Jeremy Rifkin
Jeremy Rifkin
Jeremy Rifkinis an American economic and social theorist, writer, public speaker, political advisor, and activist. Rifkin is the author of 20 books about the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. His most recent books include The Zero Marginal Cost Society, The Third Industrial Revolution, The Empathic Civilization, The European Dream, The Hydrogen Economy, The Age of Access, The Biotech Century, and The End of Work...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEconomist
CountryUnited States of America
Jeremy Rifkin quotes about
These new genetically engineered food crops are the first wave of a generation of 'Brave New World' foods that are going to have serious health and environmental repercussions,
You can't get a guarantee that genes are going to turn on and off the way you want them to. You're dealing with life. It's too unpredictable.
If your corn has a herbicide-tolerant gene, it means you can spray your herbicides and kill the weeds; you won't kill your corn because it's producing a gene that makes it tolerant of the herbicide.
The other major problem with introducing GMOs is gene flow. This is as significant as buildup of resistance, probably more significant.
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.
The world's environment can no longer handle beef.
Turning points in human consciousness occur when new energy regimes converge with new communications revolutions, creating new economic eras.
We are entering a new phase in human history - one in which fewer and fewer workers will be needed to produce the goods and services for the global population.
We are already producing enough food to feed the world. We already have technology in place that allows us to produce more than we can find a market for.
What I'm suggesting to you is that this could be a renaissance. We may be on the cusp of a future which could provide a tremendous leap forward for humanity.
Generations of human beings were transformed into machines in the relentless pursuit of material wealth: We lived to work.
One thing I've learned over these last 30 or 40 years is that people make history. There's no fait accompli to any of this.
The position I took at the time was that we hadn't really examined any of the potential environmental consequences of introducing genetically modified organisms.
I wanted to make sure that this be the first scientific and technology revolution in history in which the public thoroughly discussed all the potential benefits and all the potential harms, in advance of the technology coming online and running its course.