Book Reading & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth

RUNNING HEAD: REVOLUTIONARY WEALTH

Book Reading & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth Amy S. Crouse

LI 801 Foundations of Information Transfer Mirah Dow, Ph.D. Emporia State University July 21, 2006

Book Reading & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth Abstract The book, Revolutionary Wealth, written by Alvin and Heidi Toffler, is about wealth. Not wealth in just the monetary form, but all types of wealth present in the 21st Century. The creation

of this wealth, as well as how it is earned and distributed is the focus. This paper attempts to view the information process as expressed through the visual medium of the book.

Book Reading & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth The world is being transformed, dramatically and irrevocably(Toffler, 2006). Just how dramatically is the focus of the newest book by Alvin and Heidi Toffler. Although not a book I would have chosen to read for enjoyment, the book contains a wealth of information for anyone seeking an optimistic outlook of where the world is headed in the 21st century.

A revolution is defined as a sudden, radical, or complete change; a fundamental change in political organization; especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed; activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation; a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something: a change of paradigm (Merriam-Webster, 2006). The term revolutionary is defined as: constituting or bringing about a major or fundamental change (Merriam-Webster, 2006). Both terms are used in the book to explain the concept of wealth, how it is acquired by individuals as well as nations and how it will eventually change all of our lives. According to Chapter 3 in the Tofflers book, wealth is anything that fulfills needs or wants (Toffler, 2006). The earliest people were nomadic hunters, having to hunt and kill to survive. With the discovery of agriculture, people could grow some of their own food and maybe even have a little left over to store for more difficult times. They were not as dependent on what they could find immediately. This surplus allowed the nobles to create a type of wealth system and allowed them to hire commoners for their own entertainment and enjoyment. The authors consider this the First Wave of Wealth (Toffler, 2006).

Book Review & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth

The second type of wealth system was industrialism, which started in the late 1600s. This period brought about the Industrial Revolution and created an even bigger system of wealth both in the United States and other countries as well. The third and current type of wealth system, which the authors focus most of the book on, is the emphasis on knowledge and information, rather than industrial production, what Rubin would call the information infrastructure (Rubin, 2004). With the advent of each wave of wealth, the first spread across the world so that in some countries today, a piece of each system can be found functioning all at the same time. In the United States, the third wave wealth system is increasingly based on serving, thinking, knowing and experiencing (Toffler, 2006). Today on earth, there are more than 800 million computers one for every seven or eight human beings. The number of Internet users worldwide is estimated at between 800 million and one billion people. The structure of knowledge is rapidly growing and changing, not just in the United States but all over the world. Rubin calls it an information cycle (Rubin, 2004). Along with the information from all of these sources comes a large amount of misinformation which the public must filter through. According to Rubin, Knowledge is sometimes used synonymously with information, but it is also defined as a cohesive body of information, or information that is integrated into a larger body of knowledge. That is, it is a body of interrelated information (Rubin, 2004). This goes along with what we discussed in class about making sure that the information we as information professionals provide to our clients becomes the particular type of knowledge they are seeking. Along with the amount of information comes the speed with which that knowledge is available. The Tofflers devote an entire chapter to the importance of speed. Stated simply, we Book Review & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth 5

hate to wait (Toffler, 2006). Along with processing more and more information at faster and faster rates, young people are bored with anything they regard as slow (Toffler, 2006). The authors talk about 24 Hour Street where everything, from dry cleaners to doctors and lawyers are open and available 24 hours a day. Twenty-four hour municipal offices where you can renew your drivers license or get a garage sale permit anytime night or day. The book does not mention 24 hour libraries although it does talk about searching online databases which are available at many metropolitan libraries. There is also an interesting section about a car wash that is also a bookstore. The Toffler book spends several chapters discussing the ethics of wealth, both from a monetary and an information standpoint. The authors parallel the Rubin text in Chapter 8 when they say The messageis a disconcerting one for those who believe that economics is or should be an exact science: it is that information indeterminacy in physical processes entailed a shift in paradigm from classical physics to quantum physics, so the indeterminacy of information good calls for a distinct political economy of information (Toffler, 2006). The Tofflers are also concerned with the storage of so much information. Stored on everything from cave walls to CDs and DVDs, there is much more knowledge stored outside the brain than inside. For a long time, there were not many ways to store information or pass along knowledge. The first caveman to draw a picture on the wall was responsible for the first diffusing of information sharing it with others. With the invention of libraries, indexing and printing, the knowledge continues to be passed on between generations. What the authors call the Aggregate Supply of Knowledge or ASK is the terminology used to define the total supply of knowledge. By turning the entire relationship of wealth and tying it to the basics of

Book Review & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth

knowledge, we can then understand why revolutionary wealth today is so completely different that when measured with wealth in any other era. The Tofflers also closely parallel the Rubin text when discussing the threats to knowledge via censorship. One side states that the public should be free to study and explore everything. The Tofflers call it the Super-Empowered Individual referring to terrorists, criminals or psychotics armed with weapons of mass destruction. The other side of the spectrum concerns making entire categories of knowledge off-limits to research. Different groups in society are, for different reasons, actively trying to manage our minds by shifting the truth filters through which we, in our turn, see the world-the tests we use to separate true from false (Toffler, 2006). The entire middle of the book is devoted to explaining what the authors call the prosumer economy. Things that I do as a volunteer that I could be paid for as an employee are prosumer activities. If I volunteer at my local library to reshelve books, I am a prosumer. The interesting fact is that the world-wide web was created by a prosumer. Tim Berners-Lee was an employee at CERN, the Center for European Nuclear Research. He wrote Enquire, the very first web-like program in his spare time and for his personal use to help him with projects at this job. The result was a knowledge tool that transformed not only the way our culture thinks and young people learn but, increasingly, the way money is made, business is done, economies operate and wealth is created (Toffler, 2006). We as a people have created more new data, information and knowledge that all or our ancestors combined. We have organized it differently, distributed it differently and combined Book Review & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth 7

and recombined it in new and different patterns. We have also created entire new cyberworlds with new ideas. Knowledge has always been a factor in the creation of wealth. But in no previous wealth system has the knowledge sector played so dominant a role. Today we are seeing an explosive growth in the amount, variety and complexity of knowledge needed to design, produce and deliver value in every market. As a result, the market for data, information and knowledge is itself growing exponentially (Toffler, 2006). We were participants at the beginning of this century in the design of a new revolutionary wealth system. It will be interesting to see what the continuing wave of technology and information will bring to the end of the same century. As the Tofflers say: Welcome to the rest of the twenty-first century (Toffler, 2006)!

Book Review & Concept Synthesis: Revolutionary Wealth

References

Guralnik, D. (Ed.). (2006). Merriam-Webster Dictionary (4th College Edition ed., New York: The World Publishing Company

Rubin, R.E. (2004). Foundations of library and information science. New York, N.Y.: NealSchuman Publishers, Inc.

Toffler, A & H. (2006) Revolutionary wealth. New York, N.Y.: Random House, Inc.