In Age of Discovery, Ian Goldin and Chris Kutarna explain how most of us are struggling to navigate the risks and rewards of what they characterize as “our new Renaissance.” Today, we are engaged in a contest “between the good and bad consequences of global entanglement and human development; between the forces of inclusion and exclusion; between flourishing genius and flourishing risks. Whether we each flourish or flounder, and whether the twenty-first century goes down in the history books as one of humanity’s best or worst, depends on what we all do to promote the possibilities and dampen the dangers that this contest brings.”

Moreover, “The stakes could not be higher. We each have the perilous fortune to be born into an historic moment — a decisive moment — when events and choices in our own lifetime will dictate the circumstances of many, many lifetimes to come.”

I agree with Goldin and Kutarna that, with a proper perspective and sufficient determination, we can seize this moment “and realize a new flourishing that in magnitude, geographic scope and positive consequences for human welfare will far surpass the last Renaissance — or indeed, any other flourishing in history.”

In my opinion, our efforts must take into full account two realities: most human limits are self-imposed, and, as Pogo once suggested, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Our Goliath awaits. Now what?

* * *

Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development at the University of Oxford, is also Director of the innovative Oxford Martin School, an interdisciplinary research community addressing global challenges and opportunities. He has published 18 books on issues related to globalization, trade, agriculture, development, migration, the environment, governance and economic reform.

Chris Kutarna is a two-time Governor General’s Medallist, a Sauvé Fellow and Commonwealth Scholar, and a Fellow of the Oxford Martin School with a doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford. A former consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, then entrepreneur, Chris lived in China for several years, speaks Mandarin, and remains a regular op-ed contributor to one of China’s top-ranked news magazines.