The great names of Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Copernicus, Raphael and Michelangelo were the mark of an age that saw a rush of discovery, the breaking down of barriers of ignorance and a newly connected world both politically and economically. Today we have better education and resources, the rate of innovation is doubling every year and there are great leaps in science, trade, migration and technology. Goldin argues that the results this time could be greater, but the world faces many of the same dangers as Renaissance man: warring ideologies, fundamentalism, climate change and pandemic.
