Jeremy Rifkin

A disturbing bit of prescience - this was published at the turn of the last century, and correctly pegs the effect of the information age on the economics of capitalism. Markets are secondary now to networks, property is mostly an intangible "experience" and access has replaced ownership. About the only things missed here are the overwhelming rise of online shopping and the contributions of online social networks to the destruction of culture, but other than that, this book could have been written earlier this year. Unfortunately there are no real solutions proposed here, but I suspect that's because the author was secretly hoping his speculations were wrong. Read it and weep, then worry.… (more)

Some interesting and hopeful ideas around financing projects with e.g. pension money bogged down by the entire rest of the book which is a collection of half-truths, mistakes, naivete, bad math, self-promotion, and ignorance.

Which shouldn't be a surprise. This is Rifkin's schtick, this is his game. He was wrong e.g. 20 years ago on fuel cells (which, given another 20 years, will probably be ready for widespread usage.) He got smacked down in the 80's by, amongst others, no less than Stephen Gould for his ignorance on evolution and genetics. He's at it again, wildly promoting plans and ideas supported by little more than conjecture and promises, with a handful of cherry-picked evidence.

We need to deal with fossil fuels and carbon. We need to prepare for climate change as already baked in. We need something like a "green new deal." But with friends like these, who needs enemies?… (more)