VOA标准英语2010年-How Can Empathy Save Our Planet?

A new book explains how the communication and renewable energy revolutions can determine the future survival of earth

Faiza Elmasry | Washington, DC 16 February 2010

We are at a turning point in human history, says futurist Jeremy Rifkin, and how we deal with the triple challenge of global economic meltdown, energy security, and climate change will determine humanity's fate. In his new book, The Empathic Civilization, Rifkin presents his prescription¹ for a bright collective future.

"The Empathic Civilization" explains how the convergence of energy and communication revolutions throughout history impacted human consciousness

Ten to 20-thousand years ago, early man's hunter-gatherer society was naturally insular², says Jeremy Rifkin.

"They had oral language and empathy could only extend to the range of their communication system, shouting distance," he says. "So, in those days foragers and hunters empathized with blood ties, tribal³ ties only.

In his new book, The Empathic Civilization, the futurist and economist⁴ chronicles how humanity has steadily⁵ become more globally aware. He links that progress to advances in energy generation - from water power to nuclear, and to revolutions in communication.

 "We go to the great hydraulic-agricultural civilizations, with scriptures⁶ and writing as the communication vehicle: people began to empathize beyond blood ties to association ties," he explains. "Jews started to empathize with Jews, Christians⁸ started to empathize with Christian⁷ as an extended family."

The human family, Jeremy Rifkin says, is starting what he calls the Third Industrial Revolution

Just as the printing press in the 19th century allowed the mass distribution of newspapers, enhancing the public's sense of national identity, the introduction of television and radio in the 20th century expanded the boundaries of community even farther. From the coal and steam-powered Industrial Revolution and the 20th century's petroleum-based age, Rifkin suggests we are heading into a renewable energy-powered digital era.

"We have experienced? a very powerful communication revolution the last 10 years, (with its) personal computers and satellite and wireless⁹ communication," he says. "This new communication revolution is very different than the first electricity (-powered) communication revolution – cinema, radio, and television – that was top-down and centralized (developed and run by large corporations or government agencies). Now, two billion people can send their own video, audio and text each other and distribute it to everyone,` with more power (in their laptops and mobile devices) than the most powerful television networks (once had at their disposal). When this distributed communication revolution converges¹⁰ and (is used to) manages distributed renewable energy, we have distributed consciousness. We begin to think of a human family."

The next step for the human family, as Rifkin describes in The Empathic Civilization, is the emergence¹¹ of what he calls the Third Industrial Revolution… a revolution, he says, that will be based on a global energy network. 

"We take the exact same technologies that created the Internet, then we take the power and transmission lines of Europe and hopefully Asia, Africa and South and North America, and the world, convert those power lines to an inter-media that's exactly like the Internet," he says. "So when millions and millions of buildings are collecting just a little bit of the distributed renewable energy on-site – storing it in hydrogen like we store media in digital – then we share it with our fellow human beings. That's the beginning of 'biosphere¹² consciousness.' This takes us from geo-politics to biosphere politics."

Jeremy Rifkin says in order to start building that empathic civilization, we must start a global discussion about our collective future.
 

1 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

2 insular   

adj.岛屿的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• Having lived in one place all his life,his views are insular.他一辈子住在一个地方，所以思想狭隘。

3 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

5 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

6 scriptures   

经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典

参考例句：

• Here the apostle Peter affirms his belief that the Scriptures are 'inspired'. 使徒彼得在此表达了他相信《圣经》是通过默感写成的。
• You won't find this moral precept in the scriptures. 你在《圣经》中找不到这种道德规范。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

9 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

10 converges   

v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的第三人称单数 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• The dike swarm converges on West Spanish peak. 岩脉群汇聚于西西班牙峰。 来自辞典例句
• Property 2 If 、 converge to and respectively, then also converges, and. 性质2如果级数、分别收敛于和，则级数也收敛，且其和为。 来自互联网

11 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

12 biosphere   

n.生命层，生物圈

参考例句：

• The entire biosphere was becoming more transparent.整个生物圈越来越透明。
• The impact of modern technology on the biosphere is evident worldwide.现代技术对生物圈的影响在全世界是明显的。