The Renaissance Connection and Silicon Valley:

There is a connection between the European Renaissance and the technological discoveries in Silicon Valley. Both technological eras produced great information revolutions. Five hundred years ago in renaissance Europe, it was the invention of the printing press and the evolution of small, affordable books that created an information revolution. In Silicon Valley, it has been the invention of the personal computer and the evolution of the Internet that has created a new information revolution.

The Renaissance art form is contrasted with today's advent of the Internet and silicon chips in this short video.

Lisa Jardine, Renaissance Historian, discusses the European and Silicon Valley Renaissance parallels.

Michael L. Hackworth discusses the Renaissance parallels in Silicon Valley.

Michael Hackworth was the co-founder of Cirrus Logic and a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist. He passed away at the age of 71 on April 23, 2012.

A sense of urgency to create in Silicon Valley was rooted in the belief that a nuclear war was inevitable. Similarly, the Black Death during the European Renaissance period spurred the same sense of urgency which indirectly lead to voyages of discovery and a myriad of inventions. The parallels are compared in this video clip.