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Nice article. Wish they had gone on to cover Cosimo Medici! He was the best. Inventing banking and then using the profits to fund the renaissance? Need people l

Nice article. Wish they had gone on to cover Cosimo Medici! He was the best. Inventing banking and then using the profits to fund the renaissance? Need people like that today.

DoingIsLearning 4y ago
> Need people like that today. Florentine maecenas were no different from billionaires today chasing each other in space races. They didn't sponsor artists for the sake of art but rather as a display of wealth and power. Edit: I am clarifying intention here, it does not mean that the side effects don't have a net positive, but they are unlikely to come from a purely altruistic place.
- dr_dshiv 4y ago
  Cynicism aside, the renaissance was a real phenomenon. Among many other things, Cosimo Medici restarted the Academy, hiring the philosopher Marsilio Ficino to translate Plato (which had been lost to the west for nearly 1000 years), Plotinus, Hermes Trismegistus, etc. The reintroduction of classical ideas and modes of thought had a profound impact on the development of Europe over the next 200 years. Meanwhile, many of Ficino’s own philosophical books remain untranslated today… (Btw, if this is anyone else’s interest, I’ve helped to translate Ficino’s philosophy of pleasure: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RZYHWmptuPbpZcUbDdqNvBJD6EUiNkZL-YlQAVSoehM/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RZYHWmptuPbpZcUbDdqNvBJD...)
- bazoom42 4y ago
  > They didn't sponsor artists for the sake of art but rather as a display of wealth and power. Perhaps, but we still got the art.
- VoodooJuJu 4y ago
  Although many so-called "nobles" certainly funded the arts for such vain purposes, I guarantee that many other nobles were funding art for its own noble sake.
- recuter 4y ago
  Pardon me, so? Back to the dark ages?
- HeckFeck 4y ago
  We can never know the exact intention of anyone, especially figures long in the past. I find it hard to believe that wealthy eccentrics didn't (or don't) enjoy things for their own sake. If you have a pile of money and the chance to create something great, that'd fill you with wild excitement I can only imagine.
fooker 4y ago
>Inventing banking and then using the profits to fund the renaissance? How about productizing electric cars and satellite internet to fund space exploration?
s3000 4y ago
>Inventing banking and then using the profits to fund the renaissance? Need people like that today. When it comes to culture, do we still need funding? The internet offers connection and replication. What is preventing the people with the right skills from coming together and creating the next level of civilization?
- sofixa 4y ago
  Well those people still need to eat, have a roof over their head, etc. so that they live comfortable enough lives to be able to create whatever it is they're creating.
  - s3000 4y ago
    When somebody offers food and shelter, people will fill the space and they will create whatever that person asks them to do. They will create Netflix productions and Google chat apps and Meta VR spaces. The internet allows people to connect without the initial need for funding. If funding is needed, the internet makes it possible for a team to discover investors and foundations that would add financial support. The limiting factor are not resources but teams.
    - imtringued 4y ago
      We need money not for funding, but rather to organize the division of labor. The strange thing is that money does not come with obligations to those holding it, only privileges, so it can be withheld from the market, leading to the appearance that there is a lack of funding.
- dragonelite 4y ago
  In 2022 its influencers and fake news peddler which the oligarchs sponsor.

Nice article. Wish they had gone on to cover Cosimo Medici! He was the best. Inventing banking and then using the profits to fund the renaissance? Need people like that today.

DoingIsLearning 4y ago

> Need people like that today. Florentine maecenas were no different from billionaires today chasing each other in space races. They didn't sponsor artists for the sake of art but rather as a display of wealth and power. Edit: I am clarifying intention here, it does not mean that the side effects don't have a net positive, but they are unlikely to come from a purely altruistic place.

dr_dshiv 4y ago
Cynicism aside, the renaissance was a real phenomenon. Among many other things, Cosimo Medici restarted the Academy, hiring the philosopher Marsilio Ficino to translate Plato (which had been lost to the west for nearly 1000 years), Plotinus, Hermes Trismegistus, etc. The reintroduction of classical ideas and modes of thought had a profound impact on the development of Europe over the next 200 years. Meanwhile, many of Ficino’s own philosophical books remain untranslated today… (Btw, if this is anyone else’s interest, I’ve helped to translate Ficino’s philosophy of pleasure: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RZYHWmptuPbpZcUbDdqNvBJD6EUiNkZL-YlQAVSoehM/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RZYHWmptuPbpZcUbDdqNvBJD...)
bazoom42 4y ago
> They didn't sponsor artists for the sake of art but rather as a display of wealth and power. Perhaps, but we still got the art.
VoodooJuJu 4y ago
Although many so-called "nobles" certainly funded the arts for such vain purposes, I guarantee that many other nobles were funding art for its own noble sake.
recuter 4y ago
Pardon me, so? Back to the dark ages?
HeckFeck 4y ago
We can never know the exact intention of anyone, especially figures long in the past. I find it hard to believe that wealthy eccentrics didn't (or don't) enjoy things for their own sake. If you have a pile of money and the chance to create something great, that'd fill you with wild excitement I can only imagine.

fooker 4y ago

>Inventing banking and then using the profits to fund the renaissance? How about productizing electric cars and satellite internet to fund space exploration?

s3000 4y ago

>Inventing banking and then using the profits to fund the renaissance? Need people like that today. When it comes to culture, do we still need funding? The internet offers connection and replication. What is preventing the people with the right skills from coming together and creating the next level of civilization?

sofixa 4y ago
Well those people still need to eat, have a roof over their head, etc. so that they live comfortable enough lives to be able to create whatever it is they're creating.
- s3000 4y ago
  When somebody offers food and shelter, people will fill the space and they will create whatever that person asks them to do. They will create Netflix productions and Google chat apps and Meta VR spaces. The internet allows people to connect without the initial need for funding. If funding is needed, the internet makes it possible for a team to discover investors and foundations that would add financial support. The limiting factor are not resources but teams.
  - imtringued 4y ago
    We need money not for funding, but rather to organize the division of labor. The strange thing is that money does not come with obligations to those holding it, only privileges, so it can be withheld from the market, leading to the appearance that there is a lack of funding.
dragonelite 4y ago
In 2022 its influencers and fake news peddler which the oligarchs sponsor.