The New Renaissance Man

This article was originally published at Stratfor.com. Editor's Note: The Global Affairs column is curated by Stratfor's board of contributors, a diverse group of thinkers whose expertise inspires rigorous and innovative thought. Their opinions are their own and serve to complement and even challenge our beliefs. We welcome that challenge, and we hope our readers do too. Leonardo da Vinci, perhaps the most famous Renaissance man in history, once claimed, "The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding."