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A review by narwhal
The Empathic Civilization: The Race To Global Consciousness In A World In Crisis by Jeremy Rifkin
5.0
This is another inspiring book by Jeremy Rifkin, the second of his that I've read. It draws on similar themes as The Zero Marginal Cost Society, in that the world is experiencing a revolution is energy and communication in a massive way. The Internet is only one example - another inspiring idea is the decentralization of energy into renewables that can be harvested by individuals and communities and fed back into a responsive grid.
The author traces the history of empathy back to the beginning of history in an impressive arc that ends up with the Millennial generation. The central question of the book is, "Can human empathy overcome entropy?" New technology has given us the ability to connect with people across the planet at the same time that climate science is showing us the impending tragedy of global warming. Will we be able to organize our way out of this mess in time?
With chapters titles like "The Planetary Entropic Abyss" and "The Theatrical Self in an Improvisational Society", this is not light reading. It's a brick. I skimmed some of the way because it is chock full of great examples that thoroughly illustrate his ideas. I renewed this book from the library twice, but I'm glad I finished it.
The author traces the history of empathy back to the beginning of history in an impressive arc that ends up with the Millennial generation. The central question of the book is, "Can human empathy overcome entropy?" New technology has given us the ability to connect with people across the planet at the same time that climate science is showing us the impending tragedy of global warming. Will we be able to organize our way out of this mess in time?
With chapters titles like "The Planetary Entropic Abyss" and "The Theatrical Self in an Improvisational Society", this is not light reading. It's a brick. I skimmed some of the way because it is chock full of great examples that thoroughly illustrate his ideas. I renewed this book from the library twice, but I'm glad I finished it.