Third+Wave+Ch+19

Summary:

The basic code of behaviour of the Second Wave, containing the ground rules of social life, is changing rapidly as the onrushing Third Wave arrives. Second Wave synchronized daily life, typing the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness, of work and play, to the underlying throb of machines. However the Third Wave carries with it a completely different sense of time, challenging mechanical synchronization, changing basic social rhythms. Flextime, a system which permits workers to choose their own working hours, is spreading fast. Time is being de-massified. There is also a powerful shift toward increased night work. The modern city is described as “a Gorgon that never sleeps and in which a growing proportion of citizens work outside normal diurnal rhythms”. This subtle but powerful shift away from the Second Wave and toward a new temporal structure in our lives means a break with Second Wave synchronization. This restructuring of time also brings several effects, such as increasing difficulty to arrange for face-to-face social contact, redistribution of traffic flows in both space and time and the reduction of energy cost and pollution by leveling out peak loads. There is also a change in the meaning of punctuality. The disruptive effects of being late are no long so obvious. As the Third Wave moves in, the relationship between civilization and time is changed and at the same time, the ground rules that governs the people is also changed. Another change is the trend of customization. While Second Wave society encouraged standardization, consumers nowadays desire increasingly individualized configuration. Even prices, culture and political views have de-standardized. The swing towards de-centralization is evident as well with the Third Wave crushing in. Regardless of politics or companies, “decentralization” is the new trend. Large companies race to break departments down into smaller “profit centers”, even economy is radically being decentralized as national economies break down into regional parts. The Second Wave’s obsessive emphasis on maximization is also being changed. Corporations are now actively searching for ways to reduce the size of work units and reduce the scale of operation. Finally, even the principle of concentration is being turned around as people move from a reliance on concentrated deposits of fossil fuels to a more variety forms of energy. In short, the entire code book of Second Wave civilization is in the process of being revolutionized as Third Wave civilization sweeps in.