The Rise of the Internet Renaissance
I come to this idea again and again, for we are living in a time of deep societal change. From the global consciousness, the explosion that is the internet, and the rise of AI agents.
From those viewpoints everything looks pretty great, but of course there are great issues facing humanity as a whole. The climate is being devastated, the inequality is growing ever greater, and the "great resignation" is showing us that people don't HAVE to work terrible jobs. Given that the internet has given rise to so many people's opportunities, it is only safe to assume that it will keep going right?
The changes that are happening because of content creators, is interesting too. The ability to make a whole new life for yourself through content is unprecedented.
As someone who has been a blogger, youtuber, and podcaster for around a decade each (longer with the writing side). They all have taught me that it goes in waves, and when you ride the wave that is what REALLY makes you grow.
Taking a New Course of Action
I say that by thinking in the way of the renaissance person in the modern dynamic, that will lead you to true success. Taking a divergent viewpoint on your career, happiness, skills, and even life as a whole.
The relatively new internet has changed the way we watch tv, play games, learn, and even connecting with friends/family. It has become our everything tool, and that is okay! A lot of people fear what it might become. I for one am excited to see what comes next.
The Renaissance, or many of them throughout the world actually, they all had something in common. It was a time of learning, exploring, and coming together. Each with their own waves of innovation in their respective cultures.
As I said before I have been riding the waves, albeit unsuccessfully because of delays in my own content, but have been watching intently. Learning, and readying for my time to strike if you will.
People think "oh it is too late to start a podcast, or a youtube channel, etc", but oh no no no, for it is only the beginning. With web 3 we are reaching the kid years of the internet, web 1 was the infancy, the social media boom of web 2 was the terrible twos, and now we reach some of the real inner workings.
As the internet gets older, especially on that "scale" lol, then we will see other nations and continents join. We have barely even scratched the surface of what humanity has to offer on the interwebs. Africa is growing more and more technologically, with an entire major part of the world joining the picture. Think of all that they have to add!
Currently the US is going through some weird growing pains when it comes to regulations of the social medias. However it shouldn't be up to them really, it should be up to the people, and thus more and more platforms will go the decentralized route.
Not to mention I still rarely see cross-sections with major nations as of now. I.e. creators in the North America zone reaching out to South America, or to various parts of Asia (I went out of my way to reach Singapore as much as I could), and other places. Think of the "British Invasion" when it came to music, that dramatically changed how music was created. We are now seeing that with Latin culture over the past 8 years, and now K-Pop or Korean culture in the past two years.
Finally, the pools of content from around the world are starting to collide, and one of the best places for that was actually Tiktok (RIP), where I've seen Bollywood, Japanese, African, and more communities in my FYP. Which is so amazing.
Reaching a Polymathic Level
Being multidisciplinary is both easy and extremely hard, and for one we have to deal with the current stigma of society. That generalists are not "as good" as specialists, when that isn't always the case. A generalist can be AS good as a specialist, and as good as a FEW specialists combined. That is the power of the multidisciplinary, cross-discipline and transcontextual thinking. The true innovators of our society, such as the entrepreneurs who wear all the hats.
With the advent of the internet we have access to every bit of knowledge the human race has learned. Just we need to find it, organize it for our digestion, and then pursue it. #modulardegree
When we do that we can attain that "knowing everything" state that the people of the renaissance had experienced. We can't truly know EVERYTHING, such as an Omnimath, but we can reach truly greater heights than we currently can imagine.
We need people like that in the human race, the people who can lead us through the next phase of society. Specialists were king in the past hundred years, but before and especially AFTER it is going to be the multidisciplinary generalists.
People think of the renaissance man and polymath are the same thing. I do not, and that is because you CAN become a Polymath NOW. I do not think you could become a "renaissance man" (person) NOW.
Let me explain. The time that Da Vinci was alive, everything was a lot simpler in the grand scheme of things. There were so many new fields to be discovered, which he did, and the environment was conducive to that as well.
I think now we have discovered most of what there is to be found... externally.
This is where I differ from other thought leaders, and I think that the difference now is of course technology.
While we have discovered all fields in the world around us, conversely we are STILL CREATING the fields on the internet. From the rise of AI agents, and of course GPT itself. To the overwhelming life changes that content allows for creators. The digital web renaissance is upon us, and we CAN become Digital Renaissance People.
Ride the Wave of the Renaissance
Somehow... it doesn't matter if it is through content, AI or GPT, robotics, or something I can't even predict.
We just have to be generalists and adapt to the changes that are happening as fast as we can. The tech changes so fast, that if you miss even one thing you are behind, and then it is a slippery slope from there.
Use AI to learn about AI, use web3 to share what you learn, and master the digital skills needed to market yourself globally.
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Previous Shorter Version:
This was one of my "social articles", an experiment to create medium sized blog posts, akin to newsletters. Across a variety of social blogging networking platforms. Such as Medium, and Linkedin. Since it didn't quite land; I decided to take these posts and remake them into more full length creations.