Welcome!

I was a founder of Red Herring--a media company that focuses the business of technology--and so spent most of the 1990s (we started on Red Herring in 1992 and launched in 1993) examining innovations in technology and business. I loved it. What I loved most was thinking big thoughts and meeting big thinkers. Through sheer over-exposure I think we started to believe that innovation was found only in technology--but of course it isn't. There is innovative thinking in nearly every area of human endeavor--science, education, politics, art, medicine... you name it. With R21 I hope to track the newest ideas and hear from the most innovative thinkers--wherever they may be found.

"R21" stands for the Renaissance of the 21st Century. This shows that I am at my core an optimist. I believe we are at the nexus of several megatrends that will change the world as dramatically as the Renaissance did 500 years ago. Then, as now, innovations in science, technology, politics, and culture came together to launch an era of great progress. And, despite the turmoil we often find the world in, I believe these modern day trends will, on balance, improve the human condition.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, democratic political and free market economic systems--though not unchallenged, as 9/11 taught us--have proliferated globally. For the first time in human history, more people live in democracies than not. Innovations in technology, including the communications revolution driven by the Internet and the biological revolution driven by genetics, portend massive changes (and I believe improvements) to the state of humanity. Globalization and mass consumerism have their detractors, but they are hugely important modern trends that will define our era. While the Middle East keeps us focused on the past and the struggles--religious, territorial, cultural, geopolitical--that have existed for millennia, we must never forget that in innovation and creativity lie the promise of a better tomorrow.

But, of course, we are at war. Merely nine months after 9/11 and many people have forgotten that. I fear it will get worse before it gets better and, as a people, winning the war will become, if not already, the most important cause in our lives. How and how soon we win this war will surely define our era.

R21 will not be the definitive resource on the modern era--far from it and readers will find that I hardly believe in single solutions--but it will be a voice. It won't be just my voice--I hope that this will be a community rife with discussion, debate, and many contributors. I hope that you will respond, tell me what you think, and allow me to publish your thoughts. You must keep me honest--I commit to a rigorous pursuit of the truth. But bear in mind this is "blogging" (which is short for "Web logging"), a new form of media which is fast and fresh and not over-produced. It is not edited (except by me) and not fact checked. There will be mistakes so you the reader must also be my editors, as well as contributors. What a great new technology. Enjoy.