What is Humanism? It is the belief that inquiry is more important than rules, that humans should view themselves as individuals, not as a large mass hurtling towards one destination or the other (ultimately Heaven or Hell.) It is the belief that humans should count every day as important, and live as though it were about to end the next, not by means of indulgence, but by looking deeper into the meaning of things.
There are a few similarities and differences between Renaissance Humanism and the Flat World of today and the future. Before this new revolution and way of thinking, people were totally and completely focused on the Church. Will I sin today? Will I be forgiven? Will I be sent to Hell? Constantly worrying about sinning, God, and their Religion, obeying every rule the Church set out for them and not even stopping to think for themselves for a moment. Then, around 1400, came the Humanists. They had a new way of thinking... they were able to outsmart, and outdo the priests. Why? Because they were willing to look beyond things, and not just accept them for the way they are commonly believed to be so. This is similar to what we are seeing today in our economy; in our 'Flat World'. People born thirty years ago are completely blown away by what is happening. To the newest generation, things do not seem too strange; we grew up with computers, with the Internet, with mp3 players and high definition television. We are the Humanists of our society, introducing a new idea, which some may or may not wish to entertain, but eventually it will be accepted globally. What the Flat World is introducing to us, is the idea that anyone with the IQ can gain knowledge, anyone with the knowledge (with just an Internet connection) can go on to do great things. They can be connected with the rest of the globe, and as an individual, work, and achieve, just like anyone else would be able to. This is similar to Humanism, because it is both resting on the point that individuality is a good thing.
Considering this, Humanism and the Flat World can also be contrasted. As written earlier, the people of the Renaissance were extremely connected to their Church. They lived their lives to get to Heaven, and first and foremost considered themselves to be Christians. This is both similar and different to our situation, because our separation is between our Country and our people. To explain further, complete this sentence "I am a(n)..." did you think of your country? In a Flat World, it will not matter what color your skin is, it will not matter what language you speak, it will not matter what country you live in, or what gender you are of. In a Flat World, it is completely about individuals interacting. This is both like and dislike Humanism. It is dislike the Renaissance Humanism because we are separating ourselves from our title of American, yet we need the principle of Humanism to do so.
Humanism, if you think about it is essential to the Flat World. Without it the way our society runs would be completely strict and overpowering. The only knowledge we would learn would be what our parents, and grandparents learned before us, and we would only do what they deemed acceptable for us to do. Without Humanism, our society would not exist.
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