The Wikiness

If I had read the Futurist Tofflers’ book (Revolutionary Wealth 2005),  I would not have felt quite so anxious in the last year or two, watching the trappings of my chosen profession disappear around me. Alvin and his wife foresaw all of this. The Industrial age is dying, the knowledge economy struggles to be born, and every social institution is affected. So why not mine? Page 8 plainly states their revolutionary truth: “The world is being transformed, dramatically and irrevocably.” And there will be upset. Such transformations can be harsh. Just ask Marie Antoinette.

A little later comes this description of what “real” (as opposed to pseudo) revolutions do: 

Real revolutions replace institutions as well as technologies. And they do more:  They break down and reorganize what social psychologists call the role structure of society… traditional roles are changing at high speed…On and off the job, the result is rising ambiguity, high uncertainty, complexity and conflict as tasks and titles are continuously renegotiated.

Yep. That about sums up where it’s at in my professional world. But once I get over my apprehension, I say, Woah.  What an opportunity I have: to be able to renegotiate my job (which is fluid now) and give new forms to a new economy. Pretty awesome, the part I get to play in this revolution. At this particular time and place,  I dig my role in the historical narrative!