Would the World of Social Networking Make DaVinci Roll Over in His Grave, or Jump Online?
A long time ago when airplanes were made out of parchment and dreams, artists such as Leonardo DaVinci lived to create, discover, and explore the next steps that would bring humanity into the future. DaVinci was well known for creating machines, equipment, and more, that had (and still have) the globe gasping in surprise at his technical prowess and intellectual abilities.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that the man who was interested in inventing everything from shoes that would allow a man to walk on water, to whirlpools and helicopters, would’ve been over the moon if he’d been able to unveil his designs on sites such as Google, Yahoo, and Facebook. The contacts he would’ve made in a split second of time all over the world would’ve brought his incredible ideas to the masses.
The power of social networking would’ve given this master the ability to discuss inventions with other scientists, as well as get the “peoples” feedback on what he was working on allowing DaVinci freedom, fame, fortune, and a path to explore his ideas even further.
Art and religion have always been at odds with the world of science and technology. No one could’ve foreseen that DaVinci’s Mona Lisa or The Last Supper, would appear all over the Internet. This is not an over-exaggeration by any means seeing as Leonardo has over 12,600,000 sites on Facebook alone that recreate his art and discuss the master at his finest.
Twitter, MySpace, You Tube – all of these locations reference millions of hits for DaVinci that include everything from purchasing re-creations of his work, to groups that debate everything from his originality to the mysteries behind what the incredible man was thinking of when he dreamed up inventions that would someday change the face of history.
Through the world of social networking, where marketing and sales have become a significant part of business, DaVinci would’ve been the biggest seller when it came to his genius products, as well as services that would help out many an engineer, reader, theologian, artist, mechanic…and the list goes on.
The marketing rights alone would’ve made him the richest and most powerful man of his day. I certainly wonder how many assistants he would have had to employ in order to answer all of his emails, and whether or not he would’ve added PayPal to his site in order to better sell his products. And a blog by Leonardo, himself? Well, suffice to say, there would’ve been nothing more interesting.
The Internet, for all its good and bad features, would certainly have allowed Leonardo incredible opportunities to showcase all that he was, believed in, and created. Not to mention, online access has offered readers the chance to actually see and study his notebooks that are a part of major collections in the Louvre, as well as huge libraries across the globe including the Bibliotheca Ambrosiana in Milan.
Over time people have come to the conclusion that even though DaVinci was an enigma, his outlook on the world was purely logical and his technical abilities to produce products that no one had ever seen, were unmatched by any other. Not only are his paintings the most reproduced of any artist in history, his drawing of the Vitruvian Man – a perfect blend of science and art – has also been used by architectural and technical individuals for centuries.
Art, science, and religion are issues that have been allowed to find a great deal more common ground with this electronic world that allows all men and women the chance to discuss their beliefs, debate pitfalls, and come to peaceful solutions. Perhaps if we were all to use the World Wide Web and partake of social networking, wars would come to a close and history would never repeat itself when it came to tyranny, pain, poverty, and hardship, because each and every citizen would be allowed to speak.
DaVinci not only would give the world of social networking a huge thumbs up, but he would’ve also given Bill Gates a run for his money!