JEREMY RIFKIN
Jeremy has written more than 20 books and almost every one is way ahead of its time. His oldest book I had the chance of reading “Entropy: A New World View” was published in 1980, yet basically 40 years later it was incredibly appropriate and contemporary, so I can’t imagine at the time how some concepts must have been incredibly hard to visualize for most people. The same seems to apply to all his work and it’s incredible to see just how many predictions he nailed.
His recent work should be evaluated with that in mind because some of the things he says, even if really well articulated, can seem a bit utopic.
He is one of the most complete speakers I know, with a 360° knowledge which always manages to surprise me. I hope you enjoy a similar amount of discovery and stimuli as I do when listening to him.
The Empathic Civilization
Don’t confuse this with the popular RSA animation which has the same title.
I don’t remember why or how I stumbled on this talk, but it’s the one that made me discover Jeremy and boy did it blow my mind.
The title of this talk comes from one of Jeremy’s books, however it actually encompasses all his most important work. It’s a very complete picture of where we come from and where we are heading. It’s depressing and inspiring at the same time but most importantly it provides a foundation on which I believe most people should build their view of the world.
Zero Marginal Cost Society
Although a talk about the third industrial revolution would deserve to be on here, I think that he gives a very good explanation of that concept in the “Empathic civilization” presentation, therefore I think it’s ok to move to the next important subject.
The Zero Marginal Cost Society is the title of another one of his books where he analyzes current trends to make predictions about a new economic paradigm that will either replace or live as the parallel of a resized capitalism.
Part of what he says is already taking place, so it’s hard not to agree with the rest of his analysis or at least keep it in mind.