About the Book

Future Shock, the 1970 book by American futurist Alvin Toffler, presented a convincing argument that the world is becoming too complicated for human psychology to deal with. He proposed that "information overload" would cause stress and confusion resulting in social discord. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

I often use the phrase "woke with clarity" to describe that first clear objective for my day. Apparently "woke" is now a four-letter word. I also cringe at the expression "common sense" because if we don’t have common references, then we can’t have common sense.

The purpose of this book is to suggest concepts that would provide commonality for several of the most divisive issues of our time, if accepted universally.

The first issue is to recognize the ongoing battle between our inherent animal instincts and our cultural guardrails. Our animal instincts are fixed by evolution, but our cultural guardrails are easily forgotten in times of suffering and confusion.

The second is the issue of humility. Our big brains give us powerful imaginations, and this often leads us to believe in things that have no basis in objective reality. Nowhere is this more obvious than in our core beliefs in religion and science.

Perhaps the most profound issue is that of human suffering even among those who have all of the needs in life satisfied. If you have never missed a meal, if you live in a comfortable abode, if you have companionship, and you have every opportunity to revel in the endless beauty that surrounds us, then why be stressed, struggling, and discontented?

I’ve often been asked if this book is a real-life story. Well, kinda.

The Whale Enigma Translation Initiative (WETI) from the book mirrors the real-world Cetacean Translation Initiative (CETI) project. Yes, we are on the brink of communicating with another advanced species. I don’t think that we will like what they say about us.

The science of quantum mechanics in the book is also real. What the bizarreness of it means is suggestive but speculative.

The origins of The Graces are also real and predate our traditional religions. The corruption of our religions by the kings is logical but is poorly supported with real-world evidence.

The concept of the Old Wiring comes from observing the ubiquitous greed, self-service, and racism in the real world. To put a name on it seems useful to me.

What the hell are we here for anyway? Is it a game to see how much we can take? Is it not the ultimate evil for one person to own and control millions of times the resources of the average human? This would not be so much of an issue if billions of humans were not suffering in poverty.

There is no toleration for boredom left in me. After decades of writing Product Descriptions, User Manuals, and Safety Guides that were likely only read by bean-counters and marketing people, I’m done with boredom.

So people laughed when I said I’d become a science fiction story writer... well, they’re not laughing now.

I have learned from my mistakes, and I am sure that I can repeat them exactly.

The word humility is used in the book dozens of times. But here is the bombastic opposite:

I believe that if humans cannot take the step from the Age of Hubris into the Age of Humility we are doomed. We must reevaluate the faith that we have in both science and religion.

And even more bombastic and arrogant:

I believe that this book is the most important document in generations.

So there you have it. It is my hope that much more verdant minds than mine will run with the concepts in this book.

There is an old song by It’s a Beautiful Day called "Galileo". The lyrics speak of a man seeing a truth in the stars, but no one will listen to this truth. He tries a better way with a gentle song.

I have tried a gentler way with this book.