The one great megatrend of the new millennium. In this important and timely book encompassing the key trends of our time, John Naisbitt, the world's foremost social forecaster and bestselling author, takes us on a compelling and kaleidoscopic tour of our contemporary 'technology immersion' and our accelerated search for meaning. High Tech/High Touch shows how we need to understand technology through a human lens - to comprehend life-science technologies through theology, consumer technology through high-touch time, science of the body through art. Exploring everything from the effect of consumer and genetic technologies (the most influential of all technologies to come) to the problems that parents face contending with violent electronic games, the authors' insights span science, religion, commerce, communications, art, leisure and many other areas of our daily lives.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The great irony of the high-tech age is that we've become enslaved to devices that were supposed to give us freedom. That's why in High Tech/High Touch, John Naisbitt decided to revisit a chapter from Megatrends, his 1982 bestseller, in which he discussed the split between high tech and what he dubbed "high touch."
We all know what high tech is--these are the technologies that "make us available 24 hours a day, like a convenience store," Naisbitt writes. He says we live in a "technologically intoxicated zone," the symptoms of which include a continual search for quick fixes and lives that are "distanced and distracted." High touch, on the other hand, is the stuff we give up when we're tuned in to the technological world: hope and fear and longing, love and forgiveness, nature and spirituality. To discover where the twain shall meet, Naisbitt takes us on a journey that includes Celebration, Florida, the Disney-created community that was fully wired from the get-go; Martha Stewart, who shows people with complicated lives how to enjoy simple tasks like gardening; extreme sports and adventure travel, in which ordinary people expose themselves to the full fury of nature and gravity. And that's all just the first quarter of the book; Naisbitt goes on to look at how video games desensitize children to violence; the challenges the human genome project presents to religion and spirituality; and, finally, "specimen art," in which artists create disturbing images of life, death and human sexuality.
There's no conclusion, in the traditional sense, only a look at what's happening in our world. But the reader will probably take some sort of action after finishing High Tech/High Touch: switching off the cell phone for a few hours a day; permanently locking away the children's violent Nintendo games; maybe even booking a vacation at the most remote location possible. Anything to get away from the constant buzz of a wired world. --Lou Schuler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
What do Martha Stewart, genetically cloned sheep and the scandalous Piss Christ artist Andres Serrano have in common? They're all manifestations of "high tech/high touch," an unwieldy concept pulled from Naisbitt's bestselling 1982 Megatrends and here dusted off as a cautionary paradigm for the technologically addled 1990s. Written collaboratively with Naisbitt's daughter, Nana, with additional help from artist Douglas Philips, the book draws on Naisbitt's indefatigable research techniques to spot trends in newspapers, television shows, magazines and the Internet. Naisbitt is concerned with the conundrums that technology has presented to American culture. Children soak up violence from video games like Redneck Rampage, while the specter of eugenics looms over the burgeoning biotech industry. A final section lightens the cautionary tone of much of this book, delivering an eloquent survey of artists who are probing the ethical questions raised by evolving medical practices. Naisbitt sees Americans trapped in what he calls a "Technology Intoxication Zone," and he urges people to unplug their laptops long enough to rediscover the simplicity of starry nights and snowfallsAand remember what it means to be human. Naisbitt at least raises questions about the effects of technology on culture and the spirit that the authors of The Long Boom (reviewed above) seem to think are a waste of valuable bandwidth. $125,000 ad/promo; 7-city author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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43 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In High Tech - High Touch, a new book by John Naisbitt and coauthors Nana Naisbitt and Doug Philips, the questions of the next millennium are raised. The authors do not answer these questions, but they urge us to begin discussing them. Where are we taking technology or is it taking us? Has technology fulfilled its promise of giving us more leisure time or has it made our lives busier and more complex? Is the line between real and virtual blurring and if it is what does that mean to our children and our society? Are we on the verge of a leap in evolution through genetic engineering or will we tinker with life and create monsters like Dr. Frankenstein? Will religion and science find ways to understand and appreciate each other or will they continue their bitter battle over the turf of truth? And what does the Specimen Art movement say about who we are and where we're going? High Tech - High Touch is a fascinating exploration of these and other significant questions of our time. I highly recommend it to everyone living on our little island in space.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By G.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Don't read this book. It will confuse you into thinking that the world of technology is dangerous and emotionally painful, without every actually explaining to you how or why. The only reason I don't give it fewer stars is that it's real easy to read. The problem is, it doesn't actually say anything.
I'm doing my master's thesis on how technology effects human experience of meaning, and I was really looking forward to this book as a layman's thought-provoking look at the subject. By the time I was halfway through it, I was ready to bang my head against a wall. There's just no substance, no logical progression of thought-the whole thing is full of semi-neurotic, somewhat morbid emotional appeals (e.g. naming a section about video games "From Pingpong to Murder") and unsupported logical jumps. The author clearly passionately believes that using technology isn't "soul enriching," and that using it so much is driving us into the arms of numb, addictive distractions; he bases the whole book on those assumptions without ever making a case for why they're true.
High Tech, High Touch is constructed more like a repetitious epic poem of lamentation than it is any real discussion of anything. Long laundry lists of statements, both of facts and of melancholy poetic conjecture, which never build to any kind of analysis. Example, on p. 45:
I'm doing my master's thesis on how technology effects human experience of meaning, and I was really looking forward to this book as a layman's thought-provoking look at the subject. By the time I was halfway through it, I was ready to bang my head against a wall. There's just no substance, no logical progression of thought-the whole thing is full of semi-neurotic, somewhat morbid emotional appeals (e.g. naming a section about video games "From Pingpong to Murder") and unsupported logical jumps. The author clearly passionately believes that using technology isn't "soul enriching," and that using it so much is driving us into the arms of numb, addictive distractions; he bases the whole book on those assumptions without ever making a case for why they're true.
High Tech, High Touch is constructed more like a repetitious epic poem of lamentation than it is any real discussion of anything. Long laundry lists of statements, both of facts and of melancholy poetic conjecture, which never build to any kind of analysis. Example, on p. 45:
"The most dangerous promise of technology is that it will make our children smarter. President Bill Clinton's 1996 State of the Union address proclaimed 'the Internet in every classroom' to be a noble goal. Access to information will not teach synthesis and analysis. School expenditures in information technology reached [a high number] in 1997, yet at the same time programs for music and the arts were defunded. [sic]" (p. 45)
That sounds pretty bad, right? Sure it does. But what does it actually say? It doesn't actually say that technology won't make children smarter, or what really does make them smarter. It doesn't explain why it's not noble to have the internet in classrooms. It implies that students don't analyze or synthesize information via the net, only access it, but it never supports or explains that idea (Online classes? Educational software? Email discussions with experts? Forums where other people are studying similar subjecs? How is net research different than library research r.e. analysis and synthesis?) It doesn't say how much, or where, the arts were defunded, and it implies that the arts are more "noble" than online networking but doesn't explain why. The entire book is like that.
This book is grounded in a concept that embodies an increasing psychological disconnect between two generations: those who grew up with networked technology, and those who didn't. The concept is: "If an event or interpersonal transaction doesn't take place in the physical world, it can't fundamentally benefit or fulfill you." This book assumes that and restates it dozens and dozens (and dozens) of times, but it never actually provides an argument for why we should believe it. To a lot of people who didn't grow up with technology, that statement is so intuitively, emotionally obvious that it doesn't need to be supported or explained. The problem is that, according to a great volume of current research being done with the "net generation," that concept is -not- intuitively obvious to -them-. They find personal significance, power, community, and existential meaning in the things they do online. These two different experiences of an emerging trend must -both- be acknowledged in any supposed assessment of technology's effects on human psychology or quality of life.
If you want to learn about what technology is doing to our minds, read Smartmobs or Growing Up Digital. If you want to learn about consumerism and overwork and meaning, read Your Money or Your Life. They'll show you more than poetry and fear.
21 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By Phil Chien
Format:Hardcover
Recently I always keep asking myself a question: " Are we addicted to the Internet world too much?" This book raises some good questions for us to begin to think about: 1. Do we favor the quick fix, from religion to nutrition? 2. Do we fear and worship technology? 3. Do we blur the distinction between real and fake? 4. Do we accept violence as normal? 5. Do we love technology as a toy? 6. Do we live our lives distanced and distracted?
Reading this book is a very good beginning to look for signs of these symptoms in the world we live as well as in our culture. "Technology always originates from human nature."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Amateurish
This book takes on the important issue of the role of technology in our lives, and I agree with the general orientation of the authors, but their exploration of the issue is... Read more
Published on October 30, 2009 by Irfan A. Alvi
4.0 out of 5 stars
"The railroad rides Mankind"
I must agree with a number of other reviewers about this book. It promises a lot more than it gives. Read more
Published on January 25, 2006 by Shalom Freedman
1.0 out of 5 stars
Deceptive and Disjointed
One of the most misleading titles I have ever read. Although purporting to cover issues regarding society's relationship to technology, the authors present a short and poorly... Read more
Published on November 15, 2004 by Joshua Drake
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly Recommended!
Megatrends author John Naisbitt's new book (co-written by daughter Nana Naisbitt and artist Douglas Philips) is a fat book of ideas that touches upon genetics, art, media violence,... Read more
Published on June 18, 2001 by Rolf Dobelli
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enlightening, entertaining, and fascinating
Are you a conscious consumer? Or do you passively accept every technology trend that comes your way, believing the promises you hope it delivers? Read more
Published on March 30, 2001 by C. Joan Villanueva
4.0 out of 5 stars
We need more balance
John Naisbitt is very high touch in person. When he told me his next book would be about high tech, high touch--the most popular and shortest chapter in Megatrends--I was hoping... Read more
Published on February 22, 2001 by Randall L. Englund
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing follow up to his chapter in Megatrends
In Megatrends Mr. Naisbitt discussed the correlation between the human need to balance the high technological advances we achieve with a need to obtain a personal and humanistic... Read more
Published on May 12, 2000 by GraberDC
4.0 out of 5 stars
A little ecentric!
My congratulations go to the author who was able to compile a book about the "new" economy and information age. Read more
Published on February 4, 2000 by "joe7276"
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