by You might enjoy this radio interview I did with Russell Scott of the West Coast Truth radio program. We covered a wide range of topics. The bulk of the conversation was around the ideas on values shifts in my new book ConsumerShift, but we explored a variety of futures topics, such as the role of history in studying the future.
One topic we discussed that I haven’t touched on much in this blog is the relationship between changing values and technology. The quick summary of how the values types view technology is that traditionals tend to oppose it on the grounds that it upsets the status quo, which they would like to preserve (again, remember we are making generalizations and this is not true of all traditionals across-the-board). Modern eagerly embrace technology as the engine or provider of success and materials goods. Postmoderns, however, are more careful or even skeptical of technology. They see that technology has consequences and while it provides good things, it has side effects that are often not-so-good. In particular, many technological developments have negative environmental consequences. It is no surprise that Northern Europe, the most postmodern region in the world, was also the epicenter of resistance to genetically-modified foods. They felt that even though there was no clear evidence that they were harmful, that it was best to be cautious before embarking down that path. Integrals, too, take a view that technology should be appropriate to the situation, and are not likely to embrace technology for technology’s sake. In other words, it is most like a modern who is camping out overnight to get the latest iPhone. Postmoderns and Integrals will be more inclined to wait-and-see.
It was a great interview. Russell was comfortable exploring a wide range of topics and it was amazing how quickly an hour passed. Enjoy! Andy Hines
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