A sneak preview of tonight's presentation

What ever happened to the Information Society? Where is the Information Age? What, indeed, happened to the "workerless" factory, the "paperless" office and the "cashless" society? Why aren't we all living in the "electronic cottage," playing our part in the push-button "teledemocracy" - or simply relaxing in the "leisure society," while machines exhibiting "artificial intelligence" do all the work?

Remember when the microchip first appeared on the scene in the late 1970s and we were told that social transformation was inevitable? Remember the Siemens report, which allegedly predicted that 40 per cent of office jobs would soon be sacrificed to the "job destroyer"? And the plan by one Dutch political party for a new tax on automation? Remember, indeed, the US Senate committee report which earnestly discussed the social implications of a 22 hour work week by 1985 and retirement at age 38?
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(However, T)he vast majority who are in the workforce appear to be working harder than ever. There is very little sign of the "leisure" society having arrived yet! According to one survey, the amount of leisure time enjoyed by the average US citizen shrunk by a staggering 37 per cent between 1973 and 1989. Over the same period, the average
working week, including travel-to-work time, grew from under 41 hours to nearly 47 hours - a far cry from the 22 hours someone predicted in 1967! (Gibbs 1989).

- MEGATRENDS OR MEGAMISTAKES? What Ever Happened to the Information Society?

What happened to the projected time saving by computerization and automation?

In 1962 the cartoon series Jetsons depicted a future America in which George Jetson works at his job at Spacely Sprockets 3 hours a day, 3 days a week.

Anyone doing that?

At least one person is:

Tim Ferris, the author of the 4-Hour Work Week, is leveraging the same processes and techniques that have been used by the robber barons to turn your leisure time in multi-billion personal bank accounts, to get his leisure time back.

He spends his free time roaming the world and doing interesting things.

However, this is only one level of freedom. In prison some prisoners may be confined to a small cell, while others may be able to roam a large yard. However, they are all still prisoners.

Beyond this relative and temporary financial freedom is freedom from the material conditioning of the senses and the mind. Tonight we'll be discussing the 3 Things You Need to get free from that.