Jeremy Rifkin - Into the 21st: The Future of Commerce, Economy, and Culture

In this interview, bestselling author and global policy shaper Jeremy Rifkin speaks with EnlightenNext associate editor Melissa Hoffman about some of the far-flung possibilities likely to transpire as our future fast approaches. A brief preview:

As the age of information progresses, machines will get better and better at producing the goods and services we require. With only a handful of expert individuals needed to maintain this machinery, what will the countless working people of the world do with all the free time they'll have? Will society gracefully make this shift away from labor intensive economies or will the transition lead to unparalleled social upheaval?

Rapid advances in genetic engineering have created a biotech revolution in which the ability to create new life forms, including new forms of ourselves, is imminent. What of the ethical implications? Are we really willing to play God without any ground rules? Will we ultimately choose to regard life as possessing intrinsic value of the highest order or as an object of utility to be created, used, and discarded?

BIO

Jeremy Rifkin is the founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, DC, which examines the economic, environmental, social, and cultural impacts of new technologies introduced into the global economy. He is also author of sixteen books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages and are used in hundreds of universities around the world. In his most recent book, The Hydrogen Economy, published in September 2002, he takes us on an eye-opening journey into the next great commercial era in history. He envisions the dawn of a new economy powered by hydrogen that will fundamentally change the nature of our market and our political and social institutions, just as coal and steam power did at the beginning of the industrial age.

Rifkin has been influential in shaping public policy in the United States and around the world. The National Journal named Rifkin as one of 150 people in the U.S. who have the most influence in shaping federal government policy. He holds a degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Rifkin is an advisor to heads of state and government officials around the world, and speaks frequently before business, labor and civic forums. He currently serves as an advisor to Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, the governing body of the European Union. He has also lectured at more than 500 universities in some 20 countries in the past 30 years. Since 1994, Rifkin has been a fellow at the Wharton School's Executive Education Program, where he lectures to CEOs and senior corporate leaders from around the world on new trends in science and technology and their impacts on the global economy, society and the environment. His monthly column on global issues appears in many of the world's leading newspapers and magazines, including The Los Angeles Times in the U.S., The Guardian in the U.K., Welt am Sonntag and Die Sueddeutsche Zeitung in Germany, L'Espresso in Italy, El Pais in Spain, Le Monde in France, and Al-Ittihad in the U.A.E.