The Zero Marginal Cost Society

The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism

By: Jeremy Rifkin

Narrated by: David Cochran Heath

In The Zero Marginal Cost Society, New York Times bestselling author Jeremy Rifkin argues that the capitalist era is passing—not quickly, but inevitably. The emerging Internet of Things is giving rise to a new economic system that will transform our way of life.

In this provocative new book, Rifkin argues that the coming together of the Communication Internet with the fledgling Energy Internet and Logistics Internet in a seamless twenty-first-century intelligent infrastructure—the Internet of Things—is boosting productivity to the point where the marginal cost of producing many goods and services is nearly zero, making them essentially free. The result is that corporate profits are beginning to dry up, property rights are weakening, and the conventional mind-set of scarcity is slowly giving way to the possibility of abundance. The zero marginal cost phenomenon is spawning a hybrid economy—part capitalist market and part “collaborative commons”—with far-reaching implications for society.

Rifkin describes how hundreds of millions of people are already transferring parts of their economic lives from capitalist markets to what he calls the global Collaborative Commons. “Prosumers” are making and sharing their own information, entertainment, green energy, and 3-D printed products at near zero marginal cost. They are also sharing cars, homes, clothes, and other items via social media sites, redistribution clubs, and cooperatives at low or near zero marginal cost. Students are even enrolling in free MOOCs, massive open online courses that operate at near zero marginal cost. And young social entrepreneurs are establishing ecologically sensitive businesses using crowd funding as well as creating alternative currencies in the new sharing economy. In this new world, social capital is as important as financial capital, access trumps ownership, cooperation supersedes competition, and “exchange value” in the capitalist marketplace is increasingly replaced by “sharable value” on the Collaborative Commons.

Rifkin concludes that while capitalism will be with us for the foreseeable future, albeit in an increasingly diminished role, it will not be the dominant economic paradigm by the second half of the twenty-first century. We are, Rifkin says, entering a world beyond markets, where we are learning how to live together in an increasingly interdependent global Collaborative Commons.

©2014 Jeremy Rifkin (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Great Read

Although really long but still a very insightful and informative read for those interested in how economics, technology & environmental challenges will all converge to shape our future choices

eye opening

you can see this evolution happening. energy is the first shift. transportation , mobility and sharing. the new populism signals a crisis in capitalism

interesting perspective

the material is mind expanding while there is much with which the reader can find fault.

The future!

Very factual indeed. But, when becoming the reality, then it might be too late to tackle the social, environmental and political side effects. Because, all of these changes comes through with a very high speed that almost nobody were prepared for it. It is too fast.

Promising Future Buuuuuuttttt

I'm a fan of Rifkin's work but in listening to this a few years after publication and it already feels dated. It feels like many other books on technology, promising much but not really able to show us the way or accurately foretell how it will play out. For instance, his schtick on the future of education and the promise of MOOCs seems to have fallen flat (or at best serving those with already educational experiences). Heath's narration is solid and easy to pay attention to. He keeps the text interesting with good pacing and tone. AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY.