I am looking at the financial crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic as an interesting parallel to what happened in the 14th Century when the European economy went into recession.
The Hundred Years’ War between England and France triggered a European crisis, particularly when King Edward III of England didn’t pay his debt to my home town, Florence. This forced the two largest Florentine banks, the Bardi and Peruzzi, to collapse. I see a parallel to the wars following 9/11 and the financial crisis of 2008.
The Black Plague was even more devastating, as it killed millions of people in Europe. Florence lost 50% of its population, and the plague triggered the revolt of the Florentine textile workers, the Ciompi, in 1378. I see this as the equivalent of the SARS and Covid-19 Pandemics with millions of people in social and business isolation.
The Black Plague resulted in labour shortages and higher wages, which then created a wealthier population. The new demand for products generated new financial systems and trading opportunities. The collapse of the Bardi and Peruzzi banks gave space to the Medici bank, powered by a new Double Ledger accounting system that allowed them to run a European-World-class banking network. I see a parallel with Bitcoin and other Blockchain solutions triggered by the 2008 financial crisis, and the introduction of Artificial Intelligence to improve productivity, Business, and Social Intelligence.
Renaissance banking families and political dynasties like the Medici family sponsored inventors like Brunelleschi and Leonardo Da Vinci, artists like Donatello and Michelangelo. I believe that learning from the Italian Renaissance will help us propel humanity into a new Renaissance leveraging the Arts, Culture, Spirituality, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence.
With Power comes Responsibility, and this is why organizations that hold knowledge must take the responsibility to guide the world out of this crisis, and ignite a new Renaissance. This is why Querlo partnered with The Opera del Duomo of Florence, combining its customized Artificial Intelligence solutions with 700 years of Arts, Culture, and Spirituality. You can read more about my perspective on this matter in this article I published back in 2014 when we established payments in Bitcoin to reward high-school female students in Afghanistan. If you have comments and suggestions or if you want to contribute with your perspective, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at fr@querlo.com.
Please visit www.Querlo.com/chat/opera to learn more about what we are doing and take the opportunity to ask great questions to the artists of the Renaissance, this will allow us to train our NLU (natural language understanding) and give a new life to artists and inventors like Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Donatello and Leonardo Da Vinci. Grazie!
