Newnoise1 takes on the present and the future with Alvin Toffler

I read Alvin Toffler when I don't know where the world is heading. Futurist and writer of Future Shock, The Third Wave and Power Shift, Toffler makes all the changes surrounding me make sense and gives me clear glimpses of where we're heading.

Don't let the fact that Power Shift was published twenty years ago, in 1990, make you think it's not relevant. Toffler's writing in 1990 is a spot on prediction for the world we are living in and the world still to come.

Take the monetary system. Where before we measured the value of money by figures printed on paper now we measure the value of money by symbols printed on a computer screen or information stored on smartcards. Where before money use to represent a specific amount of gold, today money represents only the fact that who ever takes it from you believes it's got value. It’s a matter of faith.

Plastic money is another leap of faith. You never actually see your money except when printed on a computer screen. This has its advantages since you don't have to crawl around the floor looking for coins after turning your pants upside down for the zillionth time without checking the pockets first.

What's strange is that even if plastic money seems to be the cheaper option compared to paper money, banks have figured out ways to make it look as if it's the most expensive option ever considered when you gawk at your bank charges. This is my opinion not Toffler's.

When money changes banks change. What do banks keep if they do not keep paper money in vaults but only blimps on computers? Could other companies do that just as well as banks? What power will banks have if they loose the power they have over the current monetary system? Toffler makes the point that our entire perception of what power involves and means is changing.

Work has changed and will change fundamentally. Work use to be measured by the time you labored, in future work will be measured by how hard you think and how easily you can transform information and knowledge into more useful information and knowledge. Where you could in the past teach someone a job in an hour or less new jobs require skills and it takes a long time to train employees. Therefore companies will want to hang on to those employees who they've spent some time to train.

When work changes power structures change. Governments who don't realize that knowledge is the basis of current and future development will be left behind.

Individuals and corporations who harness the power of technology in providing quality information, knowledge and services will be the ones who thrive and will have the power to influence the world.

Think ahead . . . your move has consequences

I'm always listening for something to write about. Often I hear something worth writing about but don't get around to writing it down. So something happened that I think is worth sharing. I'm not sure what the moral of the story is.

We were having a sports day at work. I chose to play chess and landed up playing against a black man who was somewhere in his fifties. He was a good player. His face was square and silent as he moved. No surprise, even if chess is a quiet game, memories of a life time of being treated like slaves by white women taught older black men in South Africa that it is wiser to be quiet in certain company.

After the game, I asked him where he learned to play. He said he had learned to play in jail.

"I was jailed for killing a white man." his face was expressionless, only the warmth of his voice distracting from the severity of the comment.

Stunned, I just sat there, not moving, I was playing against a co-worker who had murdered someone - how rare was that?

"That was very long ago, many years," he said. "In jail I learned many things, how to play chess, also to weld." He looked straight at me while I tried to remove all expression from my face.

"So I changed from a bad man . . . when I was released the company gave me this job as a welder." He smiled a big, broad smile, strong white teeth flashing against his dark skin. With that he turned around and left. His humility stunned me as one of a dozen impressions zoomed through my mind.

Did he think it was more important to me that it was a white man that he had killed? How could he be so open about it? I looked down at my white hands and wondered how big the divide between one human being and another can be.

I considered that the one thing we did have in common is that people were willing to teach us and we were willing to learn. Of course he had much tougher circumstances to rise above than I who use to be part of the then privileged white minority.

We crossed the divide in the game of chess, the game that teaches you to think ahead, work out a strategy, think before you make a move and remember . . . your move as consequences.

Warm bath Binchy

Reading Maeve Binchy is like soaking in a warm bath filled with foamy suds before you've considered opening a tap. Her characters are complex and grow throughout her stories, her style is warm and smooth forcing you to turn the pages even when you know you have to get up early for work. She gives a unique perspective with each character experiencing the same events from a personal point of view. Her deep love of Ireland shines through in all her writing.

Maeve Binchy is a master at work. She is an ideal author for the beginning writer to study, especially her character perspectives and expert story telling style.