Summary of The Third Industrial Revolution: A Radical New Sharing Economy
Hey guys, This is a summary of the video I recently watched on youtube of a great economic and social theorist. His name is Jeremy Rifkin. He is talking about the third industrial revolution. He talks about the excess emission of carbon in the 21st century which in return, not letting the heat from the sun, escape the earth’s atmosphere. This excess heat is melting the polar ice at an alarming rate. This excessive meting is affecting climate change which is also affecting the water cycle on earth. Not only that, but all this change is also causing all kinds of natural disaster. He said that there are five main extinction events has already happened on earth. According to the scientist, we are 6th extinction event. We need a new game plan to tackle the calamity for the developing nations and industrialised nations. The whole talk is then divided into seven chapters to create a viable Roadmap. Lets us look at each chapter:
Chapter 1: The Great Economic Revolutions in History- At every economic paradigm, there is a common denominator which is three technology emerge and converge, which is called a general-purpose technology platform, i.e. a new infrastructure. These three technologies are Communication technologies, New sources of energy and Transportation Logistics. It changes how the nation works. Everything is made of fossil fuels which include pesticides, fertilisers, construction materials etc.
Chapter 2: The Science of Productivity — The two factors are better machines and better workers account only for 14 %of the productivity. Many economists in the 17th century used Newton’s law of motion to prove economic theories. Economic is governed by the same direction which governs the universe, which is the Conservation of Energy. Aggregate Efficiency is the ratio of potential work versus the actual work embedded in the service. The third factor for productivity is a better worker, better machines and aggregate Efficiency.
Chapter 3: A New Smart Infrastructure — The world is connected with the internet. The internet of things is practised everywhere. Sensors are used in transportation, agriculture, etc., and data is collected and used quickly, efficiently to create a much better system. We have created an external distributed nervous system that allows everyone to engage directly and removes the middle man. This evens the plane field. This 3rd revolution system is distributed, not centralised, which works on collaboration.
Chapter 4: Zero Marginal Cost and the Rise of the Sharing Economy — Capitalism gave birth to the sharing economy. You could create virtual goods at zero marginal costs. Millions of people are contributing to the internet for free, like Wikipedia. Thousands of new startups are coming to the digital market, creating a new revolution. Everyone will be connected via the internet of things within a few years, and people might be able to generate their green energy. This is the power of the people. Companies like EON are moving toward renewable energies.
Chapter 5: Financing the Transition — We all have the money we need. The only problem is how we spend the money. The funds collected can be used in each region to connect with every area like wifi.
Chapter 6: The Generation of Mass Employment — The job surge will increase in energy service companies, real estate and construction companies. Since robots won’t do the reconstruction, we need more human hands for this. We need professional talent, unskilled labours and skilled labours. It can pay back by energy savings.
Chapter 7: A New Consciousness for A New Era -Human mentality also needs change. People shield treat this work not as a possession but as an experience and amenity that future generations will share. Capitalism won’t go away, but one might make more profit if they start sharing. Power is basically what benefit each other.
Change is coming in many nations, and it needs to go to many more countries. The third industrial revolution is essential for the survival of the human race. It won’t happen overnight. It will take at least 15–20 years since the threat of climate change increases every day. We need to get together and be in the same field and work together to save the earth and make it habitable for our future generation.
I hope you guys like it. The video is worth watching, but if you want to get an idea of what he wants to convey, you can use the above article.