Fred Polak: Society

Fred Polak was Dutch futurologist. Explore interesting quotes on society.

Fred Polak: 26 quotes 0 likes

“Modern technology could advance to the point at which social engineers would be true masters of a complete conformist society which could no longer distinguished from a mass concentration camp. We might ultimately be directed by a superstructure of intelligent machines… Revolutionary changes in the next 30 years would be farther-reaching that many over the past 3.000 years.”

Fred Polak

Quote about the future challenges that industrial society faced due to the societal catastrophe, which was considered to be 20 to 50 years away. Cited in: Ian Murray (1972) " Workers told of peril of technology http://www.kwilliam-kapp.de/pdf/Kapp%20in%20NYT%2072.pdf". In: The Times, April 16, 1972

Intelligence , Change , Past

“Values, means and ends… [that drive this process in current societies; mean that we now] stagger under the double load of not only having to construct (his) own future but having to create the values that will determine its design.”

Fred Polak

Source: The Image of the Future, 1973, p. 9 as cited in: Rowena Morrow (2006) "Hope, entrepreneurship and foresight". In: Regional frontiers of entrepreneurship research

Future

“Social change will be viewed as a push-pull process in which a Society is at once pulled forward by its own magnetic images of an idealized future and pushed from behind by its realized past.”

Fred Polak

Source: The Image of the Future, 1973, p. 1 (as cited in: H.C. Marais (1988) South Africa: perspectives on the future. p. 15)

Change , Past , Future

“The rise and fall of images of the future precedes or accompanies the rise and fall of cultures. As long as a society's image is positive and flourishing, the flower of culture is in full bloom. Once the image begins to decay and lose its vitality, however, the culture does not long survive.”

Fred Polak

Source: The Image of the Future, 1973, p. 19

Flowers , Future