The Zero Marginal Cost Society
by Jeremy Rifkin · first published 2014
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The capitalist era is passing -- not quickly, but inevitably. Rising in its wake is a new global collaborative Commons that will fundamentally transform our way of life. Ironically, capitalism's demise is not coming at the hands of hostile external forces. Rather, The Zero Marginal Cost Society argues, capitalism is a victim of its own success. Intense competition across sectors of the economy is forcing the introduction of ever newer technologies. Bestselling author Jeremy Rifkin explains that this competition is boosting productivity to its optimal point where the marginal cost of producing
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…telephone and TV; there's no distinction as far as I know between a phone and a cable company. They are data network companies. Btw you can read an interesting history of phone monopoly in Jeremy Rifkin's "Zero Marginal Cost Society," starting at page 49. From a technical perspective, couldn't you theoretically have a network of big tubes with several company wires inside? Maybe the mother tube could be paid for by municipalities,…
on “FCC to be led by Ajit Pai, staunch opponent of consumer protection rules” ↗This post is basically a copy/paste of the latest book of Rifkin: http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Marginal-Cost-Society-Collaborati... Book, which is by the way very good.
on “Post-Capitalism: Rise of the Collaborative Commons” ↗The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism Jeremy Rifkin
on “Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?” ↗author: On April 1st, 2014 Mr. Rifkin's published his latest book, The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism. In 2011, Jeremy Rifkin published the New York Times bestseller The Third Industrial Revolution
on “Radical new economic system will emerge from collapse of capitalism” ↗…societies (see 'The Original Affluent Society by Marshall Sahlins). Looks like an intriguing book though, thanks for sharing. Seems similar to the thesis of Jeremy Rifkin's 'Third Industrial Revolution' and 'Zero Marginal Cost Society' books. As for your worst-case-scenario about crypto-currencies, replace them with over-valued real estate and we've already seen it play out at least once. The majorities (or 40% minorities in my country)…
on “Buffett bashes Bitcoin as nonproductive, thriving on mystique” ↗…with high fixed and low marginal costs, market prices are simply insufficient to reward producers (or creators). This is the subject of recent books by Paul Mason (Postcapitalism) and Jeremy Rifkin (The Zero Marginal Cost Society). Gresham's Law is another challenge, multiple ways. The popular form is "Bad X drives out good", though the general mechanism is more nuanced: Greshams mechanisms are complexity constraints applied…
on “Better than Free (2008)” ↗Reminds me of The Zero Marginal Cost Society by Jeremy Rifkin.
on “Fable Took My Job” ↗…has seen thousand of pitches, but the more mature the industry gets (media plus ecosystem), everybody has more data at hand and an opinion. Ironically his partner Albert Wenger is writing about it - Zero Marginal Cost Society etc. In other words: Compared to 5 years ago, the VC business model is about to see similiar effects the consulting industry experienced - they simply don't have any advantage anymore plus they are competing…
on “Understanding VCs” ↗…technology will require his preferred political positions) for 20+ years (see "End of Work" (1995)). He just updates the buzzwords and publishes it as a new book (see "The Age of Access" (2000) and "The Zero Marginal Cost Society" (2014)). As usual there are a few grains of truth (jobs replaced by technology, drastically lower costs for some products) but it is mostly just well known falsehoods (lump of labor fallacy). In the…
on “Capitalism is making way for the age of free” ↗…oxford suggesting most jobs will be automated over the next decade was released. It was followed by a series of influential books whose authors ran the lecture circuit: 'The Second Machine Age', 'The Zero Marginal Cost Society', 'Superintelligence', and 'The Rise of the Robots'. There were some bold bold and well publicized statements from respected luminaries such as Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking. Aggressive…
on “Autopilot Full Self-Driving Demonstration [video]” ↗