Future Shock (1972) 5/5

[danikittie]

My question to this documentary is: If we have advanced technologically, why aren't humans getting smarter, but lazier?? What are we doing wrong??

[youwillBsorry]

WOW this is a hilarious warning for excess use of LSD and pot

[gombie]

The document hasn't aged well, but the topic/idea is true.

Take a look at facebook.. And think about it, or do i have to say more? Well i won't.

[technopoptart]

Load of crap... they want to complain about the 60-'s "tech"??? lol

[gamesDAMNED]

This...was...hilarious! Somebody has to send this to Rifftrax at once. And get Orson Welles more booze!

[oker59]

Future Shock came as a generalization of culture shock; anybody who has gone from the civiian world to the military world and even back to the civilian world(as I have) has felt future shock

[oker59]

Another interesting question is will the discovery of E.T.'s create 'future shock'? Arthur C Clarke seems to use such an idea in his 2001.

[MrJacMac1986]

I was born in 1968.I probably had a much more comfortable life than my grandparents or parents growing up.Living in the south they didnt have central air conditioning or vaccines where as I did.But on the otherhand they had a better diet than most people do nowadays thats probably why 3 of my grandparents lived till there 90's

[xXdoctorXXGoNzOXx]

MOST of these comments prove the human race is devolving. Becoming more stupid.

"Conservative in it's time?" Seriously? Gay/Group marriage? This is pretty liberal stuff here, and Toffler makes no judgement.

[muletrack]

Still, if mankind is nothing more than a grown-up germ, and atheistic evolution must honestly insist, it hardly matters what becomes of it.

[muletrack]

Is it a small coincidence that Hal Lindsey's "Late Great Planet Earth" and Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock" came out the same year? Oh no! The world is changing too fast, it must be the end of the world!

[Survivor87]

Now to watch something happy from 1972, an episode of the Brady Bunch.

[videoloverboy]

Yes. I remember seeing this in school when it was new. The issues are the same. Humans are an adaptive species. I'd rather get used to a clean, new-tech society that have to acclimate to a polluted, old-tech one. The youth are always the ones who make real change happen. Don't give up on your humanity. Make a better world one day at a time, one step, one person . . .

[Myrna4Loy]

a bit boring, conservative film in its time.

no big deal.

[battisa]

i love that 70's music in tv show's

[MrJacMac1986]

@battisa TV was better back then. Nowadays its mostly reality style crap

[HalcyonicRepose]

Big Brother loves your gadget addiction.

They will know exactly where your peaceful protest is going to be (that you organized on your iPhone), and they WILL take names, surreptitiously of course.

As hokey as this movie is, he's right about technology, it is controlling you and you don't even know it. Say NO to RFID, Cellular GPS, License Plate reading Red Light Cameras etc.

Cellular Radiation is not as safe as they tell you either.

Read Disconnect by Devra Davis

Watch Full Signal movie.

[Effingbaddude]

Very interesting, it is said you reap what you sow, and so it is true.

I have to agree with JetRanger0007...I grew up seeing the change from slide-rules to calculators and from watching only 3-4 broadcast black and white televisions (which by the way,Color TV just got affordable when this documentary was filmed),to satellite and cable broadband networked cyberspace.

But you know what the real shock we face is? Energy Shock, the world needs oil for so many thngs..It's going to cause extinction

[Duffytoler]

I remember this book from when I was a kid. Dumb then, dumb now.

[jahovahut]

I was born in 72, this makes me feel old. They should do one in 2012 and have micheal moore do it or some other modern day orsen. That would be a cool 40th anniversary remake.

[corblimeymr]

We are all headed for a communityless society where the internet and reality television compensates for its loss. We will gradually feel less fulfilled in our lives and seek further technological advances to make us feel gratified and inseparate from the rest of society (the myth lubricated by slick advertising). It is up to the individual to find their own solutions to this problem but I think that it can be realised through education, personal acheivement and meaningful relationships.

[terramortim]

@corblimeymr Well. . . all technology is a two sided coin. Society has also been liberated in many ways by the internet. For example, it's next to impossible to control the flow of information nowadays. Even people in the days of the Printing press would have been jealous at the wealth of information we've currently got. I think it boils down to the laziness of society. Are they using that tool to access unprecedented information, or are they using it to look at porn and read celebrity gossip?

[PAM2167]

Orson! Get a grip. You should see 2010! Future shock is an understatement!

[gremlinn7]

Damn, these Luddites are depressing.

[wolfchimneyrock]

I wish they included the 1972 advertisements ... vintage ads are so rad

[mccarrpo]

I am so glad that I was too young to remember the 70s. I sort of remember the Love Booat, and that is all I need to remember.

[shockadelicaustralia]

It's not just technology that creates 'future shock'.

Political and cultural change is out of control.

We need to automatically suspect the messages of anyone who preaches the 'inevitability' or 'necessity' of ANY change.

No more 'change for change's sake'. No more revolution, please.

[thechairman123]

What kind of asshole just leaves a baby on the beach alone?

[lakadirsk]

People are missing the point in all this: Future schock does not mean anti-technology: it is a disease of too much change that many people suffer from today. And if you think you are immune from it, just wait--it will catch up with you as you get older LOL.

[Rationalific]

That's it, Orson. I'm not gonna support gay marriage anymore and I'm tossing my computer in the trash just after I post this message. I ain't gettin' no Future Shock! (I wish I had "groovy" '70s font to write that in.)

Wow... Everything considered artistic back in the 70s is just so corny.

[rrrjjjmmm100]

i've never seen a more pro-black,pro-dodge dart w/slant-6,anti-alien,anti-base­ball,anti-kickball doc in my 209 yrs here on earth[t}2x<ooy\**77<<

[MacoutesGabber]

This movie is idiotic. Technology is not "killing" us. If you were severely sick, in the middle ages, you'd mostly die. Today, that would be more unlikely. I like my "future shock." give it to me anytime.

[pauswa1966]

I gave the video thumbs up for its absurd and entertaining value. So what was the point of the whole documentary? We're still having the same kinds of problems as shown in this video. People still behave the same way. Interestingly, the abortion and gay issues are still exactly the same as they were 38 years ago. (Women aren't rallying for "equal rights" anymore than I know of.") Are black people rallying for civil rights? Oh, we have the illegal immgration issues now.

[JazzyKat2009]

@pauswa1966 Why should women and black people rally for rights? They have more than equal rights now. They are privileged. And as for gay people, they rule.

[terramortim]

@JazzyKat2009 As someone who is full on for equal rights of everyone, I agree. It's silly seeing women protesting for such things in this day and age. What right does a woman not have that any man does? Nothing! They already got their well deserved victory. I think that instead of us constantly pointing our our differences we should just forget about those silly concepts. People are just people, and that should be that. Period. Racism is in full reverse these days.

[death2utubenow]

I think we ran out of time and we're all doomed. See you all at the barricades.

[JackRussellTerrier2]

Soylent green is made of people!!!!!!

But seriously, what's that baby doing lying out in the middle of the desert? That can't be safe.

[Composer1777]

This is fucking mind numbingly bullshit, This music makes my head want to explode

[55mandreck]

@Composer1777 Music would be perfect for a Obama commercial or a new brand of toilet - paper . ( Ohbumma.) !

yes he can ,

and he did ,

crap on us all ...

[jackamo23]

There is no 'off' switch to technology, it is as much part of what it is to be human as language and cognition. Given this fact, the only question then becomes, what kind of technological paradigm do we want to live under? The current one whose main economic and ideological driver is warfare followed by commerce/consumption and by the media and whose benificiaries are the minority of the global population or do we want a technological system that benefits the entire planet not just the elite.

[tigerlilyxoxo]

I like the baby just chilling in the sand.

[ybunnygurl]

In the end today its not Future Shock, its life. Technology advances ever second and you get down with that disco sound or you get left in the dust. the end. And sure not everything technology has done is good for us, but has times change and the more we consume nature cant keep so so technology has to be there or out current life style would fall apart.

[JoshSitar]

Don't fear the reaper.

[isomaryj]

Vedere questo dopo quasi 40 anni, mi fa pensare al film come una profezia. Quanto tempo abbiamo ancora ?

[live7pheonix]

people have lost the habbit of getting up early in the morning and working hard for your family.again the family thing is in tatters. well i m from india. over here there is not much of a future shock going on. bt still there is plenty. my grandfather was 6'2" tall . his father was 6'8" tall. his father was more than 7" believe me. this is how we are getting smaller and smaller in our body structure.

[live7pheonix]

even the pc through which im seeing this documentary right now is technology.And this pc technology combined with the internet technology is the main damage factor among teenagers in pirticular. well im 22 ,and still young to say the word "teenagers" bt yeah it is like that. These teenagers would stay awake all night surfing the net. some looking for porno, some looking for games,some watching films, some wathcing sports on live feed.etc.

[sexualpervert]

Techno-logic-kill me!

[lambchopxoxo]

Did you see the vid of the guy that started crying because his Blackberry was taken away from him for a week? We are totally dependent

[nilbud]

So a bunch of fucking morons (lets call them republicans) can't work a telephone or open a packet of peanuts. Fuck 'em they lose, they should have paid attention.

[dandelionpaws]

This documentary was made at the end of the last progressive period in American society. This could whiplash have been the catalyst for the great thirty years of darkness to follow. Look at what little has been accomplished beyond the predictions of this documentary! I guess "Future Shock" accomplished it's objective, "shut it down!"

[civagiarn]

I think lately technology is making us lazier, more autistic and less sociable.

[nilbud]

You think you can blame your laziness on technology, now that's rich.

[terramortim]

@civagiarn Sure, but you don't have to use it in such a way. I use technology, but I go out of my way not to allow it to "own me" in such a way. I enjoy technology only in ways that it aids me, and then I shut it off and go outside to talk with my neighbors and see nature.

[themarkhopkinsshow]

The rate of change in the early 1970's and into the 80's

was pretty drastic. We went from ONE phone company

(that worked-Ma Bell) to splitting it up, the advances in Computing, telecommunications, cable tv, cell phones,

answering machines, consumer video cameras, etc, was a lot to digest for a generation that saw the Beatles on Black and white TVs with a choice of 3 channels. Now things change almost as quickly but more subtly and we're accustomed to it. Pentium 1,2, and 3 are laughable now.

[JetRanger0007]

Technology is killing us slowly - just look at the wave of texting while driving and cell phone use - were slowly doing ourselves in, at own own demise and expense, this documentary is what its trying to inform us, we've become slaves to modern technology and become essentially brain dead unable to think or make right decisions without the use of modern techno- gadgetry !!!

[Rhetorikol]

@JetRanger0007 It's not technology that is the issue, it's our obsession with consumerism that makes us slaves to the system. We're neurologically addicted to all sorts of activities, technology only changes the rate to a pace where we can see everything falling before our eyes.

[Pooknottin]

@JetRanger0007

Let's be fair. What this documentary really is, is a manifestation of luddite technophobia. What technology does is simply advance our control over our environment. The effect it has on us is empowerment. Simply because some technologies have destructive applications, or as you pointed out are misused by morons, does not damn scientific advancement at all.

Answer me this; what is more destructive? Knowledge, or ignorance?

[friendofthefunk]

@Pooknottin For the most destructive results, combine ignorance with just the right amount of knowledge.

[Pooknottin]

@friendofthefunk

Go on.

I'd like to hear the rest.

[55mandreck]

@Pooknottin you asked the question : What is more dangerous Knowledge or Ignorance :

The answer is: They are both, EQUALLY DANGEROUS !................. Knowledge is of little use without Wisdom and can do a lot of Damage eg. H-Bomb- etc.

Ignorance can also be good eg.- If All the world had no Knowledge of a so called God: and just had a sense of wonder at existence - Would not the world be a safer place !! ...

and some would say even a WISER place for.......... being ignorant - ...!.!

[Pooknottin]

@55mandreck

What you seem to want to do here is espouse ignorance as you say first that knowledge is dangerous, then that ignorance is a good thing. Have you considered that the god myth is born of ignorance and that it is the knowledge of the wider universe that had begun to set us free from such insanity?

Do you not also realise that without knowledge wisdom is impossible? Surely you will acknowledge that the very concept of wisdom is the result of human perception and understanding?

[terramortim]

@Pooknottin Knowledge, held by the select few, and not the general population is dangerous. The result from knowledge of the few will always keep that select few in a position of power. Power corrupts, regardless of how good the people are who wield it. You just replace one form of ignorant oppression for another. The problem with society is that it is too consolidated and compartmentalized. Only a few are actually those with knowledge (generally), and the masses are kept in the dark.

[Pooknottin]

@terramortim

Now you're talking about conspiracies. That is a different issue entirely. Those in power have always kept secrets from those who they have power over. Education is targeted and controlled to teach us what they want us to think. The few who examine what is before them and bother to examine the whole picture don't take long to realise that they're living in a system of obfuscated control.

As I said however, that is another issue.

[terramortim]

@Pooknottin Part of that is the misuse of technology that rulers tend to perpetrate. They take good empowering inventions and turn them into sick predatory shadows of their intended purposes. This is my overall point. The problem with a lot of this stuff is who holds the reigns. It's a typical social mechanism where the criminal elite of society pervert the work of others to further their parasitic monopoly of power against the producers of the world. This monopoly is the problem.

[Pooknottin]

@terramortim

Then we're of like-mind although perhaps you're more optimistic about our chances of changing that than I am.

[terramortim]

@Pooknottin History shows a similar curve. Comparatively, we're in better shape than many times freedom prevailed. Even in the best of times 5% of the population were even willing to see the writing on the wall. If you see the long term trends of society, liberty is rising overall. We are merely just more aware of what was always present. It seems worse because we can see it more clearly now, but it was there all along. The difference is that we are much harder to control now.

[Pooknottin]

@terramortim

I'm not so sure. The ability of the plutocrats to manipulate the apathetic masses seems rather too apparent to me. Most are simply willing to take what they're told at face value, while even those who are not are distracted by trifles as the machine erroding our liberties trundles on in the background under the guise of protection and piece of mind. Our political systems are a sham and the media is fettered by its owner's bottom-line. It's a passive system of control.

[terramortim]

@JetRanger0007 We're likely doing ourselves in with technology in more ways than just texting while driving. The explosive rates of cancer are likely a lot more dangerous. We don't yet know the long term medical effects, since technology progresses so fast. We wouldn't know until a technology was decades obsolete that it caused long term health issues.

[Pooknottin]

@terramortim

While technology often has unforseen negative qualities, we would be foolish to stunt our growth by shying away from it's advancement. The pros outweigh the cons and always have - yes even with nuclear technology. Just because of things like thelidemide, the hydrogen bomb and pink's disease people are frightened of what may come next. The truth is that all things must be understood before we can surmount them. If we simply stagnated we'd still be letting people die from TB etc...

[terramortim]

@Pooknottin I'm fully pro-technology, so long as it's available to EVERYONE, and used to empower EVERYONE. The problem with all of these life-extension technologies is that once they are perfected, the ruling class are going to slowly phase them out for the average person, and keep them for themselves. Many top elitists have written about their will to do this.

I think that the concerns in this video are valid. It is mostly important to guard these technologies so that they are used properly.

[Pooknottin]

@terramortim

The persecution of the many by the few seems almost inevitable to me. While I understand and agree with the ideals of frreedom, personal liberty and equality I can't help, but notice that these are ideals which most poeple are not particularly concerned by. Of more concern to most are familial bonds, immediate temporal gain and personal security. Anything more than this seems to be dismissed as a lofty and utopian goal rather than an attainable, or even desirable state of affairs.

[terramortim]

@JetRanger0007 I think that in a way modern techno gadgetry has started to distract us. We find very empowering tools such as the open free internet as a development dwarfing the printing press, but as trends start to migrate toward mobile entertainment media to replace the open free internet on closed architectures, with remote monitoring and censorship capabilities, the noble technology can be turned predatory and detrimental. The problem is who shapes the way of technology more than in itself

[cybersalad]

@JetRanger0007 I think Orson Welles' waistline and cigar killed him faster than technology.

[vosogo]

@JetRanger0007 I disagree. Society has lost its sense of responsibility. Not everyone texts and drives. Not everyone drives their new BMW at top-speed. Only those who cannot be responsible with technology are the ones who have become lazy and less sociable.

Think of all the advances made since this film was produced. In the past 39 years, your very own life expectancy has gone up! The availability of education has increased, and so on. Technology is a good thing, if used appropriately.

[davidgrahamscott]

I'm the baby at 1:33

[yaosio]

Technology is anything that was invented after you were born. :)

[mwboone77]

I was foreced to watch this in school in the 70's and it made us all depressed about the future. Despite Toffler's near perfect predictions, it hasn't turned out so bad. My parent's generation has really been disappointed in this "progress", and the really messed up and confused people left in the wake of the future shock.

[elmelo20400]

I think someone is paranoiac haha sick movie

[67toby]

Dated movie, what's sick is the world circa 2009

[breen234]

i watched this video way back in, like, september. i'm not really sure what i believe in anymore, but after nearly two semesters of college, i think i've decided that people like alvin toffler are just haughty intellectuals. i'm so sick of intellectuals...so sick of them.

[11Jamie11]

breen, your comment is very much a distillation of exactly what the whole video is warning about. With the increasing pace of scientific "progress" has come a loss of permanence and of the strength of our other institutions. Now here you are, adrift. Think whatever you want to about Toffler, but give due consideration to the premise of this. I'm older than you but I see all this happening and I'm not sure what to make of it either.

[aduecey]

Why fear change? Considering that life is so very short we should just embrace what makes us truely happy. No time should be waisted fearing tomorrow as it might not really be justifed.

[axobeauvi]

I both agree and disagree, don't fear it but don't let it control you either.

[TTGOSBORN]

agreed

[lambchopxoxo]

I'm sick of them too. They can talk forever about nothing and love wasting the time that it takes for them to do it. I think it makes them feel important or maybe even superior on some level, just tossing around random knowledge and thoughts to see what happens. Channel it into something productive I tell ya

[BenZeneProject]

If democracy stands for change, what remedy exists for those who do not wish to?

[PARADIS123]

First of all way to go 1970's generation I'm future shocked thanks to you guys....lol Almost all of those concerns came to be true, such as artificial incemenation. I just hope we aren't going towards a future like that of "A Brave New World" where people are genetically modified and grown for a specific cast/class. Another concern is where is today's protesters? Technology seems so widely accepted that the majority of society does not seem to care unless it is causing them problems directly.

[lambchopxoxo]

I think they will be. I think thtat it will be taken that far, but not in my lifetime

[coldfustion]

i was born in 1990 and for me all of this is normal to me.. no shock at all.

[lambchopxoxo]

it wasnt a shock to me at 20 in 1980 either.

[TrentBrad]

Who leaves a baby alone on a beach anyway?

[detagirl]

I think that technology is the human destination.but it's not everything in life.

[100100911]

Should have called it "Boredom Shock" cause thats what I get from the film.

[JayKay62969]

It seems like alot of people watching this have REALLY missed the point, just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD. We must look at the big picture. Yes, I'm sure you enjoy your modern conveniences but at what cost? We now how generations of basically useless people, fat, lazy, unable to truly support themselves (ie: build a house, grow food, manage without electricity). I've definitley noticed the younger generation has a very poor mastery of english, could it be all the texting?

[Lihinel]

...just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD. We must look at the big picture. Yes, I'm sure you enjoy your modern conveniences but at what cost? We now how generations of basically useless people, fat, lazy, unable to truly support themselves (ie: build a tent, collect berries, manage to follow the herds). I've definitley noticed the younger generation has a very poor mastery of hunting, could it be all the farming and housing?

[JayKay62969]

Oh, thanks for reminding me, completely unoriginal too. You nicely helped to further prove my point.

[Lihinel]

Oh, no problem there, glad to help.

Considering your age, its normal to be forgetful, even if you just repeat the same ancient nonsense over and over.

Just stick to the old quote, tell everybody about the youth being good for nothing and point to (technological) change as the underlying reason.

And maybe you want to address the importance of traditional family and religious values too?

[Btw, did you notice how the introduction of written language damaged peoples long term memory?]

[JayKay62969]

You think 39 is old? That explains it, you must be a teenager. You've lived just long enough to think you know it all. I never said youth were, "good for nothing". Overly sensitive arent' we? If you will notice I said generations of people. It's not ancient nonsense, there is a definite link between the poor health of American's and all of our modern "conveniences". Oh, why am I trying to reason with you anyway. You're just a little smart ass unconcerned with facts.

[Lihinel]

Hold on a second, I was referring to your "thanks for reminding me" in the context of living in tents and hunting for prey, not any age tag.

And I said the same age old nonsense, because you find quotes like that, complaining, how the modern easy live has dulled down the youth, even from sources like Socrates or Seneca.

Besides, if the problem is our outdated biology, thats what should be changed.

The main reason people get that fat are, that it ones was an advantage to store every calorie.

[XKT035]

For Orson Wells, the most shocking thing about the future would probably be the bans on public smoking.

[nutherefurlong]

Perhaps not shocking, but certainly irritating :)

[breen234]

if you mean cars are not harmless if you get hit by one, then I obviously agree, but i assume you're talking about global warming. if that's the case, then i'd like to remind you that global warming is still just a theory, and it may or may not exist.

[terryphi]

Your mindset is stuck at around the same time this movie was made.

[breen234]

ironic, my car is from 1972 :)

but seriously, global warming isn't really proven, and PLEASE don't barrage me with statistics, that's so annoying. at any rate, we only have, what, about a hundred years of accurate climate data? that's a pinprick in time. saying global warming is real based of of that is like analyzing a reaction before it's complete. All I'm saying is let's not jump the gun and use the enviormentalist's fav tool- govt -to try to fix everything and actualy mess our lives up

[terryphi]

Okay. Educate yourself if you want. Otherwise, you can sit in your intellectual rut.

[breen234]

well, i admit i could learn a bit more about climate change, but one of the reasons why i haven't is because all of the information i've found about it is so biased and theoretical (that's to prove or disprove it). besides, you always need a skeptic around, because skepticism is what makes for good science

[painxtreme]

Scientists can detect even minor climate variations back several thousand years, just like rings on a tree, so science is looking at a tad more than 100 yrs of recorded climate data.

What hasn't been recorded by man has always been recorded somewhere on the earth.

[breen234]

yea, this is a tough question. I like the idea of indefinite pursuit of knowledge, scientific or otherwise, but sometimes that messes things up. For instance, if the concepts of kinematics as defined by Isaac Newton were left alone, then Einstein never would have developed his relativity theory, and so we'd have no nuclear weapons. On the other hand, if Newton had left knowledge to his own predecessors, then harmless modern conveniences, like cars, may not exist...

[tlitli]

Well, not that shocking, I was born in 1972 and I'm enjoying the tech changes.

[tubester4567]

OMG that was soo 70's. Thanks for the time travel, i really like the 70's.

[GlobalFilmmaker]

Oh my gosh I was born into this Future Shocked world. I hate my iPhone 2.0, I hate my laptop, Google Earth, flying internationally in under 24 hours, I hate the possibility that there may be a cure for my medical condition in the next 20 years, I hate that I can video chat internationally for free, that I can find almost any information I need online, that I can know exactly where on earth I am to within 3 feet, that I can go anywhere on earth with one ATM card. Yep Future Shock is the worst!!!

[Nekosesshy]

baby on the beach...bitter old man...why?? why Orson Welles??

[nicogum]

Cell phones are tracking devices. It used to be that you could say, "I wasn't home," or, "I wasn't in the office." No more. We are on call 24/7. We have tracking devices in our pockets and we freak out if we forget to carry them.

[Niops]

Who leaves a baby on a beach!?! WTF?!

[nicogum]

If it was a beach, my guess is Baby Jane Hudson. But, who's to say it wasn't a desert?

[DJLorenzen]

IMO Orson Welles could use some antidepressive medicine, he seems....well ..... depressed all the time.

[SmileNow2]

This is still true today.

[spellbinder00]

I would of been more impressed if I have seen this back in the eighty's.We have advanced so much futher since then and the future shock goes on to this day.

[kpb96m]

0:26 Note the exact moment the hot blond relises the fish faced technocrat is so universally boring that all interest in what he is blabbering about is lost for all eternity. The eternal bane of the nerd is never knowing when to shut the hell up when addressing the opposite sex.

[grinningape]

Ha, top observation.

[dartmouthhoop]

LOL!!! Great call.

[kpb96m]

Venter is using modified microorganisms to produce ethanol and hydrogen as alternative fuels. (synthetic bacteria for the chemical and energy industry)

He published his complete diploid DNA sequence. It was especially interesting since it contained a diploid instead of a haploid (genotyping). Simulating the population dynamics of higher organisms that can learn (artificial life) is still a long way off.

[ProtoCosmos]

technology has advanced enormously,but is everyone generally happier as a result? The answer I believe is 'no'.

[DJLorenzen]

Agree. happiness is a state of mind, like big muscles is a state of body. some have small some have big. science will someday be able to make people genetically more happy. but anyway that should not really be an argument for anything.

[trainluvr]

Actually there is evidence that the rate of tech advancement is slowing, in unison with a decline in per capita energy use. Been to the moon lately? Driving that hydrogen flying car or riding the maglev? America's 20th Century greatness was built on a big tank of gas that soon will contain mostly fumes. Its now 35 years since Future Shock and we're only further from the equitable future we thought we were working towards. See What A Way To Go on DVD.

[lukensal]

I read today that Craig Venter, a genetic researcher, has created the first synthetic chromosome. We are on the verge of artificial life.

[matamor78]

welles on toffler, great combo at a low low price! :P

[pablohoney78]

The dude on 1.46 has had a hell of a future shock.

[jamesfirst]

Moronic commentors pretending that people who criticize technology are nothing but paranoids should turn off their tv and try to read other things than comics and fashion magazines before leaving such irrelevant mooings.

Technology won't make you clever.

[5282A]

The momentum of change has acclerated as predicted in the movie.  Walmarts destroying local communities, allegiance to the corporation, limited choices with franchises, etc. Its a problem accelarated allover the world.

[uklandman]

The dude with the beard hat and sunglasses right at the start pushing the other guy out the way, then removes his shades. You're the man.

[pablohoney78]

Its Jude Law gone back in time and in disguise.

[KENKENNIFF]

Lol, yeah, he's obviously rejects the superficialities of the western imperial pigs but he wants to look his best on telly darling. Orson Welles musing on the possibilities of cloning and then putting an enormous cigar in his mouth is pretty telling as well.

[GeneralFatman27]

Wow. That whole thing is hilariously rediculous. "Oh no! Progress! Quick, stop it!" What a bunch of paranoid fools.

[sunwestmovies]

Progress leads to an implantable chip being put in you. it's called the Mark of the Beast.

[koabr3gn]

yes, it also leads to people who believe in all that revelation crap to be open to complete ridicule from others

(esp. on "progressive" technologies such as youtube)

[koabr3gn]

sorry, post is for sunwestmovies on next page of comments.

(wrote in wrong place)

[califgirl101]

I agree! thank you very much for sharing this documentry with us. :)

[Down10]

As a member of that generation (born in the 1970's), I can declare: YES, we are still suffering from Future Shock.

[wlmg]

Toffler is a Luddite asshole.

[AEigner]

have to agree there.