The Meridian Principle: A Philosophy of Human Progress

Richard Snee on behalf of the Crane Team

Every generation believes it is living through unprecedented change. Yet beneath every
technological revolution lies a deeper question:

What causes civilization to move forward?

History suggests a remarkably consistent pattern:

Human progress accelerates when extraordinary people connect ideas across disciplines, cultures and generations.

This is the Meridian Principle.
From Renaissance Florence to Bell Labs to the creation of the internet, periods of extraordinary
progress have occurred when ideas that previously existed apart were brought together in new
ways.

We believe we are entering another such period.

Artificial intelligence is dissolving the boundaries between disciplines and expanding humanity’s capacity to create, discover and imagine. Biology meets machine learning. Physics meets software. Materials science meets AI.

And at these intersections, a particular kind of founder is emerging.

They are synthesists.
Deeply expert, intellectually curious, and unwilling to be constrained by traditional boundaries.
Increasingly, they can come from anywhere.

Talent has always been evenly distributed. Opportunity has not.

The Meridian Principle is Crane’s philosophy of human progress, and the belief behind where we look, who we back, and why we believe the greatest discoveries remain ahead of us.
Read the full Meridian Principle.

Download the PDF →