Generational Dynamics

It's a wonderful thing to know that you're not alone.

A prophet in his own land may never be understood but when he attends the International Conference on Prophesy he knows that his will no longer be a voice in the wilderness. Surrounded by peers who share his approach and world view, he can exchange ideas and divinations without going through the infinitely slow and painful process of getting others to accept basic axioms. Instead, the assembled focus on development and refinement of their specific fields of augury.

Googling on "generational dynamics" this morning, I bumped into John J. Xenakis' site: Generational Dynamics. A programmer, parent and MIT grad, Xenakis came to this field of study the same way I did -- through reading the 1997 book The Fourth Turning, an American Prophecy, by William Strauss and Neil Howe. Xenakis has taken the basic premise from their book and applied it to a larger and longer swath of history in his on on-line book.

There is so little accessible material written on generational dynamics that I was thrilled to find his site. His focus, however is very much on the military aspect of cultural changes while mine is rooted in small scale community. I am not a little disturbed, for example, by the following advice in Chapter 11:

Consider joining the armed forces or taking a defense-related
job. Patriotism isn't the only reason. An increasingly large portion of the nation's jobs will be defense-related, and this may be the best way to find a job.

Still, his analysis of the social forces that drive historical events is very compelling. As I have found in various, generally Austrian school economic sites, it is a great feeling to attend the conference and be surrounded by others who approach the problem with the same tools I do. Now I just have to find the focus group within the conference that shares my social values.