The zero marginal cost society : the internet of things, the collaborative commons, and the eclipse of capitalism
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The zero marginal cost society : the internet of things, the collaborative commons, and the eclipse of capitalism
Palgrave Macmillan, 2015
- : pbk
Available at 9 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Imprint varies: St. Martin's Griffin
Includes bibliographical references (p. [419]-424) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The capitalist era is passing. Rising in its wake is a new global collaborative Commons that will fundamentally transform our way of life. Bestselling author Jeremy Rifkin explains that intense competition is forcing the introduction of ever newer technologies, in turn boosting productivity to the point where the marginal cost of producing additional units is nearly zero, making the product essentially free. In turn, profits are drying up, property ownership is becoming meaningless, and an economy based on scarcity is giving way to an economy of abundance. Rifkin describes how hundreds of millions of people are already transferring parts of their economic lives from capitalist markets to networked Commons. "Prosumers" are producing their own information, entertainment, energy, and 3-D printed products at nearly zero marginal cost, and sharing them via social media sites and other venues. Students are enrolling in massive open online courses (MOOCs) that also operate at near-zero marginal cost. As a result, "exchange value" in the marketplace is increasingly being replaced by "use value" on the collaborative Commons.
Identity is less bound to what one owns and more to what one shares. Cooperation replaces self-interest, access trumps ownership, and networking drubs autonomy. We are, Rifkin says, entering a world beyond markets where we are learning how to live together collaboratively and sustainably.
by "Nielsen BookData"