SOSPIRO and the New Renaissance
“The New Renaissance has created a huge opportunity for business to grasp advantage from the flow of fast communications, social connectivities and commercial
uncertainties of the Age of Ambiguity”
David Heslop CEO Mazda/Expotel
The Context for SOSPIRO and the New Renaissance
The huge drivers of population growth, resource management, Web 2.0/3.0, the currency of ideas, climate change legislation and commercial uncertainties have put business into a new context.
Success now and in the future is already judged by different parameters - by companies and stakeholders alike. Profitability and commercial success are linked on a new, ‘triple bottom line’ along with long-term strategy and corporate social responsibility.
SOSPIRO speeds up the journey between where you and your company are NOW and where you would LIKE TO BE in the new business context.
“All our knowledge has its
origins in our perceptions.
In rivers, the water that you
touch is the last of what has
passed and the first of that
which comes; so with present
times”
Leonardo Da Vinci
1452-1519
A brief history of everything...The 5000 Year ViewThe 1000 Year ViewThe Now and Tomorrow View
The 5000 Year View
Looking at this illustration, that puts us in the year 2008 exactly in the middle of a 5000 year cycle, we can see ourselves as part of a huge timeframe that should give us pause for thought.
From the early days of Classical Greece, to our present day Knowledge Revolution, Philosophy has informed us of concepts and ideals, but we’ve primarily adopted two different ways of ‘doing’ and ‘thinking’ - universal tools, that have informed our methods, choices and behaviours. Science and Art.
At various points in this timeline, the balance between these two ways of ‘doing’ and ‘thinking’ alters. From the Classical Greek ‘Quadrivium’ of the 4 principal subjects which were a recognition of the optimum balance of art and science, - Geometry, Arithmetic, Music and Astronomy, and the flowering of Art and Science in the ‘Renaissance Men’ of the 15th and 16th Centuries to the search for progress through logic in the Enlightenment, ‘The Age of Reason’, we have seen the shifting priorities of different ages resonate through the actions and culture of societies.
From the middle of the illustration, moving right, we have an unknown. The Future. How will we handle the challenges of the NEXT 2,500 years? What tools will we use to lay the foundations for a sustainable future in our ‘doing’ and ‘thinking’? What we do NOW is crucial.
Both Science and Art transcend the life of individual man, and the delicate balance that can exist between the two needs our careful attention if we are to sow the seeds of a sustainable future. Decisions, priorities and planning on this balance today affects our long-term future in a way that it perhaps never has before.
By looking at the two bedrocks of ‘Scientific’ method and ‘Artful’ method in a little more detail, we can begin to put a picture together of a way forward.
The world of Science is a world of ‘new discovery’ and the ‘application’ of these new discoveries in a way that we hope will take us forward, empirically, in line with the new limits of our ‘found’ human knowledge of Natural Laws, and what we understand to be the ‘Essence’ of life. Scientific Intelligence and Applications have an ‘upward/deferential’ trajectory, in the search for illumination, and ever more useful discoveries.
Art is a world of ‘rediscovery’ and ‘confirmation’ of Natural Laws that resonates with humans and are the source of rebirth over thousands of years. Art also holds within itself some of the universal principles for the construction of sustainable, long term models of creativity, collaboration, growth and behaviours. Visual Art, Music, Poetry and Architecture for example are outward ‘displays’ of Natural Laws, and have a ‘circular/referential’ trajectory.
Neither of these models are perfect in themselves. They are simply our two ways of seeing and dealing with the same, enormous picture from different angles, and with different results. Both Science and the Art interact with Natural Laws in different ways.
Science is based on the linear exploration of these laws, (‘IN’ THINKING) usually in the order of their discovery, in a ‘sequential’ frame. Discovery-Empiricism-Certainty and Application. In other words, LOGIC.
Art is the outward manifestation of these laws, (‘OUT’ THINKING) and great art is a mirror of their beauty, in a ‘reiterative’ frame, with ‘application’ as the starting point. Application-Ambiguity-Experimentation-Transformation. In other words, IMAGINATION. Arrival at the limit of human scientific knowledge is the moment when Philosophy and Art step in the begin the the description of ‘uncertainty’, ‘ambiguity’ and ‘the unknown’, - as logic and imagination become intertwined for a visionary moment.
These interactions with the Natural World have been in different balances over hundreds of years, - perhaps most starkly from the period of the Renaissance to the present day.