21st Century Stupidity (The Dilbert Future - Scott Adams)

Member Name: a-true-ben

Product:	The Dilbert Future - Scott Adams
Date:	18/12/03 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Another funny book

Disadvantages: But it's not like regular Dilbert

Having said before how much I enjoyed The Dilbert Principle (plug, plug) I decided to go straight on and read The Dilbert Future, a sequel of sorts. Besides, I?d bought it at the same time!

If you don?t know Scott Adams? office-based cartoon strip now perhaps isn?t the best time for me to introduce you - I?ll leave that to another review (or www.dilbert.com) - because this isn?t quite the same anyway. The Dilbert Principle covered pretty much everything office-based (marketing, sales, human resources, down-sizing and, of course, bosses). What was left for a follow up? Answer: stupidity in the 21st century (nicely illustrated by Dilbert and Dogbert in flying spacesuit type things on the cover).

This book largely does away with the office environment. Dilbert is used merely incidentally to illustrate a few points (like The Dilbert Principle, this is mostly text plus cartoon strip illustrations), for the most part the book is an attempt to describe the future as ruled by ?Induhviduals? governed by the three laws of human nature (all humans are stupid, selfish and horny).

The book does make some interesting points, like why the future won?t be like Star Trek. I found it a bit disconcerting though. The tongue in cheek introduction (basically along the lines of ?I don?t know a thing, but you?re gullible enough to buy my book anyway?) rang a bit too true. This is funny, but it isn?t quite up there with The Dilbert Principle. Adams is best at the observational humour that makes you laugh and/or cry whilst thinking ?so true?. There?s still some of that here (because you recognise human nature and the truth of many of his pessimistic predictions), but it just isn?t quite Dilbert. Dilbert?s supposed to be in an office, and this seems like they just wanted to cash in on his name/image to sell something else!

Given my initial disappointment, I wasn?t too surprised when a fair portion of the book was soon turned over to the future of work - new
?labour saving? technology, how to avoid work, etc. This was definitely much better, because it was more like the Dilbert we know and love, but ironically I felt this a bit much of the same! I know, I?m hard to please?

Thankfully, the book has some redeeming features (not that any of the above is really too bad anyway - just ?ok?, rather than up to usual high standards). It wasn?t until the middle or so that it got on to really interesting things though - like the future of gender relations, capitalism and democracy. Of course, I found those fairly funny, but also I?m studying politics so it was a light-hearted take on stuff I?m interested in; others may not find it quite as good.

For a taster here are some of my favourite bits (sorry for the political focus again!):

?I?m convinced if one of the major parties nominated a bag of lettuce for president, the lettuce would get 25 percent of the popular vote. This 25 would rationalize their decision by saying things like:
- well, at least that lettuce has principles!
- it can?t be any worse than the other guy
- I just think it?s time for a change
Of all the things that influence elections, it appears that information is the least significant? (p99)

~~~~~

The problem for democracy; either:
1. The smart people will be just as divided as the general public. That means intelligence is as irrelevant to democracy. Ouch.
2. The smart people would all vote for the same side of the issue. That would indicate that intelligence is very relevant, but democracy erases its impact. Ouch again (p101)

~~~~~

?On average, men get paid more money than women. Most people think this is unfair, but let?s looks at it another way?
If you were from another planet, such as Switzerland, and you only knew these two facts - 1) Men earn most of the money, and 2) Women spend most of the money - what would you assume about who is holding whom by the whatchamacalli
ts and swinging the person who owns the whatchamacallits around in the air while yelling ?I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR!??
It?s a rhetorical question? (p114)

The possibly more limited appeal goes especially for the last chapter ?A New View of the Future?. This isn?t Dilbert-related at all, or even particularly humorous. Instead it?s a light-hearted delve into chaos theory and other scientific stuff in which Adams tries to cast doubt on established scientific axioms such as gravity and cause and effect - suggesting the theory of evolution could be disproved in our lifetimes! It doesn?t get heavy with scientific detail, it just asks a few intuitive ?what if?? questions. For example, how about gravity doesn?t work as we think, but instead everything in the universe is constantly expanding in size? If you jumped away from a large sphere (the Earth), it?d seem like the ground came up to meet you? It?s certainly thought-provoking, if you?re up for looking at the world in a different way. I don?t know scientific details, and nor I think does Adams, but some of it actually sounds pretty plausible too. It?s not what you might expect in such a book though - I enjoyed it, but I can imagine this will be a chapter some will love and others can leave.

In all, I found this book both funny and interesting. What disappointed me is really it?s not quite like The Dilbert Principle - perhaps it?d be interesting to see what I?d have thought without preconceptions? It means liking Dilbert generally doesn?t necessarily guarantee you?ll like this equally, but I think it?s a pretty good measure if you like Adams? style of humour. Not as good as The Dilbert Principle in my opinion, but well worth £1.99 from The Works.

Cover price: £4.99
ISBN 0-7522-7221-7

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