Megatrends was Published in 1980, 1982 by Warner Books.
Megatrends, an extremely popular and widely quoted book, has been
considered by many people to be a mainstream book with great significance to the business
community. John Naisbitt is known as a "futurist", and many have considered him
to be an objective observer of trends in society.
Actually, far from being objective journalism:
Megatrends presents the social tenets of the New Age movement.
John Naisbitt uses a form of propaganda called "bandwagon"
propaganda. He is saying, in effect, "Come on everybody, this is the way we're all
going, so everybody get on board!"
In the jargon of the Human Potential movement, which John Naisbitt
applauds, he is, in a sense, trying to reprogram our national subconscious to give us a
vision for the New Age.
Between Two Eras
The main premise of Megatrends is that we are between two eras, i.e., we
are in a transition from an old era, an industrial society, to a new era, an information
society.
The Global Village
"We must now adjust to living in a world of interdependent
communities".
Naisbitt says that the "Global Village" has been created by
computers and satellite communications technology.
"Satellites have turned the earth inward, upon itself."
Naisbitt repeats the popular New Age rallying cry, "Think Globally,
act locally."
"Our response
to the high tech all around us was the evolution of a highly personal value system to
compensate for the impersonal nature of technology. The result was the new self-help or
personal growth movement, which eventually became the human potential movement."
Human Potential
"Technology and our human
potential are the two great challenges and adventures facing humankind today."
Spiritual Demands
"We must learn to balance
the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of our human nature."
Human Potential Movement
"We created the
group-therapy movement, which led to the personal growth movement, which in turn led to
the human potential movement (est, TM, Rolfing, Yoga, Zen, and so forth- all very high
touch)."
Networking and Ancient Tribes
The Aquarian Conspiracy
"Networking, notes
Marilyn Ferguson, who has written extensively about the subject in The Aquarian
Conspiracy, is done by 'conferences, phone calls, air travel, books, phantom
organizations, papers, pamphleteering, photocopying, lectures, workshops, parties,
grapevines, mutual friends, summit meetings, coalitions, tapes, newsletters.'"
Ancient Tribes replacing Family and Church
"The
strength of traditional networks such as family, church, and neighborhoods is dissipating
in American society. The gap is being filled with new networks functioning, as Marilyn
Ferguson puts it, as the spontaneous modern-day equivalent of the ancient tribe. Networks
fulfill the high-touch need for belonging."
Global Peace: Human Potential, Networking, Interdependence
The New Era
"We are living in the time of
the parenthesis, the time between eras."
"Do we have the innovative ability to venture forward into the
future?"
"Even while we think globally, the place to make a difference
politically is at the local rather than the national level. Whether the issue is energy,
politics, community, self-help, entrepreneurship, the consumer movement, or wholistic
health, the new creed is one of self-reliance and local initiative."
"This newly evolving world will require its own structures. We are
substituting the network model of organization and communication."
Computers will keep track of us
"We created
the hierarchical, pyramidal, managerial system because we needed it to keep track of
people and things people did; with the computer to keep track, we can restructure our institutions
horizontally."
"Today we live in a world of overlapping networks, not just a
constellation of networks but a galaxy of networking constellations."
Participate in our own Evolution
"That is
why the human potential movement that advocates both discipline and responsibility is such
a critical part of the high-tech/high-touch equation. By discovering our potential as
human beings we participate in the evolution of the human race. We develop the inner
knowledge, the wisdom, perhaps, required to guide our exploration of technology."
"With the high-touch wisdom gained studying our potential as human
beings, we may learn the ways to master the greatest high-tech challenge that has ever
faced mankind - the threat of total annihilation by nuclear warfare."
"High-tech/high-touch. The principle symbolizes the need for
balance between our physical and spiritual realities."
"The new leader is a facilitator, not an order giver."
Our Great Hope: Global Interdependence
"Instead
of resisting increased economic interdependence, we should be embracing it wholeheartedly.
In my view, it is our great hope for peace."
John Naisbitt and the "Aquarian Conspiracy"
The Aquarian Conspiracy was written by Marilyn Ferguson in 1980.
Called the "Handbook of the New Age" by "USA Today",
it describes an "underground network" that is "working to create a
different kind of society based on a vastly enlarged concept of human potential."
John Naisbitt wrote the foreword to the 1987 edition.
"My book, Megatrends, was the soft-core document on change; The
Aquarian Conspiracy was the 'hard-core stuff'".
"During times of great change, people seek some kind of structure.
Such a search for parameters accounts in part for the current religious revival. Hundreds
of new churches have been established during the last two decades, helped in part by
electronic media; many of these churches have highly structured fundamentalist beliefs. A
similar proliferation of new religious groups occurred 150 years ago, when we were in the
midst of another basic shift, from an agricultural to an industrial economic base."
"There is, however, a rapidly growing population to whom such
external structures are not appealing; these are the "inner-directed," people
inclined to reach down inside to their own spiritual resources. So we are experiencing a
simultaneous revival in personal spirituality. The individualism of the new spirituality
is fed by the individualistic nature of an information society, and also by the trend I
have called the 'high-touch response' to all of the high-tech in today's society. It is to
this spirit that The Aquarian Conspiracy
speaks." (click on the title)
The New Age Catalogue
The New Age Catalogue, was published in 1988 by the editors of
"Body, Mind, and Spirit" magazine.
The catalogue includes books on channeling, Edgar Cayce, crystals, tarot
cards, meditation, yoga, etc.
Megatrends, along with The Aquarian Conspiracy, is featured
in the section called, "The Planet".
Megatrends 2000: Ten New Directions for the 1990's
Another more recent book by John Naisbitt, written with Patricia
Aburdene. Published in 1990.
Between Two Ages
John Naisbitt's views in Megatrends are actually just a
popularization of ideas already expressed twelve years earlier.
