"I can't keep up any more." The world of Future Shock is already here

[Mark]

Real life (RL) is very busy for me, extremely so. I'm involved locally with some initiatives and organizations and seeking to make a change, in my lived environment, so spending a lot of time surfing the net and reading articles is something that I relegate to what little down time that I have and that is after personal time with my partner and communication and time spent hanging out with friends and family. Reading books? Entire books? So hard these days. I continue to buy them, my library is growing and, someday, when all of this is no longer the norm, when videos and articles I've dl'd are archived and accessible by generator and precious time on a rickety and flickering electronic device, I expect to "catch up" and find out why things turned out the way they did.

[Deborah (ahamkara)]

"If more of you wore sunglasses and ear plugs you might be cured in a decade or two"

Haha - harsh, but so true!

For myself, I feel there is no need to "keep up".
Shift your frequency and you will experience a different reality.

Technology pulls you into a loop designed to keep you off center and removed from your true nature. Information is not knowledge . You can parse and parse and parse reality into every smaller bits and never understand the larger structure. You can flood yourself with details gleaned from a thousand different perspectives and still never discover reality.
Watch children. Laugh more.
Peace

[Cara]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
No, don't be concerned: I'm fine.

But the rate at which information is coming at us all is NOT.

This thread is in The Human Condition, but it might be under Technology, or The Internet. It actually started as a prospective post in PURSUING X: Marketing, money and manipulation in the Alternative Media (an important thread, I'd contend) but then I thought it deserved its own thread... at least for the moment.

Here's the question. Who else feels the same thing?

I'd thought of putting it in the PURSUING X: Marketing, money and manipulation in the Alternative Media thread, because a lot of this is about marketing.

To be more specific, the urgent, scramble-to-keep-up feeling that many content providers have (like researchers who upload regular YouTube videos, and/or do weekly podcasts) — that they have to compete. And for them, to compete means publishing more and more and MORE.

All these people are competing for YOUR attention. Can you feel it?

Here's the really big problem. I can't keep up — I have more YouTube videos 'downloaded for later' than I'll ever watch, simply being realistic — and I don't even have a family or an office job. So for most people, they have NO CHANCE.

And what that means is that even for those who are motivated to somehow keep in touch as best they can with whatever's happening, they only get tiny fragments. No in-depth analysis: and the tiny fragments they get might be the wrong fragments.

And carefully reading well-researched books from cover to cover? Forget it.

It means that very few people now have any deep understanding of many subjects. They just skip along the surface, like a flat stone skimming on water. Just read a few dozen YouTube comments, tweets, or Facebook posts. It's clear to see.

Despite the vast library all around us, most people know virtually nothing about anything. It's true.

This is all a signal-to-noise problem, of course. It'd be bad enough even if all the information that was hurtling at us was detailed, accurate, and high quality. But it's not. 95% (or more!) is facile, misleading, empty, shallow, or false.

And it's only going to get worse. Less would be more here. 'More' is NOT more. 'More' is actually becoming less and less.

For reference (apologies to those who are aware I've mentioned this several times now), we have Alvin Toffler's seminal and prophetic Future Shock, written in 1970.

He predicted that the rate of change of change itself would increase steadily, as would the sheer quantity of information inexorably coming at us — with little scope for us to be able to turn off the fire hose.

And he predicted that many people would go into a kind of 'shock', and would retreat, simply not being able to cope any more. They'd retire into a small personal corner, and focus almost exclusively on what was very near at hand. Very little else.

Who else is nearing this point? Do please share how you find yourself feeling.

I came across a 1972 film version of Alvin Tofler’s book Future Shock today:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fkUwXenBokU

Published on Jun 26, 2016
'Future Shock' is a documentary film based on the book written in 1970 by sociologist and futurist Alvin Toffler. Released in 1972, with a cigar-chomping Orson Welles as on-screen narrator, this piece of futurism is darkly dystopian and oozing techno-paranoia.

Given the revelations about Google, Facebook, the Integrity Initiative, Cambridge Analytica, etc. (for instance here, here, and here) it seems timely to consider the role of technology and its wider systems in the creation of our Future Shock.

[Peter UK]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Here's the really big problem. I can't keep up — I have more YouTube videos 'downloaded for later' than I'll ever watch, simply being realistic — and I don't even have a family or an office job. So for most people, they have NO CHANCE.

And what that means is that even for those who are motivated to somehow keep in touch as best they can with whatever's happening, they only get tiny fragments. No in-depth analysis: and the tiny fragments they get might be the wrong fragments.

And carefully reading well-researched books from cover to cover? Forget it.

It means that very few people now have any deep understanding of many subjects. They just skip along the surface, like a flat stone skimming on water. Just read a few dozen YouTube comments, tweets, or Facebook posts. It's clear to see.

Despite the vast library all around us, most people know virtually nothing about anything. It's true.

This is all a signal-to-noise problem, of course. It'd be bad enough even if all the information that was hurtling at us was detailed, accurate, and high quality. But it's not. 95% (or more!) is facile, misleading, empty, shallow, or false.

And it's only going to get worse. Less would be more here. 'More' is NOT more. 'More' is actually becoming less and less.

For reference (apologies to those who are aware I've mentioned this several times now), we have Alvin Toffler's seminal and prophetic Future Shock, written in 1970.

He predicted that the rate of change of change itself would increase steadily, as would the sheer quantity of information inexorably coming at us — with little scope for us to be able to turn off the fire hose.

And he predicted that many people would go into a kind of 'shock', and would retreat, simply not being able to cope any more. They'd retire into a small personal corner, and focus almost exclusively on what was very near at hand. Very little else.

Who else is nearing this point? Do please share how you find yourself feeling.

What might be required in the light of all that is to have one or two dedicated researchers in their chosen field, experts in that type of information simply because they are passionate about the subject. It is their subject.

On a forum like PA they would need to be recognised and considered to be trusted sources.

We can't and shouldn't be expected to be experts in everything.

[Icare]

This thread reflects exactly how I feel right now.

And this concerns a lot of subjects that Bill and others mention on here. I have been suffering from information overload for quite some time now and it's been detrimental to my health.

I have spent the last 3 days going through Bill's personal Q and A thread and it took me that long because I find it very interesting and there are a lot of cross-references in there which I felt I had to check up on. I still have a few tabs open that I haven't got through yet (e.g. the 'Charles material').

Then there is a lot of new information about Covid 19, for example, and I could spend a lot of time to check all the graphs and predictions that some people kindly took ages to work on, but I have decided for myself that I won't any more, simply because it is all getting too much for me, especially as many graphs appear to take the official numbers given out as their basis. Well, I don't think those numbers can be trusted at all, which makes it impossible to come to any fairly reliable conclusions anyway.

I have decided to simply lean back, quietly prepare myself for the worst case scenario and stop letting it bother me too much.

I have had to accept I will no longer be able to fly to Sri Lanka for 2 weeks of ayurvedic treatment in April which I booked months ago and which I usually find very beneficial (I've been doing it once a year for the past 15 years and believe that's what kept me going). I have accepted that going to Egypt for 2 weeks in June (also booked months ago) will most probably no longer be an option either, and I won't let that get me down either. There's just no point.

I feel the only thing that should matter for me now is to take care of my health and continue to grow spiritually, so I plan to go back to some old-fashioned reading (of books I find helpful in that respect) and will to get back a decent level of physical fitness.

And I will kepp sending out healing light.

And this forum has given me so much good advice on nutrition and alternative treatments that I've stocked up my little medicine cabinet with all sorts of good things now, I feel I'll be alright. If not, then so be it.

I'll stay at home as much as I can and let this cloud pass, hopefully it will pass in the summer. I have planted a few nice sping flowers and enjoy seeing them grow.
Panicking and fretting every day just isn't constructive in any way. I have given up on reading the newspaper and just look at the headlines. I have given up watching TV. I'm just tired of worrying all the time.

And it's always good to know that in case I need information on anything specific I can always find some on here.

[pyrangello]

I care, your among the Avalon family here. I'd say right now we're all running a bit of anxiety right now. Remember life is like a pendulum,it swings to the extreme left end right but always comes back to center. We're all together on this ride.

[Icare]

Thank you for saying that, pyrangello, that's one of the things that keep me going.

Yes, we are all in this together and we can always find someone with empathy and/or a piece of genuinely good advice. That's good to know.

I will keep sending healing light to PA and to the Earth.

[Anka]

I will always try to find the importance of the Universe, being in the middle of nature under the sun rays, enjoying the fresh air and watching the ducks on the lake.

I will always see the joy of life in the eyes of children, I will always extend a helping hand to those around me.

The predictions themselves accentuate our ephemerality in our temporary needs, we must find stability, in which the spiritual and positive existence converges to the depth of our soul, a kaleidoscope of living colors, in essence the only possible validation: The courage to experience life in the most beautiful and Loving way possible.

Nothing can eclipse the fundamental intelligence of the human spirit.
The area of ​​stability and comfort is within our reach, we just have to learn how to create peace and familiarity to access it at least with those around us.
We just have to keep up with the change in the most friendly, stable and positive way.
The culture of our progressive awakening is an arc of protection at the end of consciousness of the most enduring race over time, ever recorded in the journal of the nature of the human spirit.

Together we will succeed.

[tan_hm]

I am a new member here, there is so much information that I don’t know where to start or how to discriminate a topic that interests me from another. They all interest me and find them of great value, but I have to go through 10 years of amazing information plus the acceleration of overflowing information. Not a complaint at all. 😊

[Ratszinger]

Posted by tan_hm (here)
I am a new member here, there is so much information that I don’t know where to start or how to discriminate a topic that interests me from another. They all interest me and find them of great value, but I have to go through 10 years of amazing information plus the acceleration of overflowing information. Not a complaint at all. 😊

Welcome. Yes it can be an information overload. Just remember Baby steps!!

[Peter UK]

Posted by tan_hm (here)
I am a new member here, there is so much information that I don’t know where to start or how to discriminate a topic that interests me from another. They all interest me and find them of great value, but I have to go through 10 years of amazing information plus the acceleration of overflowing information. Not a complaint at all. 😊

Please take your time, there is a wealth of information here so maybe prioritise the subject areas you are particularly interested in as a first objective, narrow then down to maybe something like 5 and approach them with a keen interest. Make casual reading a feature for everything else to begin with, in that way you should avoid overwhelming yourself.

[ralfy]

The catch is that future shock, if premised on acceleration of technology, might be replaced by limits to growth. That is,

Probably around 85 pct of the world's population earn less than $10 a day. But they want to earn more, and they are becoming part of the global middle class that take over the global economy. They are part of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and forty emerging markets with upwardly mobile, very ambitious, and eager young men and women who want to avail of what the aging middle class populations have in richer countries and are more than willing to study and work hard for such, and the latter is counting on them to do so because their own earnings and returns on investment are dependent on more consumers worldwide buying more goods and services. Hence, the drive for technological advancement needed to increase productivity.

But in order to meet the basic needs of the current population, we will need at least one more earth. In order to meet middle class conveniences of most of the population, definitely more than one. In order to meet the same of a growing population, even more.

In short, acceleration of technology is done to increase productivity, and sales from what is produced is guaranteed because there are large numbers of young buyers worldwide, but the resources and energy needed to increase productivity is limited, which means instead of future shock one might see resource shock. And if history is right, that should be accompanied by environmental damage of an incredible scale, wars over resources, the spread of disease as vectors for such increase, soil erosion and species die-offs, etc.

[Denise/Dizi]

I feel like I should write some things about how people can recognize manipulations, and be helpful to those seeking truth and enlightenment.. But that would take a day, and I would still miss things, and I would lose people in all of the words..

I suppose I would suggest that people that truly seek knowledge and enlightenment, seek it from within.. Ask yourself questions, be firm on the standards to which you hold yourself to, and then expect that same standard from those that you are hoping to gain more knowledge from.

Listen to the language being used.. Can that have two meanings? Could there have been a better word used to explain something that wasn't as ambiguous? I use simple words, not because I have a lack of vocabulary, but because truth doesn't need a degree from a school. I do not care about grades, or marks on a piece of paper.. I care about the words I speak, being taken for what they are.

I went to school seeking knowledge, and instead, got educated, indoctrinated, and led around, being taught the ways of a "System".. But it is not the only system we must live by.. It does help those who wish to maintain power over the masses however, to "school" us together, like fish in an ocean, all swimming the same way.. We are led into believing one doctrine... One set of beliefs.. Free thinkers are both celebrated, and shunned...

We get "Reports" of our efforts, based upon this system, we fear not being "adequate".. as in this system? One must "Measure up".. We are not expected to RISE up.. Only to be able to be measured by how much of this system we take on board..

The news now "reports" to us that which we are to believe, the government reports to us.. and if that isn't enough, they form committees to make new reports. These are not facts, but reports that they're giving us. And we are expected to live in this system.. We agree to by compliance.. The definitions of "Reports" vary.. But i know many "Reports" that were handed in at school, were given failing grades as they didn't meet the standards of the SYSTEM".. Not that they were not correct, but that they didn't meet an expectation.. This is ONE definition of"Report"- a piece of information that is unsupported by firm evidence and that the speaker feels may or may not be true.

It is a belief...

Definition of System... as this is what we are living UNDER, whether it be government, financial, etc...

a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.
"the state railroad system"
h
Similar:
structure
organization
order
arrangement
complex
apparatus
network
administration
institution
setup

Physiology
a set of organs in the body with a common structure or function.
"the digestive system"
the human or animal body as a whole.
"you need to get the cholesterol out of your system"
Computing
a group of related hardware units or programs or both, especially when dedicated to a single application.
Geology
(in chronostratigraphy) a major range of strata that corresponds to a period in time, subdivided into series.
Astronomy
a group of celestial objects connected by their mutual attractive forces, especially moving in orbits about a center.
"the system of bright stars known as the Gould Belt"
short for crystal system.

2.
a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method.
"a multiparty system of government"

When you look at this, you realize that this isn't a natural system, but a construct. One that was put into place by the few to control the many. In this "system", there is no place for empathy, love, or anything of the like, it is all about the system.. And maintaining that for the whole.. And while we do so, we are destroying the eco system, the family system, the connections that we celebrate when we are young.

We let go of dreaming, as that doesn't fit into this system.. In this system, there has to be results, no "What if"... Dream all you like, but there needs to be a paycheck at the end of the day, forcing many to stay in this system.

Waking up to THAT will free you from all the rest in huge ways. You will begin to recognize that this system, in many ways conflicts with your internal beliefs, feelings and emotions. Many are miserable. We live on a beautiful planet and many kill themselves for their own disappointment or sadness.. Or worse.. their inability to thrive in this system.

As far as chaos. You control that chaos which you allow into your life. Remember that. It is ok to ask for help when you need it, to limit your exposure to things that overwhelm you, and to be selective of that which you allow into your life. If the news overwhelms you, turn it off.

Many will write how to take supplements, how to eat better, how to this and that, they're all "gurus" in their own fields, but only you know you.. If being alone is hard for you, reach out. If you are overwhelmed by the amount of information being thrust upon you? Tune it out, stop looking. Become critical of that which you allow in your "Bubble".. Learn to discern what is part of the "System" and what isn't.. Learn to recognize that within your own community. And equally you will be more prepared to walk away from that which doesn't serve your well being...

And pay attention to language... It's important.. if people use "Sweeping words" like "Reporting" rather than investigating.. walk away...If people are "Suggesting" something, they're then only going to turn around and state that it was a suggestion.. when you hold them accountable to their words.. Wake up, give yourself knowledge and hold others accountable to their actions..

I wrote out a lot about how to recognize such things, and erased it, But I can post it if someone is interested in seeing what I am suggesting if they feel it may help them in their "Wake up" process.

First and foremost,

Learn who you are, and who you wish to be, and don 't let anyone else convince you otherwise.. Even while living within the systm.. And LIVE THAT... And once you do that doors will open. If you want to learn how to recognize the stuff that pulls you down? Ask someone else who already has discovered such things. But remember that is the only thing that you asked them. As they may not see other things the way that you do. And that's ok.

Investigate for yourself, don't wait for "reports.. " or we will all keep swimming around in the same circles, while the few lead us into those directions..

And breathe...

This is what I try to do...

[Bill Ryan]

Who's starting to really feel this now?

[Delight]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)


Who's starting to really feel this now?

Have been feeling, thinking and behaving as if the whole reality has smashed to smithereens such that information will not be digested, just one bit piled on another and stacking up so thick that it needs a bulldozer to move.

However, I have also had a rather new and interesting "BS" meter refinement. I think we have been guided away intentionally from trusting that we can boil all the verbiage to essence and digest it. This however means that we have to have the rudiments of a "self" which is NOT socially dependent. This self must have conviction NOT based on comparisons to others' views. It comes after a few years of tinkering with knowing one self. It takes a bit of "sociopathy" (meaning perfectly willing to act against public opinions). TO THY OWN SELF BE TRUE means a filter of "This is MY STAND". It is all about principles that are comparison benchmarks. The use of a deep decision guide in us is not inscribed in stone but on the heart. Change comes form within as one tests information. It is a psychic intention maker to be the authority.

I sincerely think we have been led to this precipice for a reason. When we must grow wings to fly over the garbage mountain of "information without end", we DO GROW WINGS or we are buried. IMO this is harsh reality. Those who live by no inner rudder, may die in the rip tides. natural law IMO.

[Ewan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)


Who's starting to really feel this now?

I was back then, it is one of the reasons I 'disappeared' off the forum. Thankfully I am cured.

I think the majority of us will have reached a point where we can consolidate on our existing beliefs and viewpoints but for goodness sake stay open. Turn inward and reinforce that which you hold to be good and true, let the rest of the world just slide right on by, stay alert and be receptive to whatever might appear in synchronicities. Just don't fall into the stream again.

[Bluegreen]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)


Who's starting to really feel this now?

I got used to this feeling in 1991, and haven't paid attention since

[Anka]

"Once you're inside, there's no way out." That's the system(So they say).
It is not written anywhere, however, that we must fall to our knees, even if we stumble over it.
A concrete motto in the context of the world we live in, cannot be included in a textbook.
The recent history of events cannot be reconstructed in an exceptional description of the experience of 8 billion years in a few hours of a very short article. It is very controversial to say that we can look at the big picture of the world, no matter how far back we go to see the current picture.The more we know, the more we prepare to know

Between a remnant conflict called society and an example of a reality, we should be the revolutionary guards, stages of our existence, that existence in which we calculate everything that is related to ourselves, and we must not calculate what we think we know about ourselves in connection with reality.

People hope, search, and sometimes find the truth, and when they are face to face with him, they run away.
Maybe it's about the way of the way how everyone finds the truth.
I don't want to say that I found it, I don't want anyone to believe me about anything, but I really want everyone to experience it.
In front of every human I am ready to say: "You leave me with no alternative but to say that I have nothing left to prove, but what you feel in your own nature of managing your abilities. "

When we work so hard, and at the end of the day we are satisfied that we have achieved everything we set out to do, that is the best sign that maybe we need to stop.
We should be, and are, the beautiful players of life, the ones who play at many ends understanding the resonability in the landscape of a ride.
We must not say that we can no longer resist, failure can often be a good constructive result, we must not say beautiful things that make us/others feel better, we must let the feelings flow from our acts and words that will later makes us/others feel better.
Let's put a spring in every answer and step of ours, before we are afraid, we are first and foremost human beings, and this is not nothing.
It is "outrageous" and wonderfully increasingly less loss.

If the routine is reliable and we can rely on it, then let's make it mean something to the audience of life. Why not?
In all relativity it is still quite difficult to have a job in this world, in exchange for a cost, relevance or occupation, why not make it more interactive in our/other favor?

We don't need to be afraid to talk, or talk about what we are afraid of, we have the responsibility in the specificity to feel what is different and to launch this for the benefit of others.
It doesn't matter what our motivation is, or if we need to find one, it's important not to "shoot" the target with the name "I deserve better" to the detriment of a vague goal.
There is no time for anything, people are floating on a pile of information, we all feel we deserve to be part of the conversation, maybe we need to know how to consent to this, it is worth the relevance to be present and not to make mistakes.
We are all, here, available, awake, in a world where everything can be re-contextualized and there is no help maybe, but we are the only ones, however, who choose.

We must, maybe, travel with others today and the show could be everyone's in the end.

[Savannah]

I think I'm anxious and feel like most here, that something big is happening and it may not be good, at least for a while. Thus I keep reading turning to videos and predictions for answers and over load myself. Its a trap, I know exactly what I'm doing and I lecture others not to do it. I should walk away and ride my bicycle but instead I feel that important piece to the puzzle is just around the corner. I cant read long posts because I'm fried. I'm breathing wild fire smoke and dodging the homeless on the street that have multiplied like weeds. I actually bought a gun and don't know how to use it and never fired one in my life. I'm not alone there is no amo left in CA. I work 50 hrs a week and have a 2hr commute each day. I'm cruising for bruising as they say and here I'm writing another post after a 10hr shift.

[rgray222]

I retreated long ago, there is simply too much to keep up with and it is exceptionally difficult to tell who is being honest or who has a financial, political or personal agenda. I try to pick and choose my topic carefully, this applies to this forum and virtually all media. Some topics like Q & 911 can run you so far down the rabbit hole that the end result is frustration and anger. I decided long ago that chasing the rabbit down the hole will only leave me at the bottom of the warren looking at a bunch of like-minded and very friendly but confused rabbits.