| It is better to err on the side of daring than the side of caution. | |
| — Alvin Toffler | |
| From his book: “Future Shock“ | |
| . | |
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Daring Errors
November 18, 2013 by kmabarrett
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I dared to read Toffler’s Future Shock and it is one of the few books I have started then laid aside. I don’t remember now exactly why. On the whole, I agree with his comment though because caution speaks of fear which is its own sound of death, though there are times when caution should definitely be heeded. How are we to recognize the point at which one takes one path or the other?
I read it decades ago when it first came out in paperback. Back then, being a “future-ologist” (not sure if that’s a real word) was new in popular literature. Most of the predicting was left to science-fiction. Anyway, it was hard going because Toffler had a main point which was pretty much explained in the first fifty pages and then used to beat the reader over the head for the next several hundred pages. He said it in slightly different ways each chapter, but it was the same thing over and over again. I read “The Third Wave” when it came out and it was more of the same – one idea repeated ad nauseam.
Your comment “caution speaks of fear which is its own sound of death” is also a wonderful turn of phrase! I think people are far too cautious, but then, I’m an outlier, so I would. The message I took away from “Future Shock” was to embrace change, seek to understand it, and move towards it – not away. When others seek the status quo, it helps in being an outlier.
As to your question of how do we recognize the point the paths diverge? That is the great illusion! All paths are the same, it is only the ending which is unknown (until we get there). We can only plan for things remaining the same. We cannot see the future and every decision we make (or don’t make) creates the future (that small portion which we can directly control). The truth is even hindsight is only useful for “creating / substantiating” correlation. It is just as faulty in establishing causation as believing we can predict the future. To paraphrase Churchill (“I know what history will say, because I intend to write it.”): I know what the future will bring, because I intend to make it.
Like I said – the great illusion.
The original idiom is ‘to err on the side of caution’.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/err-on-the-side-of-caution
I like this one better 🙂
Interesting. I thought you were going to say: “Audentis Fortuna iuvat.” “Fortune favors the brave.” — Virgil
Great quote. Fabulous improvement on the original.
What is the original?