Quantum Jump: A Survival Guide for the New Renaissance

Jeffrey J. Cormier is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in Canadian society
at McGill University.

According to its author, Quantum Jump is an experiment in tangential
thought: a form of nonlinear, unconventional lateral thinking that
replaces cause-and-effect models of explanation with more fluid and
randomly ordered ones. The major premise of the book is that we are
living in a period of unprecedented transition. Social, political, and
economic institutions are breaking down, commonly held norms and values
are being challenged, and nobody—from politicians to business
leaders—seems able to offer any sort of solution.

But all is not lost, says Clement. We must look to the Renaissance, a
time when new ideas about business and politics were being formed in
tandem with extensive experimentation with perspective in the arts.
During the Renaissance, a new epistemology was developed that helped
individuals to think abstractly and therefore deal more adequately with
the rush of changes taking place at the time. Today, an equally great
quantum leap in abstract thinking is required to overcome the challenges
brought on by the Internet and computers. With the advent of cyberspace
we are entering into the fourth dimension, says Clement, and in order to
survive we must develop new coping mechanisms.

This book is historically well informed and demonstrates an almost
encyclopedic grasp of modern politics and economics. At the same time,
it is repetitive and meandering. Its nonlinear style renders it
unsuitable as an academic text, a fact that one suspects would please
the author.