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by Jeremy Rifkin
President of the Foundation on Economic Trends
©2005 Jeremy Rifkin
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The Multisensory Stimulation System provides an opportunity for
people to reintegrate their senses and could play an important
role as a new kind of learning
tool (1) one designed
to give the human brain a heightened sense of context. So much
of contemporary learning relies almost exclusively on visual imagery
and auditory signals that we risk a deep loss of the more intimate
senses of taste, touch, and most importantly smell. While the
visual sense is the most detached and objective of the senses,
and the one most identified with aggression and expropriation,
the much neglected intimate senses are far more important in establishing
a sense of embeddedness between people and the larger communities
and environments in which they live. (See
Biosphere Politics (2))
In an era characterized by increasing globalization, complexity,
and vulnerability, it is imperative to create new tools that help
the individual develop a holistic mental framework. The Multisensory
Stimulation System is a breakthrough technology that if used as
a learning tool _ and not simply as an entertainment medium _
would help prepare us to more fully use the full range of senses
and become more integrated with the life that surrounds.
Jeremy Rifkin Quoted
Excerpts from conversations regarding
the aromaComposer and the Multisensory Stimulation System
JR: "This is exactly what you would see in a sci-fi movie.
You want something like this to be an aid and an assist in everything
from health to learning."
JR: "If this could be a tool in learning and in health,
physical and mental health, "You've opened up an unbelievable
frontier.
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JR on Scent & Senses
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JR: "They say that memory in the brain is triggered by smell."
JR: "The most intimate experiences in memory, when you're
a little kid, always is conjured up by smell; it's the smell.
If you go to the more intimate senses, smell would be first, then
taste, then touch I guess, then sound, then visual. It's more
powerful because it's a more intimate sense."
JR: "Music can create all the various moods, the way the
body changes with the music - aroma would do the same thing."
JR: "How 'bout for patients who can't get out … (of
a hospital) …In a hospital you're denied all the life affirming
smells that integrate human nature."
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JR on Digital Multisensory Control
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Jeremy Rifkin: "It also has specific advantages that
in a controlled situation that you can't do in nature. What Doug's
got here that's important here, is that "If you can create
different combinations and keep it digitally controlled, it allows
you to do clinical studies of people, where you can start to see
results in specific disorders. Because you got everything controlled
digitally, it's quantifiable. That's a big deal, that just
opens up an enormous new area."
JR:"The next step, bring people together. Need the disciplines
to create programs. Educators too."
JR:"One of the best business plans that I have ever seen."
More about Jeremy Rifkin
Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends,
is the author of seventeen books on the impact of scientific and
technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society,
and the environment. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages
and are used in hundreds of universities around the world.
Jeremy Rifkin's newest book, The European Dream,
published in September 2004, represents the culmination of two
decades of intellectual and political work in Europe.
The New York Times notes, in an article on the new Europe,
that Mr. Rifkin is one of a handful of American intellectuals
whose economic and social ideas have been widely embraced in Europe
by government, industry, and civil society.
Mr. Rifkin has spent nearly 20 years commuting back and forth
between America and Europe—spending upwards of one-third
of his time on the continent. He has lectured and consulted
with virtually every major corporation in Europe over the past
two decades. Mr. Rifkin has also served as an advisor to
government leaders and heads of state and is currently serving
as a personal advisor to Romano Prodi, the President of the European
Commission, the governing body of the European Union.
Mr. Rifkin's world column appears in the leading newspapers and
magazines in Europe including The Guardian in the U.K.,
Die Suddeutsche Zeitung and Welt am Sonntag
in Germany, L'Espresso in Italy, El Pais in Spain,
Le Monde in France, and Clarin in Argentina.
Many of the ideas put forth in Mr. Rifkin's past books have had
a significant influence in shaping public opinion and public policy
in Europe. His 1980 book, Entropy, was instrumental
in helping shape the intellectual debate that led to the rise
of the Green parties in Germany, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe.
Mr. Rifkin's 1995 international bestseller, The End of Work,
is widely credited with jump-starting the discussion on the shorter
workweek in Europe. The book and Mr. Rifkin's subsequent
consultation with French industry and French political leaders
helped facilitate the successful adoption of the 35-hour workweek
in France.
Mr. Rifkin's 1998 book, The Biotech Century, has become
the standard reference on critical issues surrounding biotechnology
and is the most widely read book in Europe on the genetic engineering
revolution. Mr. Rifkin spearheaded the fight against genetically
modified foods (GMOs) in Europe in the 1990s. Europe's opposition
to GM food has become one of the critical dividing lines between
Europe and America in world trade in recent years (see enclosed
lead story on page one of The Wall Street Journal on Mr.
Rifkin's GMO work in Europe).
Mr. Rifkin's 2000 bestseller, The Age of Access, became
a lightening rod in Europe on the impact of globalization on cultural
identity. The book has also been adopted by leading companies
across the EU as a corporate primer for how to make the transition
from a market economy to a global network economy. The book
was the recipient of two prestigious awards, the Fnac_Arthur Andersen
Business Book Award for Best Essay of 2001, and the Bruno Kreisky
Award for Best Political Book of 2000.
Mr. Rifkin's 2002 bestseller, The Hydrogen Economy,
helped create a continental debate around the need to shift Europe's
energy regime from dependency on fossil fuels to a renewable based
hydrogen regime. In his capacity as a personal advisor to
President Prodi, Mr. Rifkin drafted the critical memorandum which
led to the EU becoming the first superpower to implement a long-term
plan to become a fully integrated hydrogen economy by mid-century.
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