Open Source Democracy | Page 8

literally means 'rebirth'. It is the
rebirth of old ideas in a new context. A renaissance is a dimensional
leap, when our perspective shifts so dramatically that our understanding
of the oldest, most fundamental elements of existence changes. The
stories we have been using no longer work.
Take a look back at what we think of as the original Renaissance; the
one we were taught in school. What were the main leaps in perspective?
One example is the use of perspective in painting. Artists developed the
technique of the vanishing point and with it the ability to paint
three-dimensional representations on two-dimensional surfaces. The
character of this innovation is subtle but distinct. It is not a technique
for working in three dimensions; it is not that artists moved from

working on canvas to working with clay. Rather, perspective painting
allows an artist to relate between dimensions: representing
three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional plane.
Another example is calculus, another key renaissance invention.
Calculus is a mathematical system that allows us to derive one
dimension from another. It is a way of describing curves with the
language of lines, and spheres with the language of curves. The leap
from arithmetic to calculus was not just a leap in our ability to work
with higher dimensional objects, but a leap in our ability to relate the
objects of one dimension to the objects of another. It was a shift in
perspective that allowed us to orient ourselves to mathematical objects
from beyond the context of their own dimensionality.
The other main features of the Renaissance permitted similar shifts in
perspective. Circumnavigation of the globe changed our relationship
between the planet we live on and the maps we used to describe it. The
maps still worked, they just described a globe instead of a plane.
Anyone hoping to navigate a course had to be able to relate a
two-dimensional map to the new reality of a three-dimensional planet.
Similarly, the invention of moveable type and the printing press
changed the relationship of author and audience to text. The creation of
a manuscript was no longer a one-pointed affair. The creation of the
first manuscript still was, but now it could be replicated and distributed
to everyone. It was still one story, but now was subject to a multiplicity
of individual perspectives. This innovation alone changed the
landscape of religion in the Western World. Individual interpretation of
the Bible led to the collapse of Church authority and the unilateral
nature of its decrees. Everyone demanded his or her own relationship to
the story.
Our electronic renaissance
In all these cases, people experienced a very particular shift in their
relationship to, and understanding of, dimensions. Understood this way,
a renaissance is a moment of reframing. We step out of the frame as it
is currently defined and see the whole picture in a new context. We can

then play by new rules.
It is akin to the experience of a computer game player. At first, a gamer
will play a video or computer game by the rules. He'll read the manual,
if necessary, then move through the various levels of the game. Mastery
of the game, at this stage, means getting to the end: making it to the last
level, surviving, becoming the most powerful character or, in the case
of a simulation game, designing and maintaining a thriving family, city
or civilisation. For many gamers, this is as far as it goes.
Some gamers, though - usually after they've mastered this level of play
- will venture out onto the internet in search of other fans or user
groups. There, they will gather the cheat codes that can be used to
acquire special abilities within the game, such as invisibility or an
infinite supply of ammunition. When the gamer returns to the game
with his secret codes, is he still playing the game or is he cheating?
From a renaissance perspective he is still playing the game, albeit a
different one. His playing field has grown from the CD on which the
game was shipped to the entire universe of computers where these
secret codes and abilities can be discussed and shared. He is no longer
playing the game, but a meta-game. The inner game world is still fun,
but it is distanced by the gamer's new perspective, much in the way we
are distanced from the play-within-a-play in one of Shakespeare's
comedies or dramas. And the meta-theatrical convention gives us new
perspective on the greater story as well. Gaming, as a metaphor but also
as a lived experience, invites a renaissance perspective on the world in
which we live. Perhaps gamers and their game culture have been as
responsible as anyone for the rise in expressly self-similar forms of
television like Beavis and Butt-head, The Simpsons