Leonardo to the Internet: Technology and Culture from the Renaissance to the Present - Essay Example

The paper "Leonardo to the Internet: Technology and Culture from the Renaissance to the Present" is an outstanding example of an essay on history. In Misa’s Chapter, Long discusses how Leonardo Da Vinci struggled with his career to initiate long-term developments that the later centuries witnessed in the arts and architecture (Misa 1). The author highlights that the vision that the modern-day innovators embody has been inherent through human civilizations. Although Leonardo began his career as an architect and a military engineer, he was similarly successful in scientific invention and painting. The text analyzes Leonardo’s technological career within the context of a complimenting culture and politics. The author argues that Leonardo’s innovations were a reaction to the given problems that his community was facing.

This explains why most thinkers and artists such as Leonardo were close to the then governments. The governments who were participating in expanding and maintaining their gained territories required inventors to design tools for winning wars. In this sense, the thinkers were at the mercy of the political decisions made by their leaders. The arts and scientific innovation were essential in cementing the legacy of reigns. Although the scientists were doing the principal activities, they lacked the political immensity that the ruling classes enjoyed (Findon and Groves 102). Political privileges could only be conferred by the innovators and thinkers that the given administrations favored. The designs of courts and cities formed the basis upon which modern architecture developed. Although the political class used the innovators, the thinkers developed innovations that traversed generations. In addition, in spite of the common perception of technology as cumulative, several technologies that individuals use today possess traces in the medieval ages. This is demonstrable at Leonardo’s attempt at making an airplane out of a bat’s design (Moon 41).  Read More