Time & Perspective Quote by Jeremy Rifkin

Rifkin is selling possibility, but he’s also selling urgency. Calling a policy-and-technology inflection point “a renaissance” is a deliberate act of reframing: it yanks the conversation out of the incremental language of GDP points and productivity gains and into the mythic register of civilizational rebirth. The word does two jobs at once. It flatters the listener into imagining they’re living through history, and it implies that staying cautious or skeptical isn’t prudence; it’s a failure of imagination.

The real engine of the quote is conditionality. “Could” appears twice, and “may” once. This isn’t a prophecy; it’s a pitch with built-in deniability. Rifkin’s rhetorical move is classic futurist economics: widen the aperture so the present looks small and malleable, then invite elites, institutions, and the public to treat investment and reform as morally charged acts. The subtext: the tools exist (energy transitions, networked systems, biotech, whatever specific package he’s advocating in the moment), but outcomes aren’t automatic. A leap “for humanity” only happens if we choose it, coordinate, and scale.

Context matters because Rifkin has long operated as a boundary figure between activism, policy advising, and big-idea consultancy. This line fits his signature cadence: grand historical metaphor plus near-term “cusp” imagery, designed to make structural change feel both imminent and actionable. It works because it promises not just better tech, but a new story about progress - and in shaky times, narrative is its own form of power.