I left the former Soviet Union to come to America in 1992.
It may surprise you to learn that growing up in the "Evil Empire" in the 1970s and '80s wasn't that different from coming of age somewhere in America's Midwest. Over these years I've talked to dozens of my American friends, and concluded that the norm in both countries is to be raised by parents who care, and who embrace wholesome values.
Yet most of the rest of the world considered the old Soviet Union to be a vastly different place. Aggressive Soviet foreign policies and actions made for an anxious globe for most of the 20th century. So when the USSR finally dissolved in 1991, many people around the world breathed a collective sigh of relief.
But here's a question that bothered me for a long time: Why did the Soviet system break up when it did? Why not a decade earlier? Why not a decade later?
A socio-economist would cite economic conditions in 1991 as the basis of the collapse. But as someone who grew up there, let me attest to you first-hand that the Soviet economy had been on its "last leg" for a long, long time. Common sense told me that something else was responsible for the timing of the break-up, even if I didn't know what that something was.
I got my answers after I had joined Bob Prechter's organization in 1998, and was introduced to socionomics. Bob was putting the finishing touches on his 1999 book, The Wave Principle of Social Human Behavior and the New Science of Socionomics.
When I read it I felt like the scales had fallen off my eyes: Human history looked completely different from what any of us (Soviets or Americans) heard in school. I understood that while some common threads of circumstance and policies did run through Soviet history, social mood was the engine behind it all.
Likewise, socionomics offers us answers to many of today's deep social questions, such as:
Anger and Strife: Why has most of the planet seen growing levels of hostility and strife over the past decade?
Terrorism: It's been in the news almost daily for 10 years (or longer, depending on where you live). When are terrorist acts most likely to happen?
Wars: The U.S. is fighting two wars, the entire Middle East is in turmoil, and large-scale conflicts threaten to grow in Africa and elsewhere. When are wars likely to begin and end?
Epidemics and Pandemics: How can we better predict their onset and severity?
Politics: Why are some U.S. Presidents remembered as national heroes, while others are doomed to obscurity? Why has politics become so divisive lately? Who will benefit more from social mood in the 2012 presidential election: the incumbent or the challenger?
Socionomics also goes beyond the deep social issues to analyze and forecast pop culture, including movie genres (i.e., comedies vs. horror), music and fashion styles, automobile colors -- and much, much more. It's a fascinating new field.
On April 16 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta, GA, Bob Prechter and other socionomic experts will convene for the world's first-ever Socionomics Summit. It promises to be a very exciting, and possibly ground-breaking one-day event.
I was fortunate enough to secure my seat at the Summit several weeks ago. A few seats do still remain. This is your opportunity to be a part of a new science in the making.
For more details, including the list of stellar speakers, click here.
Hope to see you at the Summit this Saturday!
**NOTE: The first-ever Socionomics Summit has already taken place. The details for the next summit are still being finalized. To receive an email notification about the next Socionomics Summit and new socionoimcs reports, please
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