My Obsession With the Renaissance Man
Art, literature, reason.
There’s so much to love about the Renaissance. It was a period of re-enlightenment and marked the end of the European dark ages and the start of its intellectual properties.
Although, many elements of the Renaissance are often controversial, one of the best things that we got out if it is the concept of a Renaissance man.
Also known as the Universal Man, The Renaissance man was an idea coined in Italy by one of its most-accomplished representatives, Leon Battista Alberti. He explained the idea of:
“a man [that] can do all things if he wills.”
Embodying the basic elements of humanism, the Renaissance man was the center of the universe and limitless in his capabilities for growth and encouraged men to embrace all knowledge and develop their skills as fully as possible.
This lead to many famous figures of this period being painters and lawyers or humanists and doctors. One of the most highly praised scholars of the time, Nicolaus Copernicus, was a lawyer, doctor, and discovered that the Sun is the center of the universe, not the Earth.
But what I love about all of these guys is how damn good they were are at being extraordinary. They knew the value of learning a lot and embraced the fear of uncertainty when tackling new concepts.
This is exactly what sets modern polymaths apart from the average man.
In our world today, we have obvious examples of the Universal Man. The most relevant one being Elon Musk.
Musk is known for being an intellectual powerhouse and as one of the smartest minds alive. He’s spread himself out over electric vehicles (Tesla), space travel (SpaceX), solar energy (Solar City), artificial intelligence (Open AI), brain-computer interfaces(Neuralink), and tunnel excavations (The Boring Company).
That’s 6 different companies — all but one valued at over a billion dollars.
Not to mention, he’s a full-time troll.
Another classic example is Steve Jobs.
After dropping out of college, Jobs audited many random classes because he could. One of these classes was a calligraphy class. If it hadn’t been for Jobs’ curiosity in attending that class, the Mac would’ve never had the different typefaces it did and the perfectly spaced fonts.
Essentially, what he learned from that class was imperative in connecting his future at Apple. Not to forget, that when Jobs was kicked out of Apple he started Pixar Animations — a completely different direction than his prior work with hardware.
Regardless, Jobs trusted the process in his uncertain life. In his own words
“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
One of the lesser know modern polymaths — but probably the best example of one — was Jacob Bronowski.
He was a British Jewish mathematician, biologist, historian, theatre author, poet, and inventor. His unique perspective as a biologist and mathematician is what allowed him to develop the humanistic approach to science. That approach has allowed science to grow beyond just an operational study.
He is easily regarded as one of the world’s most celebrated intellectuals.
Conventional thinking implies a preconceived bias that knowing too much is harmful to a person’s chance of success.
But in the case of these modern polymaths and the Renaissance men its the opposite. That’s because, in reality, it is the complete opposite. As stated by Micheal Simmons, people who have “too many interests” are more likely to be successful according to research.
In the modern world, to be world-class in one thing, you must be the top 1% in that one thing. When for a polymath, being in the top 50% of two different things sets you on par with the top 1%. It’s something that I’ve learned in my time in The Knowledge Society and something that Simmons also highlights: building out your T.
By learning across various domains and integrating with specific domains collectively, you’re setting yourself up for much more success than a person who doesn’t. This collectivism is what often leads to innovations, breakthroughs, and new fields.
The entire subset of artificial intelligence of deep learning and neural networks is derived from expertise in software and perspective of neuroscience and how humans think. That same subset has one of the most innovative technologies of the past decade.
But apart from innovation, the complementary mindsets and guiding principles for a Renaissance man is where the real value is.
The simple lessons of the past still hold weight today. They have been north stars for me ever since I learned about them, earlier last year. It has helped me become more thoughtful and analytical when tackling problems and encouraged me to explore complicated ideas out of pure interest and perspective.
Here are some of the lessons I’ve taken from the Renaissance man:
1. Be radically curious
Curiosity is the precursor for knowledge accumulation. It leads to passion and ambition within learning and exploration. Exploration allows you to gain unique experiences that give you perspective — which is above all, in terms of value.
This perspective is what gives you a better understanding of the world and yourself. Those two in tandem are the recipe for success.
2. Embrace uncertainty
As Jobs said, the dots never connect forward, only backwards. Follow yourself and trust yourself in doing what is of interest and passion for you. If you truly can denounce the fear of uncertainty and allow it to become an opportunity to optimize for serendipity, your dots will connect and it will work out.
3. Think different
Only by gaining a different perspective are you able to think differently. And only by thinking differently are you able to develop new approaches to life. Those new approaches are valuable when they deviate from the norm and show you something that wasn’t otherwise obvious. The obvious is worthless the unknown is valuable.
These are just a few of the valuable lessons that can be derived from the Renaissance man.
The best part is that anyone and everyone can derive their own learnings. That’s the thing with learning: there’s never one way to do it. Following successful systems from others is convenient but you take what you like and leave what you don’t. Kinda like shopping.
We’re all different in how we work and how we think. What’s useful for one might be obvious for another. But the power of mindsets is that they’re so generalized that you can make it your own. As Charlie Munger describes it, it’s an operating system for life.
Mindsets and principles are supposed to convenient tools you can use for any problem that life throws at you. The more tools you have, the better you’ll be prepared. Of course, some tools get multiple jobs done — same with some mindsets.
For example, first principles is essentially breaking things down to their fundamental truths and building up from there. It’s a physics framework that can be applied to any sort of problem. Since it is just a tool for comprehension: break things down into more bite-size pieces.
Similarly, second-order thinking is deliberate thinking about interaction and outcomes over time. It’s often just asking yourself “and then what?” over and over. It’s a simple way to understand cause and effect and is used in investing and business to make better decisions.
The key is to make them work for you, not against you. The closer you get to having automatic systems put in place in life, the better. That’s what mindsets and principles do and that’s what the Renaissance man taught me to do.
Hope you enjoyed that read!:
Before you leave, please allow me to introduce myself :)
I’m Sabeeh and I’m a curious 17-year-old who is super passionate about emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, gene-editing, and more. I would love to connect and learn more about you as well — Shoot me a DM!
Connect with me on Linkedin, Medium (oh look! you’re already here), or Twitter!