Second Renaissance
See also: Second Axial Age
Description
Secondrenaissance.net:
"The “Second Renaissance” refers to a major civilisational transition that is currently underway: from the paradigm of modernity, which is breaking down, into what comes next. The Second Renaissance is a time between worlds – a period of civilisational crisis and awakening."
(https://secondrenaissance.net/publications/overview-ecosystem-names)
Characteristics
Secondrenaissance.net:
"In our introduction to the Second Renaissance, we articulate four core premises of what we see as the underlying meta-narrative:
- Real risk: There is a real risk of civilisational collapse and large-scale destruction of life due to intertwined ecological, political, social, and meaning crises.
- Root cause: The root cause of these crises lies in the cultural paradigm of modernity: in entrenched individual and collective ways of being, which are conditioned by modernity’s logic and values.
- Radical response: We are unable to address current crises through the logic and value systems that created and continue to drive them. We need responses that are radical in the etymological sense of going to the roots. That is, we need profound shifts in our ways of being, thinking, feeling, and acting: a new cultural paradigm.
- Real possibility: A transformation of cultural paradigm is possible and is already starting to happen.
The term “Renaissance”, meaning “rebirth”, is a reference to the 'first' Renaissance: the historical period and cultural movement of the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe, which marked the transition from the Middle Ages to early modernity. Like the First Renaissance, we see the Second Renaissance as a period of cultural and societal rebirth, characterised by a profound shift at the civilisational level in our most foundational views and values, such as:
- how we see ourselves and our nature as human beings
- how we approach the relationship between ourselves and the world around us
- what we think is meaningful and important
- our ways of knowing and learning about the world."
(https://secondrenaissance.net/publications/overview-ecosystem-names)
The Paralells with the First Rennaissance
Secondrenaissance.net:
"First, the renaissance was also a moment of transition from one world(view) to the next where culture and society changed in profound ways.
Second, the first renaissance was preceded by major breakdowns and was a time itself of tension and conflict. This analogy may be useful in making sense of the polarization and crisis we are witnessing in many of our societies today.
Third, the temporal aspect. The renaissance (and modernity) came to fruition over a long timescale with the first states to operate fully on modern, renaissance principles only emerging centuries after the renaissance began. Similarly, today, new views and values emerging now may take significant time to become widespread and socially significant.
Fourth, the "shadows" of the renaissance. As well as Leonard da Vinci, the renaissance produced the conquistadores voyaging to "new world" initiating colonialism and genocide. This knowledge should make us reflect on shadows of the second renaissance and how we can guard against them.
(https://secondrenaissance.substack.com/p/second-renaissance-whats-in-a-name)
History
of the concept ...
Secondrenaissance.net:
"The term "Second Renaissance" was first used by Francisco Varela in his book Ethical Knowhow: Action, Wisdom, and Cognition, published in 1999. He wrote:
- "[…] it is my contention that the rediscovery of Asian philosophy, particularly of the Buddhist tradition, is a second renaissance in the cultural history of the West."
(https://secondrenaissance.net/publications/overview-ecosystem-names)
Discussion
Presentation by Vasilis Kostakis:
"Rushkoff (2003, p. 63) demonstrates that the current political structures can be changed:
- Transparency in media makes information available to those who never had access to it before. Access to media technology empowers those same people to discuss how they might want to change the status quo. Finally, networking technologies allow for online collaboration in the implementation of new models, and the very real-world organisation of social activism and relief efforts. The good news, for those within the power structure today, is that we are not about to enter a phase of revolution, but one of renaissance. We are heading not towards a toppling of the democratic, parliamentary or legislative processes, but towards their reinvention in a new, participatory context.
He considers the modern information age (2007) as a second Renaissance:
… printing press, perspective, extended metaphor, circumnavigation of the globe, re-invention of the ‘individual’, the beginnings of calculus all find their modern parallels in the internet, holography, hypertext, orbiting the globe, re-invention of the collective, the beginnings of systems theory…. old, repressed ideas, like the value of collaboration and cooperation, are being reborn in the next context of connectivity. These are ideas that have been pretty well squelched since the first renaissance, which celebrated individuality and the power of competition.
During the first renaissance people were transformed from passive recipients into active interpreters of the world. In the current renaissance people are playing a new role, the role of author, the role of creator (Rushkoff, 2003). The ICTs, or what Rushkoff calls interactive media, give us the tools to develop collective narratives while connecting to each other. In a network, information based society (see Castells 2000, 2003 for an apt analysis of the network society and Bauwens, 2005; Bell, 1976, 1978; Benkler, 2006 concerning the movement towards post-industrial society) in which a participatory, open and free culture is emerging, societies aspire towards “a highly articulated and dynamic body politic: a genuinely networked democracy, capable of accepting and maintaining a multiplicity points of view” (Rushkoff, 2003, p. 51). The promise of this ‘networked democracy’ lies in encouraging broader participation and taking advantage of the collective wisdom and the intelligence of the crowds. According to Jenkins et al. (2006) the ICTs induce the participatory culture that contains low barriers to civic participatory engagement and activism as well as new forms of social connection, solidarity and collectivism."
Source
From the draft version of:
THE ADVENT OF OPEN SOURCE DEMOCRACY AND WIKIPOLITICS Vasilis Kostakis, Institute of Public Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate Tee 5, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia
References:
Rushkoff, D. (2007) “Commons: Creating an Alternative Value System”, Republic Journal at http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=85> (retrieved 3 December 2008).
Rushkoff, D. (2003) Open Source Democracy. How Online Communication is Changing Offline Politics, London: Demos.