Savremena renesansa

Johan Gutenberg smatra se pronalazačem tehnike štampanja pokretnim slovima u Evropi. O njegovom životu i radu postoje samo fragmentarni i delom nesigurni podaci. To se odnosi i na godinu njegovog rođenja, pa se u literaturi obično navodi oko godine 1400.

Upotreba pokretnih slova je bila značajno poboljšanje u odnosu na rukom pisane manuskripte, u to vreme korišćeni metod proizvodnje knjiga u Evropi. Gutenbergova štamparska tehnologija brzo se raširila po Evropi i kasnije, širom sveta.

U renesansnoj Evropi štampanje mehaničkim pokretnim slovima je uvelo eru masovne komunikacije koja je zauvek promenila strukturu društva. Povećan protok informacija — uključujući revolucionarne ideje — zahvatio je društvene mase u reformaciji i postao pretnja moći političkih i religioznih elita.

Naglo povećanje pismenosti zauvek je slomilo monopol pismene elite na obrazovanje i učenje, i podstaklo nastajanje srednje klase. Povećanje kulturne samosvesti ljudi dovelo je do porasta proto-nacionalizma, a evropski govorni jezici su se sve više koristili na uštrb latinskog kao lingua franca.

U 19. veku, zamena Gutenbergovih presa na ručni pogon rotacionim presama na parni pogon, omogućila je štampanje u industrijskim razmerama.

Svet u kome danas živimo rođen je u Renesansi. Odnosi u društvu koje je opisao Šekspir, kao i likovi iz njegovih drama, aktuelni su i danas. Romeo i Julija personifikuju ideal romantične ljubavi. Romantizam – književni pravac, nastao krajem 18. i posebno u 19. veku, odgovoran je za pojavu romana – relativno ranu formu masovnih medija, zahvaljujući kome ideal romantične ljubavi postaje opšte prihvaćen ideal odnosa muškarca i žene dajući romantičnoj ljubavi važnu i prepoznatljivu ulogu u bračnom tipu veze.

Promene koje nastanu u jednom segmentu života prelivaju se na drugi. Slažući olovna slova u svojoj štampariji, Gutenberg nije mogao da nasluti da će njegov pronalazak, između ostalog, da utiče na promenu tradicionalnog odnosa muškarca i žene. Tehničke promene, kao što je slučaj sa Gutenbergovom štamparskom mašinom, izazivaju kvalitativni skok u društvenim odnosima. Promene u sredstvima komunikacije uvek čine najdramatičije promene u odnosima među ljudima.

Entoni Gidens, savremeni Britanski sociolog bio je direktor Londonske škole ekonomije 1997-2003. Na jednom od svojih predavanja rekao je: ,,Pre kraja prošlog veka Internet je bio u svom ranom detinjstvu. Sada se raširio na način koji je u potpunosti bez presedana – povezujući ljude i organizacije preko celog sveta na svakodnevnom nivou, zalazeći duboko u svakodnevni život. Milijarde ljudi imaju pristup Internetu i njihov broj raste iz dana u dan. Sve više povezan i umrežen svet nudi mnogo prednosti i dobrobiti, ali nosi i nove rizike, od kojih su neki globalnih razmera. U 21. veku prilika za rad i rizik se kombinuju kao nikad do sad”. Za današnje društvo Gidens kaže: ,,I na nivou prilike, i na nivou rizika, mi smo na terenu koje ljudska bića do sad nisu otkrila. Mi ne znamo unapred koji je balans očekivan, jer mnogo prilika i rizika je prilično novo i ne možemo se koristiti pređašnjom istorijom da ih procenimo. Klimatske promene su jedan od tih novih rizika. Nijedna druga civilizacije pre napretka modernog industrijalizma nije bila u mogućnosti da se umeša u prirodu na način kao što mi radimo svakodnevno”.

Kakav nas svet očekuje u svetlu svih promena? Zamislimo, na kratko, Evropu pre Gutenbergovog vremena: svi životni fenomeni – od slučajne grmljavine ili zemljotresa, do dobrog roda ili smrti voljene osobe definisani su ili kao volja Božija, ili kao pakost đavola. Srednjovekovni čovek uzima život zdravo za gotovo, i potpuno veruje svešteniku, koji za njega tumači sve pojave, svet, život, smrt. Sveštenik je pismen i savremenim rečnikom govoreći, ima monopol nad informacijama.

Slično kao sveštenici u ta davna vremena, u modernom društvu monopol nad informacijama imaju mediji. Značaj medija u propagiranju modernog načina života je očigledan. Mediji nam daju interpretacije određenih uloga ili stilova života koje konzumenti medija slede krećući se u tačno određenom moralnom okviru.

Pojavom Interneta medijski svet se menja iz korena. Sada medijski sadržaj ne određuju glavni urednici, već sami korisnici medijskog sadržaja. Koje će poruke biti poslate preko medija, koja moralna pravila će biti promovisana, zavisi od korisnika. Informacije se prenose globalno uz minimalnu cenzuru. Slično kao u Renesansi, informacije cirkulišu relativno nesmetano, uključujući tu i revolucionarne ideje.

U globalnom društvu, u svetu punom različitosti, Gidens odbacuje mogućnost jedne, razumljive, svepovezujuće ideologije ili političkog programa. Umesto toga, on podržava ideju o „malim događajima-slikama“, onim koje direktno utiču na dom, radno mesto ili lokalnu zajednicu svakog pojedinca. Dakle, nasuprot globalnim procesima i velikim promenama, pred kojima stoji čovečanstvo, stoji pojedinac, koji rešavajući svoje male probleme, štiti i postepeno menja društvo kao celinu uvodeći ga u potpuno nov, izmenjen svet.

Modern Renaissance

Johann Gutenberg is considered the inventor of movable type printing in Europe. Only fragmentary and partly uncertain information exists about his life and work. This also applies to the year of his birth, which is usually cited around the year 1400 in literature.

The use of movable type was a significant improvement over handwritten manuscripts, the method used at that time for book production in Europe. Gutenberg’s printing technology quickly spread across Europe and later, throughout the world.

In Renaissance Europe, printing with mechanical movable type ushered in an era of mass communication that forever changed the structure of society. The increased flow of information—including revolutionary ideas—swept through the social masses during the Reformation and became a threat to the power of political and religious elites.

The rapid increase in literacy permanently broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning, fostering the emergence of the middle class. The rise in cultural self-awareness among people led to the growth of proto-nationalism, and European vernacular languages increasingly replaced Latin as the lingua franca.

In the 19th century, the replacement of Gutenberg’s manually operated presses with steam-powered rotary presses enabled printing on an industrial scale.

The world we live in today was born in the Renaissance. The social dynamics described by Shakespeare, as well as the characters from his plays, remain relevant today. Romeo and Juliet personify the ideal of romantic love. Romanticism—a literary movement that emerged in the late 18th and particularly in the 19th century—is responsible for the rise of the novel, a relatively early form of mass media, through which the ideal of romantic love became a widely accepted ideal of the relationship between men and women, giving romantic love an important and recognizable role in the context of marriage.

Changes that occur in one aspect of life often spill over into another. As he arranged lead type in his printing shop, Gutenberg could not have anticipated that his invention would, among other things, influence the transformation of traditional relationships between men and women. Technical changes, such as Gutenberg’s printing press, trigger qualitative leaps in social relations. Changes in communication methods always bring about the most dramatic shifts in relationships among people.

Anthony Giddens, a contemporary British sociologist, served as the Director of the London School of Economics from 1997 to 2003. In one of his lectures, he stated: „Before the end of the last century, the Internet was in its early infancy. Now, it has spread in a completely unprecedented way—connecting people and organizations across the globe on a daily basis, deeply integrating into everyday life. Billions of people have access to the Internet, and their number is growing day by day. An increasingly connected and networked world offers many advantages and benefits, but it also brings new risks, some of which are of global scale. In the 21st century, the opportunity to work and the risk are combined as never before.“

Regarding today’s society, Giddens says: „Both in terms of opportunity and risk, we are in uncharted territory that human beings have not discovered before. We do not know in advance what balance to expect, as many opportunities and risks are quite new, and we cannot rely on past history to assess them. Climate change is one of these new risks. No other civilization before the advent of modern industrialism has been able to interfere with nature in the way we do on a daily basis.“

What kind of world awaits us in light of all these changes? Let’s briefly imagine Europe before Gutenberg’s time: all life phenomena—from random thunderstorms or earthquakes to a good harvest or the death of a loved one—were defined either as God’s will or as the devil’s malice. The medieval man took life for granted and placed complete trust in the priest, who interpreted all occurrences, the world, life, and death for him. The priest was literate and, in modern terms, had a monopoly on information.

Similar to the priests of those ancient times, in modern society, the media holds a monopoly on information. The importance of the media in propagating the modern way of life is evident. The media provides us with interpretations of certain roles or lifestyles that media consumers follow, moving within a clearly defined moral framework.

With the advent of the Internet, the media world has fundamentally changed. Now, media content is no longer determined by chief editors but by the users themselves. The messages that will be sent through the media and the moral rules that will be promoted depend on the users. Information is transmitted globally with minimal censorship. Similar to the Renaissance, information circulates relatively unhindered, including revolutionary ideas.

In a global society, in a world full of diversity, Giddens rejects the possibility of a single, understandable, all-encompassing ideology or political program. Instead, he supports the idea of „small events-images,“ those that directly impact the home, workplace, or local community of each individual. Thus, in contrast to the global processes and major changes that humanity faces, stands the individual, who, by solving their small problems, protects and gradually transforms society as a whole, leading it into a completely new, changed world.