"Machines are about to change what it means to be human. According to social theorist Jeremy Rifkin, they will undermine our sense of private property, take away our jobs and turn us into free agents in a new global 'sharing economy'. For good measure, they will also destroy capitalism before the middle of the 21st century. If you’re already thinking that The Zero Marginal Cost Society belongs to the genre of techno-futurism that resorts to extreme predictions to attract attention, then you’d be right. The value of this book, however, doesn’t lie in the accuracy of its specific forecasts, but rather in the extrapolations of current trends that enable Rifkin to reach them. On that measure, this is a thought-provoking read that pushes some of the most important new technologies to their logical – and sometimes scary – conclusions. [...] Though only 300 or so pages, this is sometimes a dense book. Besides detours into subjects such as the economic history of the human race from earliest times, there are sections that pack in extensive descriptions of some of the key technologies. [...] There are obvious quibbles to be had with much of this. One is that capitalism has proved pretty adaptable so far. [...] A second quibble is with Rifkin’s assumptions about how human nature will change to accommodate the new realities he describes. [...] If Rifkin’s predictions have value, however, it is in bringing home the extent of the technologically induced upheaval that may lie ahead. How we deal with the consequences is up to us."

"Jeremy Rifkin’s book, The Zero Marginal Cost Society, is at times thrilling, at times encyclopedic, and at times possibly hyperbolic. It is very well-written, it touches on an incredibly wide variety of modern topics, it builds on an exhaustive set of references, and most importantly it makes you think seriously about the future. You cannot possibly read this book without pausing at least a half a dozen times to ponder. There were parts of the book that presented me with completely new facts, claims, technologies, and predictions. [...] Due to space constraints, I’ll focus on one difficulty I had with Rifkin’s analysis. I strongly support the notion of building systems and developing public policies that enable and take advantage of zero marginal costs, for example in the context of various infrastructure and knowledge commons, but the first concern that arose in my mind as I began reading the book was simple and likely one that most people will raise: What about the fixed costs? Who is going to supply the infrastructures necessary for the various near zero marginal cost systems to function? Whether we are talking about knowledge or electricity or education or physical production systems, there are critical infrastructures that support, structure, and sustain the systems for participants (users, producers, consumers, prosumers). Who will bear the fixed costs and supply these infrastructures?"

"With this book he provides a timely blend of his previous works for a timely inspiration for anybody working in the intersection of technology, communication, politics and business. Its great contribution is the reminder of the power of infrastructures in shaping economic activities, as we have already witnessed in the domain of the internet and soon will witness in domains like transportation and manufacturing. Sadly, the book bears some fatal flaws resulting from an engineering-centred economic model and a bias towards Rifkin’s social romantic vision when he argues for his projection. [...] Rifkin misses a central feature of the exciting transformation: The rise of new business models and the unfolding of the use of 'non-ownership contracts' like renting, sharing or promising performance as a crucial element of commercial business. So readers interested in the business dimension will miss an account of the role of business-models in the rise of collaborative modes of value creation so excellently portrayed by Rifkin. With his social romanticism Rifkin also turns a blind eye on the dark side of the emerging commons build on the internet: As substantial part of the infrastructure is shaped and owned by commercial platform providers like Google, Amazon or User. With their control of the crucial technology and infrastructure they have amassed a boon of information and knowledge as well as the power to manipulate consumers and businesses in both directions along the value stream. [...] Karl Marx had predicted the end of industrial capitalism with some arguments driven by labour value theory, not too distant from Mr. Rifkin’s line. So before capitalism disappears, it almost certainly will take some further transformations. Mr. Rifkin provides a fascinating account of the transformation in the social sphere. The underlying business logic remains under the radar. Part of this is that like so many before him, Mr. Rifkin uses outdated economic models that build on cost-driven and social-physical reasoning but fails to take an account for the entrepreneurial as well as the social dimension of economic activity."

"In his new book, The Zero Marginal Cost Society, Rifkin argues that we are about to enter an era when the Internet of Things, 'free' energy, and what he calls 'the collaborative commons' will make anything and everything available for practically nothing. Together, he contends, those developments will overthrow capitalism as the world’s dominant economic model. If you think that idea sounds silly, well, you’re right. And Rifkin expounding on it for 300-plus pages of 10-point text—all of it buttressed by 770 endnotes—doesn’t make it any less so. To be fair, those 770 source notes offer a comprehensive tour of trends that will definitely shape the near future. But Rifkin’s assembly of this information into a narrative hits all the low notes that are common to 'big think' books:

• Attacking nebulous concepts that you don’t define? Check.
• Name-dropping your consulting company, which just happens to specialize in charging people to solve problems that you’ve invented? Check.
• Writing jargon-filled sentences that might mean anything (or nothing)? Check.
• Invoking historical inevitability to mask poorly supported premises? Check.
• Ignoring issues of political power and economic incentive that shape our daily lives and our future? Check.

I found Zero Marginal Cost Society to be so utterly unconvincing that I have to take seriously the possibility that I simply don’t get it. I kept going back to the book, looking for an insight that would make everything click. I never found it."