Re: Rifkin speaks in SCI AM

Brian L. Fritz (bfritz@shol.com)
Thu, 04 Sep 1997 00:10:55 -0400

>
> In fairness to Sci Am I should mention that the article was a fairly
> evenhanded depiction of Rifkin, that didn't explicitly, or implicitly
> as far as I could tell,
> endorse his views. Anyone interested in science needs to be aware of
> those who oppose it. I found it a useful article b/c I know
> very little about Rifkin, though I don't think the article in question
> presented the whole picture.
>
> Micheal B.

Entropy: A New World Order by Jeremy Rifkin
1981 Bantam Books, New York, NY
ISBN 0-553-20215-4

It has been a long time since I read this book, but from what I can
remember Jeremy Rifkin would be considered anti-extropian. For example
the opening line in the chapter entitled Toward a New Economic Theory,
page 185; "There is no easy way to make a transition from a mechanical
world view based on the idea of permanent material growth to an entropic
world view based on the idea of conserving finite resources." Another
chapter is entitled "Diminishing Returns of Technology." We can't beat
Entropy so why fight it, kind of attitude. He belonged to the crowd
that was convinced that we were going to run out of oil and other
mineral resources by the year 2000.

B. Fritz