Editor's Note:

Jeremy Rifkin (Rifkin) , prestigious US economist, social theorist and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, recently visited China with his new book The Zero Marginal Cost Society which mainly discusses how the increasingly prevailing "Internet of Things" is driving humans into a sharing economy of "Collaborative Commons" with the eclipse of capitalism. Rifkin is also the author of The New York Times bestseller The Third Industrial Revolution in which he predicted China would play a leading role in this fresh round of revolution. Why does he believe capitalism will fade out? And why is China, an emerging economy that is still developing technologically, able to lead the world into the Third Industrial Revolution? Global Times (GT) reporter Wang Xiaonan talked to Jeremy Rifkin on these issues during his latest trip in Beijing.

Jeremy Rifkin

GT: Why do you say capitalism will no longer rule the economy?

Rifkin: Capitalism is giving birth to a new economic system called the sharing economy of Collaborative Commons. This economy is flourishing as the capitalist market created it, which is a very interesting phenomenon. So in a sense the capitalist market is the parent and the sharing economy of Collaborative Commons is the child. Now the parent has to nurture the child and let the child grow so that they will become equal partners.

Alibaba provides a pertinent example as it has created a sharing economy of Collaborative Commons so that millions of others produce and share entertainment, news, music, and knowledge at a zero marginal cost. But in doing that other industries are being disrupted: Newspapers and magazines are going out of business, the recording industry has shrunk, television has declined, and book publishing is becoming more and more unpopular.

We will increasingly see a capitalist market developing with this sharing economy of Collaborative Commons and by 2050 a fully mature hybrid economic system, part capitalist market and part sharing economy, will take shape.

Now we have new forms of communication to more efficiently manage economic activities, new forms of energy to more efficiently power economic activities and new forms of transportation to more efficiently move economic activities, so in this rare period of history when new communication technologies merge with new types of energy and transportation technologies, they completely change the economic platform.

The communication Internet is merging with a digitalized renewable energy Internet and a digitalized automated GPS transport Internet to create three Internets, and the Internet of Things, to which everyone will be connected.

GT: In a zero marginal society, will free charge be applied to all industries and businesses or just part of them? Will everyone be a prosumer?

Rifkin: Just part of them. We now have over 2 billion people who are one time or another prosumers, not sellers, not buyers, not owners, not workers. They produce and share their own music, videos, news blogs, social media, knowledge, e-books. Massive open online courses have 6 million students now in almost every country, who are taught by the best professors in China, the US and Europe for free.

The State Grid Corporation of China has introduced $82 billion in the next four years to erect a digitalized energy Internet across China so that millions of Chinese people can generate their own solar power, wind energy and photovoltaic power in their community and share it by selling it back to the State Grid. This huge change means energy will be nearly free in China.

In manufacturing industry, a whole younger generation is doing 3D printing. The first commercial 3D-printed vehicle was introduced months ago. And 3D-printed automobiles will be driverless in 10 years from now.

GT: You also mention that China will play a leading role in the Third Industrial Revolution because it is now building most of the infrastructure needed by this upcoming revolution. But the development of science and technology in China is still quite backward compared to the US. How can the concept of Collaborative Commons gain more popularity in China than in the US?

Rifkin: The UK led the First Industrial Revolution with cheap coal and steam engine, and the US led the Second with cheap oil and automobiles. China is now the leading economic power in the world but leading to what? China has a terrific opportunity in which everybody can be a potential entrepreneur and contribute to social well-being.

Are the Chinese people prepared for a sharing economy of Collaborative Commons? The traditional logic is that the young generation here are just getting to capitalism and that they want their own cars, their own houses and their own possessions. Well, that's a lie.

According to a recent global survey on the responsiveness of countries to a sharing economy of Collaborative Commons, 54 percent of respondents in the EU and the US are sharing or going to share their economy. The most responsive public has been in the Asia-Pacific region. China came to No. I, with some 94 percent saying they want to have a sharing economy.

This may be a surprising result but the mentality is in your cultural DNA. For thousands of years, most Chinese, especially the poor, have been sharing their economy and their well-being. It is part of the Confucian tradition to be responsible for each other. The Confucian tradition is that each individual is responsible to the larger community, aimed at harmonizing themselves with the larger community they are living in.

China is also talking about the Chinese dream, which calls for a decent quality of life where everyone participates. That's a sharing economy of Collaborative Commons. Moreover, Beijing is discussing ecological civilization, which is the Internet of Things platform.

GT: Are there other advantages China possesses to be the leader in the Third Industrial Revolution?

Rifkin: There are a few others. The vast Chinese land boasts the most renewable energy, notably solar energy, wind power, thermal heat underground, hydropower, and biomass, so China is a lot wealthier than Saudi Arabia because such energy doesn't run out.

Another asset lies in China being a socialist market economy that requires government, industries and civil society working together, in which way China has a better starting point to balance all these sophisticated relations.

I'm always hopeful, but I'm not naïve. Going to the Third Industrial Revolution is a huge and tough mission that requires bold leadership, determination and luck to create a more humane, peaceful and ecological civilization.