Rescuing the Future

AI and the Great Ontological TransformationHow did we get to this horrific moment when life itself may be snuffed out on this once animated planet? For 98 per cent of the time our species has inhabited the Earth, we adapted to the temporal processes, patterns, and flows of an environment alive with agency. Two thousand years ago our ancestors changed course and began to think of our world as made up of inert substances, things, and resources to be extracted, propertized, commodified, marketed, and consumed. We quickened the pace over the past two centuries of the Industrial Age, systematically stripping the planet of agency, and now find ourselves and our fellow creatures on the brink of extinction. Philosophers describe this historical dialectic as process ontology vs. substance ontology.The existential question we now face is this: can we restore vibrant life on our planet or will we continue to exploit and degrade our Earthly largesse? The answer will depend, in great part, on...

The cheapest new copy of Rescuing the Future is £25.00 at BookKind. Prices checked 8 Nov 2026

More by Jeremy Rifkin

More by Jeremy Rifkin