Will Biosphere Consciousness Change Our Economy ?
Jeremy Rifkin, a renowned social thinker and economist is the bestselling author of twenty books concerning how the recent scientific and technological transformations occurring in our economy, the workforce, society, and the environment have and will revolutionize the world in unimaginable ways. Rifkin, who runs the Foundation On Economic Trends, wrote thought provoking books on these issues, such as The Zero Marginal Cost Society (2014), The Third Industrial Revolution (2011), The Empathic Civilization (2010), The European Dream (2004). In 2011, Jeremy Rifkin publishedThe Third Industrial Revolution, which became a New York Times Bestseller, and that captured the attention of the world. His vision of a sustainable, post carbon economic era has been endorsed by the European Union and the United Nations and embraced by world leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President François Hollande of France, and Premier Li Keqiang of China. Jeremy Rifkin has been an advisor to the European Union for the past decade.
Intelligenthq assembled here some of his most interesting ideas on the rise of a biosphere consciousness due to the connected effect of the internet of things and the internet:
1. “We are just beginning to glimpse the bear outlines of a new economic system, entering on to the world’s stage. It’s called the collaborative commons. This is the first new economic paradigm since the onset of capitalism and its antagonist socialism in the early nineteenth century. Is a remarkable historical event and has long-term implications for all of us in our day to day lives.” Jeremy Rifkin
Quote by Jeremy Rifkin Intelligenthq
2. “Using less of the Earth’s resources more efficiently and productively in a circular economy and making the transition from carbon-based fuels to renewable energies are defining features of the emerging economic paradigm. In the new era, we each become a node in the nervous system of the biosphere.” – Jeremy Rifkin
Quote By Jeremy Rifkin
3. “What makes the IoT a disruptive technology in the way we organize economic life is that it helps humanity reintegrate itself into the complex choreography of the biosphere, and by doing so, dramatically increases productivity without compromising the ecological relationships that govern the planet.” – Jeremy Rifkin
Quote by Jeremy Rifkin Intelligenthq
4. “What type of new economical system can organize this system? There is another sector in our life, that we rely on every single day, that are absolutely essential: the social commons, the social economy. It is all the activity we engage in to create social capital. It doesn’t create capital market. Social commons is growing faster than the market place. It is growing faster than the market place. The social commons include any activity that is deeply social and collaborative.” – Jeremy Rifkin
Quote by Jeremy Rifkin – Intelligenthq
5. “Turning points in human consciousness occur when new energy regimes converge with new communications revolutions, creating new economic eras.” – Jeremy Rifkin
Quote by Jeremy Rifkin Intelligenthq
6. “We need a change in consciousness to go with this technology platform. We need a new narrative: we need to shift from geopolitics to biosphere consciousness in one generation. The biosphere is understood here as what goes from the biosphere to the depths of the ocean 40 miles where all living beings interact with all chemicals to create a very complex choreography that we call “life on earth”. That is biosphere that is our indivisible community.” – Jeremy Rifkin
Quote by Jeremy Rifkin
7. “In the 21st century, hundreds of millions—and eventually billions—of human beings will transform their buildings into power plants to harvest renewable energies on site, store those energies in the form of hydrogen and share electricity, peer-to-peer, across local, regional, national and continental inter-grids that act much like the Internet.” – Jeremy Rifkin
Quote by Jeremy Rifkin Intelligenthq
8. “The Empathic Civilization is emerging. A younger generation is fast extending its empathic embrace beyond religious affiliations and national identification to include the whole of humanity and the vast project of life that envelops the Earth.” – Jeremy Rifkin
Quote by Jeremy Rifkin Intelligenthq
Maria Fonseca is the Editor and Infographic Artist for IntelligentHQ. She is also a thought leader writing about social innovation, sharing economy, social business, and the commons. Aside her work for IntelligentHQ, Maria Fonseca is a visual artist and filmmaker that has exhibited widely in international events such as Manifesta 5, Sao Paulo Biennial, Photo Espana, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Joshibi University and many others. She concluded her PhD on essayistic filmmaking , taken at University of Westminster in London and is preparing her post doc that will explore the links between creativity and the sharing economy.
