Towards a New Middle Ages (II)
Written by Alfonso Elizondo
Some Silicon Valley giants, such as Tim Cook, Serguey Brin, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Deter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg, are the ones who are currently promoting and financing the most innovative projects worldwide. These projects range from research on a cure for cancer, alleviation of the effects of climate change, travel to outer space and to even on making man immortal.
What is now happening in Silicon Valley is similar to what happened in Florence in the 14th century when it was the center of ideas, inventions and new forms of Renaissance art driven by the Medici who were patrons of the great foreign talents.
In Silicon Valley nothing is preposterous: from a biotechnology center (Celco) founded by Google that aims to ‘cure death’, to organizations such as the Methuselah Foundation, Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and Ellison Medical Foundation that work to understand and reverse the aging process.
Others devote their efforts to cheating death by curing diseases such as cancer. Among them is Sean Parker, co-founder of the old file-sharing service, who with an investment of 250 million dollars founded the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy that brings together 6 leading institutions in cancer research globally, affording them joint access to the findings of more than 40 laboratories.
In addition to health, work is being done in many other areas. Elon Musk, with his Space X company, is looking to create a colony of 1 million people on Mars over the next few decades. For its part, the start-up Marine Cloud Brightening Project developed a technology capable of swelling the clouds over the sea to make them brighter and reflect sunlight away from the surface of the sea in order to keep the planet cooler and combat the effects of climate change.
Singularity University is an academic institution created by Google to train teachers to think exponentially instead of linearly. This seems to be the essence of Silicon Valley which says that the biggest problems in the world are within our reach.
In the same way that the Medici sponsored developments in art, literature, philosophy and architecture to move out of the Middle Ages, it is very possible that the geniuses of the Silicon Valley will take humanity towards a New Middle Ages.
Addendum: Although it seemed impossible only a few years ago, there is already a new elite of mega rich who do not want to become richer and more powerful, but to improve and protect human beings and the planet on which they live, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, culture or personal income level.