Voting Station

Alvin Toffler

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Author

The Resume

    (October 3, 1928-June 27, 2016)
    Born in New York City, New York
    Author and futurist
    Wrote ‘Future Shock’ (1970), ‘The Third Wave’ (1980), ‘Powershift’ (1990) and ‘Creating a New Civilization’ (1995)
    Former associate editor of ‘Fortune’
    Founded the management consulting firm Toffler Associates (1996)

Why he might be annoying:

    He originally planned to be a poet and a novelist, before deciding he lacked the gift for either.
    He predicted we would have colonies in space and underwater cities.
    He wrote most of his books with his wife Heidi but she did not get co-author credit until the mid-1990s.
    He had a tendency to coin clumsy neologisms such as ‘indust-reality,’ ‘practopia,’ ‘prosumer’ and ‘psycho-sphere.’
    He said, ‘We futurists have a magic button. We follow every statement about a failed forecast with ‘yet.’’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was married to Heidi Farrell for 66 years until his death.
    He predicted the rise of the internet.
    He coined the phrase ‘information overload.’
    Ted Turner decided to launch CNN after reading Toffler’s forecast that the big three broadcast networks’ era of dominance was coming to an end.
    Admirers of his work included House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and AOL founder Steve Case.
    His assessment of his work was, ‘It opens up questions about what’s possible. Not necessarily what will be, but what’s possible.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 10 Votes: 30.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 12 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying