Alvin Toffler (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer, futurist, and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on their effects on cultures worldwide.
Toffler's ideas and writings were a significant influence on the thinking of business and government leaders worldwide, including China's Zhao Ziyang, and AOL founder Steve Case. ==Early life== Alvin Toffler was born on October 4, 1928, in New York City, and raised in Brooklyn.
"They were Depression-era literary intellectuals," Toffler said, "and they always talked about exciting ideas." Toffler graduated from New York University in 1950 as an English major, though by his own account he was more focused on political activism than grades.
Being radical students, they decided against further graduate work and moved to the Midwest, where they married on April 29, 1950. == Career== Seeking experiences to write about, Alvin and Heidi Toffler spent the next five years as blue collar workers on assembly lines while studying industrial mass production in their daily work.
After leaving Fortune magazine in 1962, Toffler began a freelance career, writing long form articles for scholarly journals and magazines.
His 1964 Playboy interviews with Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov and Ayn Rand were considered among the magazine's best.
His interview with Rand was the first time the magazine had given such a platform to a female intellectual, which as one commentator said, "the real bird of paradise Toffler captured for Playboy in 1964 was Ayn Rand." Toffler was hired by IBM to conduct research and write a paper on the social and organizational impact of computers, leading to his contact with the earliest computer "gurus" and artificial intelligence researchers and proponents.
In his early works he focused on technology and its impact, which he termed "information overload." In 1970 his first major book about the future, Future Shock, became a worldwide best-seller and has sold over 6 million copies. He and his wife Heidi Toffler, who collaborated with him for most of his writings, moved on to examining the reaction to changes in society with another best-selling book, The Third Wave in 1980.
This AT&T work led to a study of telecommunications, which advised the company's top management to break up the company more than a decade before the government forced AT&T to break up. In the mid-1960s, the Tofflers began five years of research on what would become Future Shock, published in 1970.
In his early works he focused on technology and its impact, which he termed "information overload." In 1970 his first major book about the future, Future Shock, became a worldwide best-seller and has sold over 6 million copies. He and his wife Heidi Toffler, who collaborated with him for most of his writings, moved on to examining the reaction to changes in society with another best-selling book, The Third Wave in 1980.
The book has never been out of print and has been translated into dozens of languages. He continued the theme in The Third Wave in 1980.
In 1990 he wrote Powershift, also with the help of his wife, Heidi. In 1996, with American business consultant Tom Johnson, they co-founded Toffler Associates, an advisory firm designed to implement many of the ideas the Tofflers had written on.
In 1990 he wrote Powershift, also with the help of his wife, Heidi. In 1996, with American business consultant Tom Johnson, they co-founded Toffler Associates, an advisory firm designed to implement many of the ideas the Tofflers had written on.
During this period in his career, Toffler lectured worldwide, taught at several schools and met world leaders, such as Mikhail Gorbachev, along with key executives and military officials. ===Ideas and opinions=== Toffler stated many of his ideas during an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1998.
Alvin Toffler (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer, futurist, and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on their effects on cultures worldwide.
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