Alvin Toffler

Alvin Toffler is an author and a futurist. He has served as a visiting professor at Cornell University. He is a faculty member of the New School for Social Research as well as a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. He has also won several awards including the McKinsey Foundation Book Award for contributions to Management Literature. Along with his numerous achievements, he serves on the Advisory Council of the U.S Comptroller-General and has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and is a member of International Institute for Strategic Studies. Together with his wife Heidi, they have written the best-sellers "Future Shock" and the "Third Wave" as well as the "Revolutionary Wealth." The Tofflers are known around the world for their work that has influenced presidents, prime ministers, top leaders in fields ranging from business to non-profit organizations, as well as educators, psychologists and social scientists. Alvin and Heidi Toffler draw not only in economics, but on social psychology, history, politics, pop culture and religion, revealing the hidden or unnoticed relations among them and their implications for the decisions we make today. Their work has impacted many fields ranging from business to politics to military affairs and the arts.

The central premise of Toffler's talk was that human history can be seen to fit patterns. The pattern he has been seeing in his career takes the shape of three great waves or advances. Each wave pushes the older society and cultures aside. In 1980, Alvin Toffler published his idea of different ages of human history to which he called "Waves of Changes." The three waves were described as "The Agricultural Wave," "The Industrial Wave," and "The Information Wave." These waves affected different aspects of life. The wave theory affects society and business because as we move to the third wave which is the information era, we are able to access information and data as quick as we want it to be. In this case, businesses can fast approach their target markets and easily access their information. The society is not only on the third wave, but also on the fourth wave which is the "Communication Wave." This wave is the ability to collaborate and communicate with others using technology.

The First Wave began approximately 10,000 years ago. That time marked the end of the Old Stone Age and the beginning of the New Stone Age. This is approximately when the Agricultural Revolution started. Some of the aspects which began in the First Wave are: the extended, family, farm land, survival, owning a small land, and less mobility. People began clearing land and tilling soil in order to plant crops as opposed to gathering what nature provided or failed to provide. They also started domesticating animals and herding of cattle. The new knowledge, techniques, and practices of agriculture provided them with larger and steadier supplies of food. With the knowledge, tribes stopped moving around and following herds' migration patterns, and began building permanent structures, houses and barns. Settlements started to form and grow. In result, these expanded into villages, towns, and vast cities and empires of ancient times. As the knowledge and tools developed, agriculture became more efficient and effective in providing food. Wealth increased and was able to support a growing number of people not involved in the production, such as the nobility, the clergy, and the military. Social classes and early division of labour began to emerge.

The Second Wave was the Industrial Revolution. It ran from the late 18th century to early 20th century. This wave brought with it mechanization as well as new production techniques such as the assembly line. The Industrial Age's new aspects are: shift to nuclear family, respond to factory model, and staying in the same locale. During this period,