 1: has one father, you know, no one parent. This would 551 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: be the title of the book. You know, you just explain. Oh, well, 552 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: Susie was created via cloning, so she only has one 553 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 1: genetic parents. Well, I mean that's the term of that test, 554 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,239 Speaker 1: you babies, right, vitro fertilization. This is something that has 555 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: become the norm for us. Um. Now, another thing that 556 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: the topflers got wrong, um is economic growth. Okay. They 557 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: basically envisioned a future in which the growing global market 558 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: became more localized in the sense that there would be 559 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: decentralized production enacted by the consumer. Oh it's a little 560 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,560 Speaker 1: like the I kea market, Right, you get the parts, 561 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: but then you put them together yourself. And they call 562 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 1: this pro sumption. When consumers do some are all of 563 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 1: the work of production. And they thought this would lead 564 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:50,320 Speaker 1: to renewable energy working from the home and de urbanization. Yeah. 565 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: And it seemed like that the direction we were going 566 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: in again from the nineteen seventies, but that they were 567 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: based basing this on the idea and basic on what 568 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,479 Speaker 1: the the the economist we're telling them that they quote 569 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: the problem of economic growth was licked that that all 570 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 1: they need to do is fine tune the system, and uh, 571 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: and we would just continue to see this exponential growth 572 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:12,959 Speaker 1: along these lines. Yeah, and it would be more of 573 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,920 Speaker 1: like an individual cottage system, right, and decentralized in that sense. 574 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:20,680 Speaker 1: According to Richard Cotch, writing for Huffington Post in his 575 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: article for Things Talking got Wrong, their vision is correct 576 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,320 Speaker 1: in the terms of self service, we've seen that, but 577 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 1: not in decentralizing the global market, he says, quote the 578 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:35,240 Speaker 1: rise of self service supermarkets, gas stations, i kea budget, airlines, dell. 579 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 1: That's all been associated with the rise of new corporations 580 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: and a greater extension of the market as the cost 581 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,520 Speaker 1: of goods and services fall. So yeah, self service fits 582 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: in there, but that only helps the companies to decrease 583 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,520 Speaker 1: their bottom line. In other words, you can't stop the 584 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: marketplace there you go and where do you have markets 585 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 1: in the cities and the cities which they also thought 586 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: again this d organization would occur and that people would 587 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: move out of the cities and shift away from them. 588 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: But as the world market increases, as we know, so 589 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:08,760 Speaker 1: as industries, because cities offer an infrastructure, they offer networking 590 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: opportunities and shared knowledge. Yeah, I mean that they really 591 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: got that one wrong, because obviously we've seen the tremendous 592 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: continued growth of urban areas and even even in an 593 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: age right now where technically, technically everyone in this office 594 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: could work from just about anywhere they wanted to, because 595 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: we can all work on our computers. You and I 596 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:31,560 Speaker 1: are in the same room right now, But we could 597 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 1: conceivably do this from different corners of the country. Yeah, 598 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: we could skype it in, right, but but we don't, 599 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: because there are a number of additional benefits, uh for 600 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: business to be located in one place and to be 601 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: then and for that place to be uh in close 602 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,719 Speaker 1: proximity to all these other resources. Yeah, it's you can't 603 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: necessarily have the wild West. You have to have that 604 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,240 Speaker 1: structure in place, and that's what cities provide for sure. Now, 605 00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: another idea that they put forth in Future Shock that 606 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: also has not really shaken out, um as they predicted 607 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:08,240 Speaker 1: the idea that we would have a simplification of our 608 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: systems via powerful, powerful computers, sort of like the top 609 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: of himself. In interview with Wired, uh magazine says the 610 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: early assumptions were that the giant brain was going to 611 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 1: solve our problems for us, that it was going to 612 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,480 Speaker 1: get all this information together, and that therefore life would 613 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,240 Speaker 1: be simplified. What it overlooked was the fact that computers 614 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: also complexify reality. And of course this was a great 615 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,720 Speaker 1: disappointment to the Soviets because they were going to centrally 616 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 1: plan their thing with a big computer. So this idea 617 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: that like a supercomputer is going to set in the 618 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,760 Speaker 1: center of the city and then plan out how everything 619 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,440 Speaker 1: works and make things easier is both. Uh. Yeah, there's 620 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:51,720 Speaker 1: there's some truth to that. Computers do make things a 621 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,960 Speaker 1: little more streamlined in places, but there's there's a certain 622 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 1: amount of complexity, both in terms of our systems that 623 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,080 Speaker 1: in terms of our personal experience of reality. Yeah, if 624 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 1: I am remembering this correctly, we did an episode on 625 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,640 Speaker 1: the Living Earth Simulator which tried to take it like 626 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: every data point in our existence, throw it in there 627 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 1: and try to predict how things we're gonna happen. So 628 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:20,239 Speaker 1: we're talking about like weather, uh, socio economics, mean, traffic patterns, everything. Yeah, 629 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,800 Speaker 1: Like they wanted to take various simulated models such as weather, 630 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,280 Speaker 1: combine them all and have a complete or a complete 631 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 1: ish worldview of what the world is doing and to 632 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:34,360 Speaker 1: simulate how these various various changes would affect other changes. 633 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,440 Speaker 1: But as as weather points out to us on a 634 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,920 Speaker 1: daily basis, it's not really that easy to predict what's 635 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: going to go on because there's sort of like that 636 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,440 Speaker 1: butterfly effect, there's entropy in the background, and it's not 637 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:49,400 Speaker 1: really in the background, it's just always working, honest, and 638 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 1: so we rely too heavily on routinization or trying to 639 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:57,640 Speaker 1: predict things based off of patterns. One topic that instantly 640 00:34:57,680 --> 00:35:00,359 Speaker 1: came to mind when I was reading about this high 641 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: frequency algorithmic trading. Uh. This is of course on Wall Street. 642 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: We have computers that are doing the trading, which is 643 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: computers uh, don't have to operate at the human cognitive 644 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: um speed setting. You have these various transactions that are 645 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 1: happening almost you know, within the know, just fractions of 646 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: a second. Uh. And it's it's been very controversial, some 647 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 1: people champion claiming that it doesn't pose any kind of 648 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: systematic risk, that the so far so called micro crashes 649 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,680 Speaker 1: that we've experienced starting anything to really get um upset about. 650 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: But then you have people like Nobel Prize winning economist 651 00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:36,960 Speaker 1: Michael Spence who thinks that there is a lot of 652 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,759 Speaker 1: danger here and we should just ban it completely. So 653 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 1: again we have just the idea of letting the computers 654 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 1: come in and simplify something as complex and at times 655 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,920 Speaker 1: chaotic as as economic trading. There that we see a 656 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 1: lot of division. Is it a good thing, is it 657 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:54,440 Speaker 1: a bad thing? We're still feeling it out well. And 658 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: then in addition to that, we have so much data 659 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:01,680 Speaker 1: coming in all streams from everywhere, every corner of the Earth, 660 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 1: from drones, from satellites, you name it. So you know, 661 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,960 Speaker 1: you try to do something like the Living Earth simulator, 662 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:10,920 Speaker 1: and who knows, maybe that will actually come to Fruition 663 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,239 Speaker 1: and work one day in the way that it's meant to. 664 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,000 Speaker 1: But for the most part, it's just trying to manage 665 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 1: that amount of data, right, I mean, there's so much 666 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 1: information on the web. I mean every day we're researching 667 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 1: topics and we're going on the web and finding these 668 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,400 Speaker 1: various sources, and there's just so much of it. Like 669 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,520 Speaker 1: the day I started here, uh some number of years 670 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:38,040 Speaker 1: ago u nineteen hundreds, I was actually going to the library. 671 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,319 Speaker 1: I remember checking out library books to work. And I 672 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: still pick up physical copies of books occasionally, but not 673 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,720 Speaker 1: with the with the frequency that I was then because 674 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 1: now there's just so much more available. But still you 675 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:53,120 Speaker 1: look at something like Wikipedia, which is UH, which which 676 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 1: is great. Don't get me wrong, But even in the 677 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,480 Speaker 1: situation where you have all of this sort of communal 678 00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: high think contributing to this vision of complete world knowledge, 679 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: they're still flaws in it. There's still omissions in it, 680 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,880 Speaker 1: UH and UH, and that highlights some of it. The 681 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:12,120 Speaker 1: problems with the idea of computers and UH and integrated 682 00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:16,120 Speaker 1: technology solving our our problems. Yeah, I'm being able to 683 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: come in and clean it all up and make it 684 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:20,440 Speaker 1: tidy for us. Well, it turns out that we are 685 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,799 Speaker 1: just a messy, messy people that can't be tidied. So 686 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,280 Speaker 1: we are not picking on this book or the Tofflers 687 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:28,640 Speaker 1: were just kind of saying that, Hey, in this incredible 688 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:31,799 Speaker 1: book detailing what was going on in the seventies and 689 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:33,239 Speaker 1: what might be going on in the future, there were 690 00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:36,879 Speaker 1: a couple of things that didn't come to fruition, and 691 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,359 Speaker 1: they're they're interesting to look at in that way, like, 692 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 1: what are the things that they got wrong? In the 693 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 1: next episode, we're going to talk about what they got right. 694 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 1: And in some of the lingering like ramifications of what 695 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,920 Speaker 1: the Topplers were trying to say in the seventies and 696 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:55,319 Speaker 1: throughout the eighties and subsequent books. Okay, before we close out, though, 697 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,480 Speaker 1: I do want to mention that the term future shock 698 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:01,560 Speaker 1: has of course become a part out of our culture. Uh. 699 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:03,799 Speaker 1: We still hear it to thrown around today, But in 700 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,319 Speaker 1: the seventies you saw a lot of it. Like if 701 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:08,759 Speaker 1: you do an IMDb search for future Shock, you'll see 702 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:11,960 Speaker 1: various TV shows that would label an episode when and 703 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:16,840 Speaker 1: so will be titled future Shock. You saw Tharg's Future Shocks, 704 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:20,319 Speaker 1: which was a section of the long running British comic 705 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,319 Speaker 1: two thousand a d in which various sci fi uh 706 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,360 Speaker 1: sort of takes on future shock would be unveiled. Uh, 707 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:31,080 Speaker 1: And most remarkable of all, James Brown hosted Future Shock 708 00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:34,440 Speaker 1: on TV UH from seventy six to seventy eight, and 709 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:36,839 Speaker 1: it was shot right here in Atlanta, Georgia, as well 710 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:41,200 Speaker 1: as in Augusta. Nice. I guess it was his home 711 00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:44,360 Speaker 1: place right, his birth his birth home. That's not the 712 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,239 Speaker 1: correct term, but you know what I'm saying. Yeah, if 713 00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:48,719 Speaker 1: you do a YouTube search for Future Shock James Brown, 714 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,839 Speaker 1: you will see some wonderful clips of this show, which 715 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: sadly is not as futuristic as I had hoped. That 716 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:56,799 Speaker 1: basically it's soul Train with with just his Future Shock 717 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,600 Speaker 1: in the background instead of soul Train. Um, it's it's 718 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:01,840 Speaker 1: still one full. So some wonderful music on there, but 719 00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,600 Speaker 1: there are no dancing androids. I was hoping that like 720 00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:09,399 Speaker 1: big puffy outfits that were like reflective metal, metallic clicking, yeah, 721 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:11,400 Speaker 1: and there would be like a lot of future shock 722 00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:16,919 Speaker 1: get old yeah lyrics about super industrialism and cloning. But yeah, 723 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:19,839 Speaker 1: but it's an example of the word becoming a part 724 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,359 Speaker 1: of our culture and just becoming this this idea that's 725 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:25,319 Speaker 1: even if we forget what it means, it's still it's 726 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:29,479 Speaker 1: still there in the background, all right, So definitely tune 727 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:32,839 Speaker 1: into the next episode where we will discuss more on 728 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:35,359 Speaker 1: the topic of future Shock. In the meantime, you want 729 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:36,520 Speaker 1: to get in touch with us, you want to see 730 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 1: what we're talking about, what we're blogging about, what kind 731 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,120 Speaker 1: of videos we've shot, what we're doing on social media. 732 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 1: We'll head on over to stuff to Blow your Mind 733 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:46,160 Speaker 1: dot com. That is the place to go if you 734 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:48,399 Speaker 1: want to remain up to date on what we're doing. 735 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:50,480 Speaker 1: You know, because you go on Facebook, there's so much 736 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:54,120 Speaker 1: stuff on there. You're getting information overload. You're gonna miss stuff. 737 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:55,640 Speaker 1: You go to Twitter, you're gonna miss stuff. But if 738 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:57,360 Speaker 1: you go to stuff and blow your Mind dot com, 739 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,560 Speaker 1: it is there, and it's searchable, all of the podcast episodes, 740 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:04,080 Speaker 1: all the blog posts, you name it um. And then 741 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:05,600 Speaker 1: there's another way to get in touch with me. Yeah, 742 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:08,000 Speaker 1: if you want to send us a direct data stream, 743 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:10,760 Speaker 1: you can do that by sending an email at blow 744 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:16,560 Speaker 1: the Minded discovery dot com. For more on this and 745 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, because it how stuff works dot 746 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:25,759 Speaker 1: com