Why "Second Renaissance"?

We have chosen the term "Second Renaissance" for two main reasons. First, it highlights the process of becoming, rather than predefining a destination, which serves as a reminder that the "end-state" is open-ended and emergent, rather than something that can be fixed ahead of time. In doing so, it also overcomes potential conceptual divisions over the nature of the new paradigm that is or ought to emerge. Second, as with the Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries, at the core of the Second Renaissance is the relationship between science and spirituality, reason and intuition. The First Renaissance saw a separation of these fundamental human endeavours and ways of knowing; the Second Renaissance seeks to bring about their re-integration.