The Third Industrial Revolution
Book

The Third Industrial Revolution

How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World

Jeremy Rifkin
Palgrave Macmillan, 2013
First Edition: 2011

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Jeremy Rifkin, an economist and political adviser, presents a highly ambitious text that describes some fundamental transformations underway in the world economy, provides a road map to future change and explains why such massive shifts are necessary. Many of the topics Rifkin discusses will be familiar to you, such as the threat of climate change or the potential of new collaborative business models. What Rifkin offers, and what makes his book both exciting and a bit daunting, is an overarching narrative that places technological, social and economic currents in historical and modern contexts. The result is both educational and engaging. getAbstract finds that his analysis will intrigue futurists, those interested in the intersection of technology and society, and anyone concerned about life on Earth.

Summary

The Power of the “Third Industrial Revolution”

The confluence of “centralized electricity, the oil era, the automobile and suburban construction” during the 20th century contributed to a “Second Industrial Revolution” that generated unprecedented levels of growth and wealth in much of the world. But the contemporary industrial economy is facing several crises: Oil is running out, the climate is changing and debt has reached serious levels. The easy availability of fossil fuels that defined the “Carbon Era” is coming to an end, pointing to future social, political and financial upheavals.

Throughout history, economic progress has relied on the “organic relationship” between energy resources and communications. For instance, steam-engine technology drove better and faster printing presses, which boosted literacy and created a skilled workforce to power the First Industrial Revolution. Similarly, fossil fuels made motor transportation possible in the 20th century, extending people’s reach and productivity. So far, the “information and communication technology revolution” that began in the 1990s has not reached its full potential because of its dependence on a dying energy...

About the Author

Jeremy Rifkin, head of the Foundation on Economic Trends, is an adviser to the European Union and other governmental entities and chairs the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Roundtable. He is the author of numerous best-selling books, including The Hydrogen Economy.

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