Alvin Toffler, Author of 'The Third Wave', Passes Away

Alvin Toffler, the American author and futurist, passed away at the age of 87. According to the New York Times, Toffler, who became famous for writing 'Future Shock', died on June 27 at his home in Los Angeles. He first gained recognition in Iran with the translation of his book 'The Third Wave'. Toffler, a self-taught social scientist, was born in 1928 in New York City. He rose to fame in the late 1960s by writing for magazines while researching social revolutions. His interest lay in studying America's cultural and financial dominance over developing countries. The result of this research was the publication of 'Future Shock' in 1970, which sold millions of copies worldwide and has been translated into over twenty languages. The book is still being republished. In it, Toffler argues that the combination of science and technology along with capitalism and new forms of human communication will create a type of human society that has never existed before, a prediction that can now be clearly observed in 2016. Toffler's predictions made three decades ago regarding the future of culture, family, government, and economy now seem very accurate. He correctly anticipated the simulation of animal species, the popularity of personal computers, the creation of the internet, and cable television. Toffler stated that the 'roaring wave of change' would lead to the rise of individualism, the weakening of the institution of marriage, confused families, increased crime, drug use, and ultimately social isolation for humanity. He viewed these phenomena as a psychological response of humans to the confusion caused by rapid technological and cultural changes. Toffler believed that the speed of these changes would be so great that it would shake the foundations of societies, institutions, and even countries. 'Future Shock' was the first book in a trilogy. The second book, 'The Third Wave', was published in 1980, and the third, 'Powershift', in 1990. These two books were published in collaboration with Toffler's wife, Heidi Toffler.