Alvin Toffler

Alvin Toffler ( born October 4, 1928 in New York City ) is an American futurist, known for his work on the digital revolution, the technological singularity and the communication revolution.

Life

Alvin Toffler is a former co-author of Fortune magazine. His early works were concerned with technology and their consequences ( through effects such as " information overload ", engl. " Information overload "). Then he dealt with the reactions and the transformation of society.

His later work was concerned with the growing strength of the military technology of the 21st century. He is married to Heidi Toffler, also a writer and futurist. Many of the books published under the name of Alvin Toffler were written jointly by both.

Influence

His books Future Shock and The Third Wave served the (Detroit ) techno musicians Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins as a key inspiration. With the help of their music they sat around the loosely formulated idea of Toffler called Techno Rebel.

"The Third Wave" inspired a number of authors of cyberpunk, especially John Shirley, Bruce Sterling and William Gibson. Sterling designated Toffler's work as "a bible to many cyber punks ".

Works

• Future Shock, 1970, German: Future Shock. Strategies for the world of tomorrow. Goldmann nonfiction 11364 ISBN 3-442-11364-4
• The Eco - Spasm Report, 1975 German: The limits of crisis
• The Third Wave, 1980, German: The third wave. Opportunity for the future. Perspectives for the 21st century society 1980 ISBN 3-442-11350-4
• Previews and Premisses, 1983
• War and Anti-War, 1993 German: Survival in the 21st Century
• Creating a new civilization: the politics of the Third Wave, 1995
• Revolutionary Wealth, 2006