Seizing the Future: How the Coming Revolution in Science, Technology, and Industry Will Expand the Frontiers of Human Potential and Reshape the Planet - Hardcover

Michael G. Zey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067174948X ISBN 13: 9780671749484

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1994

Synopsis

An optimistic look at future trends in society discusses the impact of the revolution in science, technology, and industry on culture, medicine, education, and health

About this title

About the Author

Michael G. Zey is a management professor in the School of Business Administration at Montclair State College in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.

Reviews

An exuberantly upbeat and beguilingly plausible guide to the brave new world that sociologist Zey believes could eventuate from what he views as a macroindustrial era, i.e., one in which planet earth's inhabitants have the means and opportunity to gain full control over forces that previously have buffeted them. Asserting that the present day is a historically defining moment, Zey reviews how humankind has established (and can extend) its dominion over agriculture, energy, medicine, space exploration, manufacturing, solid-state electronics, transportation, telecommunications, and a host of other fields. While the Global Village has the resources and technology to guarantee an age of economic abundance, he warns that practicable cultural and sociopolitical institutions will be needed to ensure a smooth, productive transition. Ethical issues involving, among other things, the longevity made possible by advances in genetic engineering or allied discipline must be addressed as well. Having set an inviting stage, Zey (Management/Montclair State College) gets down to cases on what's required from individuals, their elected representatives, and large communities. To begin with, he argues that nations that can foster the most stable family structures (from whence come creative, intelligent risk-takers) will be in the macroindustrial era's vanguard. Along similar lines, the author proposes ways in which governments could improve the educational systems needed to school workplace contributors, encourage constructive self-development, provide incentives for private enterprise, instill a sense of national purpose, and otherwise prepare an enlightened citizenry to meet the challenges of an expansive, if exacting, future. Credibly optimistic scenarios on what it will take for the US and wider world to realize the promise of bright tomorrows that lie within their reach. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Kick out the jams, and put on a happy face! Those other futurists--the ones who said forget industry, this is the information age--are full of it, Zey says. Humanity has already embarked upon the "Macroindustrial Era," in which, thanks to biotechnology, nanotechnology, and all the high-tech wizardry cybernetic development hath wrought (information's not bad, you see, just a means to material ends), productivity will burgeon, as will the speed of transportation, human health and longevity, and not at all incidentally, the scale of human endeavors--space exploration, undersea tunnels, cities underground and out at sea, etc., etc. An optimist whose prognostications surely will please conservatives, Zey marshals much evidence and enthusiasm to advance his argument, which rests ultimately upon the understanding, which Zey says derives from Christianity, of time as linear and progressive rather than cyclical. Also attractive to conservatives will be Zey's insistence upon reestablishing the nuclear family as the social building block of progressive society, his horror of taxes, and his advocacy for population growth, not stability. Progressive liberals, meanwhile, may warm to Zey's internationalism even though it is a matter of world trade rather than federalism, and populists will like his anti-elitism and disdain for any barriers to full participation in the coming bountiful times. With the right breaks, Zey could be the next Alvin Toffler. Ray Olson

Zey (sociology, Montclair State Coll.) shows how society is entering the Macroindustrial Era in which humanity will be extending its capabilities in industrial, agricultural, and medical technologies. He describes advances in transportation, manufacturing, energy, nanotechnology, and space science and explains how a higher quality of family life, a strong and flexible education system, and supportive cultural values are needed to facilitate society's transition to this next era. Zey succeeds in promoting science literacy by using nontechnical language to detail active areas of research. However, his optimism about the colonization of planets, the expansion of the human life span, the per fection of cold fusion, and the rapid economic growth of developing countries seems unfounded. Recommended for sociology of science collections in public and academic libraries.
- Bruce Slutsky, New Jersey Inst. of Tech. Lib., Newark
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 067174948X
• ISBN 13: 9780671749484
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416