Interview w/ Douglas Rushkoff - Present Shock
April 23, 2013 at 11:55 PM (QQQ)(DIA)(SPY)(GLD)(FB)
Present Shock - Interview w/ Cyber Visionary Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff coined the phrase "Social Currency" when Mark Zuckerberg was in 6th grade. He prophesied the Dot Com collapse at SWSX in 1997. Rushkoff is the author of 12 Bestsellers with diverse topics ranging from Judaism - An Open Source Religion, to Ecstacy. It's probably worth mentioning that Douglas spent several of his formative years defining and shaping culture with none other than the lovable and infamous, Dr. Timothy Leary.
From PBS Documentaries, to All Things Considered and even a stint as consultant to the United Nations, Rushkoff marks his territory in an unmistakeable manner. He shares the world as he sees it, as it could be, and as it really is. Three very distinct realities from the mind of one man.
"This is a wondrously thought-provoking book. Unlike other social theorists who either mindlessly decry or celebrate the digital age, Rushkoff explores how it has caused a focus on the immediate moment that can be both disorienting or energizing. In an era that seems intent on deleting the art of narrative, Rushkoff creates a compelling narrative of the way we now live."
– Walter Isaacson
In his new book, PRESENT SHOCK: When Everything Happens Now (Current; March 15, 2013), Rushkoff introduces the phenomenon of presentism, or – since most of us are finding it hard to adapt – presentshock. Alvin Toffler’s radical 1970 book, Future Shock, theorized that things were changing so fast we would soon lose the ability to cope. Rushkoff argues that the future is now and we’re contending with a fundamentally new challenge.
Wall Street traders no longer invest in a future; they expect profits off their algorithmic trades themselves, in the ultra-fast moment. Voters want immediate results from their politicians, having lost all sense of the historic time scale on which government functions. Kids txt during parties to find out if there’s something better happening in the moment, somewhere else.
Douglas Rushkoff
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This interview also available on iTunes.
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Reader Comments (1)
Nice article!