Are we living through a modern Renaissance?

[iNow]

The Renaissance was a time of profound tectonic cultural shifts in intellectualism, belief, creativity, and innovation. It was a time marked by new connections among groups, indivuals, and even among brain cells.

 

Are we experiencing something similar in our modern world, a cultural displacement or paradigm shift writ large? Do you think the changes we're currently experiencing will be a good or a bad thing? Does your answer change in any way when viewed in context of the immediate-term versus the longer-term?

[EdEarl]

We are certainly in a time of fast change and profound future shock. There are both good and bad things happening. On the bad side, climate change which might cause a mass extinction. On the good side, interpersonal communications among people around the world has improved because of the internet. Robot slaves may free us from boring manual labor, if we survive and society is not stratified into the very rich and very poor.

 

I think there will be many people who die from weather related events due to climate change, which will profoundly change global culture in ways we cannot predict. In the long run, I think we will survive and culture will be more in tune with nature. There will be other unpredictable changes. Judgements of good or bad depend on a person's point of view. Some will think it is better and others will disagree.

[Unity+]

The Renaissance was a time of profound tectonic cultural shifts in intellectualism, belief, creativity, and innovation.

If this is the case, we should make it the parameters of the conclusion of whether we are in a modern Renaissance.

 

 

The Renaissance (UK /rɨˈneɪsəns/, US /ˈrɛnɨsɑːns/, French pronunciation: ​[ʁənɛsɑ̃s], from French: Renaissance "re-birth", Italian: Rinascimento, from rinascere "to be reborn")^[1]was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. Though availability of paper and the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe.

As a cultural movement, it encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures, beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classicalsources, which contemporaries credited to Petrarch, the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform.

In politics, the Renaissance contributed the development of the conventions of diplomacy, and in science an increased reliance on observation. Historians often argue this intellectual transformation was a bridge between the Middle Ages and Modern history. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".^[2][3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Renaissance

 

Using how we defined the earlier movement, I would say we are. Not only are we moving towards an age of new technologies, but a new way of thinking. Culturally, we are moving towards a connectivity era(with the Internet, new social media, and connectivity through mobile devices).

 

Politically, we are experimenting with new ideas(the Grand experiment of the United States still continues). To make sure this doesn't become a political discussion, there has been an inclusion of new political ideas that may influence our political systems in the future with the introduction of new technologies.

 

There are many ways that the word fits. However, I think the progression is somewhat constant, with there being noticeable innovations in history.

[Phi for All]

I hope we're re-evaluating our foundations, asking ourselves what kind of world we're capable of making. I think we all know it's possible to end starvation through cooperation, but there are still places where food is a tool of power. And there are still leaders who don't want all their people to have a secular education, possibly the one thing that would reduce the cultural defenses and allow more robust cooperation between nations.

 

On a more personal level, I hope we can remember that there is a lot less hate out there than the media would have us believe. Boots on the ground, when you're interacting with people honestly rather than ignoring them, we're a fairly consistently friendly species. Our fear of differences evaporates when we're shaking hands with Michael or Michele or Mihail or Miguel or Mikko.

 

Our concepts of commerce add a lot of distrust, stress, and dissatisfaction to our relationships, and modern practices are making this even worse. I hope we can come up with a solution, a truly Renaissance solution, to how we distribute our basic resources among our populations. Poverty shouldn't be an option for humans in this era.

[iNow]

There are many ways that the word fits. However, I think the progression is somewhat constant, with there being noticeable innovations in history.

I'm glad you raised this point, as I actually had a very similar thought when considering the topic. We are always changing and advancing and being reborn in various ways. Is this present age/era just more of the same steady gradual advancement, or are we seeing something more akin to a punctuated equilibrium? Are these even mutually exclusive?

.

 

I hope we can come up with a solution, a truly Renaissance solution, to how we distribute our basic resources among our populations. Poverty shouldn't be an option for humans in this era.

Perhaps the true nature of the Renaissance was a rebirth of what we collectively chose (are choosing?) to value and prioritize as a species. Edited August 30, 2014 by iNow

[Phi for All]

Perhaps the true nature of the Renaissance was a rebirth of what we collectively chose (are choosing?) to value and prioritize as a species.

 

If it includes an emphasis on intellectual stimulation, exploration, and curvy women, count me in.

[Unity+]

 

and curvy women

I would definitely agree.

 

 

[dimreepr]

The Renaissance was a time of profound tectonic cultural shifts in intellectualism, belief, creativity, and innovation. It was a time marked by new connections among groups, indivuals, and even among brain cells.

 

Are we experiencing something similar in our modern world, a cultural displacement or paradigm shift writ large? Do you think the changes we're currently experiencing will be a good or a bad thing? Does your answer change in any way when viewed in context of the immediate-term versus the longer-term?

 

 

 

A Buddhist would say there is no good or bad news, just news; similarly, there is no good or bad change, just change. All we can do is adapt to whatever the news/change is, be it good or bad and live now in whatever contentment we can find. If the news/change is a problem and it has a solution, then solve it; if it doesn’t then sit back and accept the outcome for it has no solution.

Edited August 30, 2014 by dimreepr

[arc]

The Renaissance was a time of profound tectonic cultural shifts in intellectualism, belief, creativity, and innovation. It was a time marked by new connections among groups, indivuals, and even among brain cells.

 

Are we experiencing something similar in our modern world, a cultural displacement or paradigm shift writ large? Do you think the changes we're currently experiencing will be a good or a bad thing? Does your answer change in any way when viewed in context of the immediate-term versus the longer-term?

 

I find it difficult to disconnect the Renaissance from all that followed its supposed end in the 17 century. Did not its influence in science continue uninterrupted into the industrial revolution and the concurrent discoveries of what formed the foundations of modern chemistry and physics throughout the 18th and 19th centuries? Are we possibly in the second half or now moving into the third period? Someday, 800 or 1000 years from now, those looking back may view these last 500 years as a continuous period of cultural evolution.

 

Science - Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Einstein and ?

 

Media/mechanical - Printing, clock making, machinery, computers, internet.

 

Medicine/anatomy - Andreas Vesalius' studies, William Harvey, Henry Grey, X-ray, MRI, CT scan.

 

microbiology - Girolamo Fracastoro, Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek, Ferdinand Julius Cohn, Martinus Willem Beijerinck, Sergei Nikolaievich Winogradsky.

 

Da Vinci can be in several of these.

 

The American experiment, started in the late 18th century and continuing to the present, is itself the culmination of the ideals born in the Renaissance.

In the not too distant future this may be viewed as one continuous period of creative human endeavour.