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The Modern World

9/12/2025

The modern era, generally spanning from around 1500 or 1700 to the present day, is marked by several interconnected developments. It represents a radical departure from previous centuries, characterized by a qualitative, not just quantitative, shift in how societies operate. Its key characteristics include:

Capitalism: Emerging as an "epistemology" or a way of thinking, it prioritizes calculation, money, and efficiency, and has become the dominant economic and cultural system globally, shaping relationships and driving geopolitics.
The Coherent, Bureaucratic State: Developing from the 16th to 19th centuries, the State became distinct from the ruler, operating on the amoral doctrine of "raison d'etat" and gaining self-perpetuating rationales. This model often struggles with balancing local sovereignty and global effects.
Scientific Revolution and Rationality: This period saw the rise of modern science, which promised knowability, stability, and control over nature, leading to increased confidence and a more secular outlook. However, it also led to the "disenchantment" of the world and a struggle for moral anchors outside of traditional religious frameworks.
Democracy and Individualism: Ideas of "the people" being in charge, rather than monarchy, gained traction, leading to revolutions and the gradual, though often contested, distribution of political and economic power to the masses. Modernity also highlights the "power of the self and of individuals to act".
Accelerating Change and Globalization: The modern era is defined by rapid technological advancements, increasing interconnectedness of people, things, and ideas across the globe, leading to a sense of "disruption" and constant "noise".

Landmarks of Modernity

Roots: Gutenberg's printing press (1453), the end of the Hundred Years' War (1453), the fall of Constantinople (1453), and the Renaissance marked the "Early Modern Europe," setting the stage for science, Protestantism, democracy, and global exploration. The 17th and 18th centuries saw the emergence of capitalism and the modern state, shifting human activity outside traditional moral structures.
The American (1776) and French (1789) Revolutions fundamentally shifted the nature of ideology from religious to political, emphasizing "the people" and democracy, though their immediate democratic impact was limited. The Industrial Revolution further transformed work and living patterns.
19th Century nationalism arose as a "way-station" to globalization, consolidating local identities into larger ethno-national groupings, often driven by elites. While initially a force for integration, it led to instability and oppression in the 20th century.
The 20th century was dominated by the struggle between communism, fascism, and liberal democratic capitalism, culminating in the "triumph" of the latter. WWI profoundly impacted the European worldview, leading to the disintegration of empires and a loss of faith in progress, while WWII was characterized by stark moral dichotomies.
The present is marked by accelerating technological change (e.g., AI), economic and social inequality, climate crisis, and political polarization, leading to psychological distress and a "deconstruction of our shared social picture of reality". The world is grappling with the ongoing tension between localism/nationalism and the need for global solutions.

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Critiques of Modernity

9/12/2025

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The modern era, broadly defined as the last 250 years or even from 1500, is characterized by widespread and accelerating change due to developments like the Industrial Revolution, French Revolution, and advancements in technology and science. However, while we like to think of our culture as “advanced” and “progressive,” we need to examine our situation critically:

The emergence of capitalism and the coherent, bureaucratic State in Early Modern Europe (17th-18th Century) developed distinct, amoral rationales for their existence, operating outside of traditional moral structures. Capitalism, focused on economic "interests," broke away from destructive sectarian conflicts but led to profit being prioritized over morality. Similarly, the doctrine of "raison d'etat" allowed the State to act without regard for Christian compassion, focusing on its own self-perpetuation. This has left modern societies struggling to find a moral anchor, especially after the decline of traditional religious authority. The pursuit of wealth and privilege often drives domestic and international policymaking, with moral arguments holding a "tenuous place".
The sheer pace and quantity of change in the modern world, particularly with technological advancements like the internet and AI, can be overwhelming, leading to psychological distress, disorientation, and nihilism. This "noise of the world" from endless news, social media, and consumer marketing crowds out peace of mind and makes it difficult to process information. The constant "disruption" is now standard, and the information/robot/AI revolution is still in its infancy.
Modernity has seen social fabrics erode, exacerbated by political polarization and a lack of confidence in joint social/political action. There is a "deconstruction of our shared social picture of reality," leading to "epistemological silos" where different groups perceive reality differently. This contributes to ungovernability and a rejection of the state, as society struggles to cope with a world more complex than humanity is psychologically equipped to handle. Governments often fail to meet expectations, bogged down by complexity, over-institutionalization, and conflicting interests.
The "cultural religion of 'progress,' development, and modernity" has significant environmental and global costs, visible in floods, wildfires, and the looming climate crisis. Modern capitalism's exploitation of the globe and its focus on short-term economic claims by older generations contribute to climate issues and child suffering. Stark economic and social inequality is visible both within societies and internationally, driven by the maintenance and expansion of privilege and wealth.
Despite apparent rapid change, the modern era is also marked by sclerosis and resistance to change in its institutions. Decades of pressure are often needed for significant social shifts, and many formal structures and regulations remain outdated, creating "icebergs of tradition that chill the prospects of moving our society forward".
While democracy is a hallmark of modernity, its promise has often been aspirational rather than fully realized, with historical progress being incremental and elites often retaining control. This risks mobocracy and the undermining of truth in modern democratic societies. Nationalism, while initially a force for broader identity in the 19th century, has become a source of instability, oppression, and horrific acts in the 20th and 21st centuries, often serving as a "reactionary ideology" against globalization.
Western powers, particularly the US, claim a "moral high ground" and a mantle of democracy while engaging in actions inconsistent with these ideals, such as imperialism, exploitation, and selective moralizing. This self-righteousness often blinds them to their own historical culpability and current shortcomings.

Historical Perspectives on Critiques of Modernity
Historical perspectives offer a crucial lens through which to understand and respond to these critiques:

History helps us to understand that "progress" is not linear and that current problems are often rooted in deep historical processes. It encourages a critical examination of the "self-congratulatory culture" that constructed narratives of human progress and the benefits of science and rationality. Historians can "depower history" by challenging narratives that focus solely on the powerful and by including the stories of those historically excluded, thus offering a more complete picture of modernity's impact.
Understanding the "mentalité" of people from other eras is crucial for comprehending past decisions and avoiding present-day projections onto the past. This applies even to the values of "liberty" or "happiness," whose meanings have changed over time.
Historians recognize that assessing recent events is difficult because their long-term significance is not yet clear, and perspectives change over time. What might seem like a major crisis today (e.g., the "Covid Era") may fade into insignificance in future historical accounts.
While history offers "a humongous pile of examples of human behavior", it does not provide simple "lessons" or predictive power for the future. Direct analogies to past events can be misleading because circumstances are always unique due to a "complex stew of choice, chance and human agency". The rapid pace of modern change and new legal/social structures (e.g., social media, climate degradation) may even render historical analogies irrelevant for present problems.
Societies can be "overly focused on the past," hindering their ability to adapt and move forward. Sometimes, "consigning the past to the past" and making a conscious decision to "forget" certain historical grievances or details can be beneficial for stability and progress.
Modernity, with its scientific advancements, promised knowability but also led to a "deconstruction of our shared social picture of reality". Historians understand that "truth" itself is a complex concept, and historical narratives are always "selective, skewed, and incomplete". This understanding is critical when evaluating the validity of various critiques of modernity, as perceptions are flavored by individual and cultural perspectives.

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The Nature of History

9/12/2025

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The Nature of History

History, in its broadest sense (lower-case "history"), is the sum of everything that has happened to people so far in the world. As a discipline (upper-case "History"), it is "the stories we choose to tell about history" (112020). At its core, I define History as the study of "change over time" and, fundamentally, the study of "power," meaning any means of making change (072624).
Its purpose is to provide a vast repository of human behavior, enabling us to practice understanding ourselves and the complex, unpredictable choices we face, thus sharpening our sense of being human and fostering humility and perspective. It serves as a tool for critical thinking, encouraging students to weigh differing interpretations of the past rather than accepting simplistic narratives. Ultimately, for individuals, engaging with history can contribute to self-knowledge and a grounded understanding of one's place in the world.

However, History does not produce a singular, definitive "truth" in the scientific sense. Instead, it aims to frame understandings as best as possible, recognizing that its answers are necessarily tentative and disputable. The goal of discovering "what actually happened" is difficult and often beyond reach, due to limitations in sources, biases, and the sheer complexity of human events. Meanings of concepts like "democracy" or "truth" change significantly over time, making cross-chronological understanding challenging. The very act of interpretation is influenced by the historian's own "mental capabilities, psychological parameters, and ethical values".

As a historian, I face inherent challenges in reconstructing the past:
• Source Limitations: Historical records, particularly written ones, are often produced by elites and males, leading to a skewed understanding of the experiences of the vast majority of humanity, such as African slaves, female servants, or agricultural workers’ oral conversations were rarely recorded, and modern digital communication can be designed to disappear, making evidence elusive.
• "Streetlamp Problem": We tend to focus research where documents are available, potentially overemphasizing narratives supported by written evidence, rather than the full range of historical causes.
• Psychological Challenges: We are not psychologists, and I view attempts at "psychohistory" as dubious (020224). It is exceptionally difficult to truly grasp the mentalité (mindset) of people from other eras and cultures without projecting modern assumptions (020224). This "temptation of hindsight" makes it hard to leave knowledge of future events aside when analyzing the past.
• Bias towards Power: The discipline often fixates on "power" as the principal criterion for inclusion in historical narratives, meaning that stories of those without power are frequently absent or only superficially included (072624).
• Periodization and Relevance: Defining the "beginnings and ends of particular periods" is an interpretive act, reflecting the historian's argument about significance. There is also a constant struggle with how recent an event must be before it is "ripe" for historical analysis, avoiding mere "journalism" (090624, 041423).

At the same time, understanding history (and History) is strewn with traps.
• Historical perspectives are not static; they evolve over time, shaped by current concerns and prevailing ideologies.
• "Rhyming" vs. Repeating: I have repeatedly emphasized that history "doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes"(032224, 010325, 022522). Thinking that there are clear and direct "lessons of history" is simplistic, as the "complex stew of choice, chance and human agency" prevents exact repetition (030824). Broad historical comparisons, while tempting (e.g., Putin to Hitler), often mislead more than they enlighten, serving more to promote contemporary policy stances than to guide understanding (090624).
• Public Understanding: The general public often perceives history as a collection of fixed facts, "names-and-dates," and simple narratives, leading to a "fixation on the dramatic and the heroic" ("Great Men" theory of history) (061022, 112020, 072624). This desire for a "comforting" narrative, rooted in continuity and self-validation, can obscure the messy realities of the past (102320).
• The Weight of the Past: Societies can be "overly focused on the past," hindering their ability to adapt to new realities (051625, 090624). The English, for example, are s fixed on their history, which impacts their post-imperial identity and struggle with integrating diverse cultures (051625). Thus, the concept of "ancient history" can be a deliberate act of "forgetting" to allow societies to move forward, as persistent historical claims can prevent resolution of current disputes (090624, 062824, 020924).
• Political and Moral Exploitation: History is frequently "abused" for political purposes, such as justifying territorial claims, promoting nationalistic agendas, or whitewashing past wrongs (081823, 090123, 090624, 022522). Ideology is often "window-dressing" for power struggles (081823).

In conclusion, history is an indispensable, yet inherently flawed and constantly evolving, endeavor. It is critical for self-understanding and societal progress, but its interpretations are always subject to bias, the limitations of available evidence, and the shifting perspectives of the present. While it offers echoes and context, it does not provide simple predictions or prescriptive "lessons" for the future.

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Personal Reflections

9/5/2025

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In addition to looking at the world, I have tried to also look at myself. According to my AI friend, “Steve Harris's reflections deeply intertwine his personal and professional life, offering a candid self-portrait of a historian grappling with the complexities of existence, knowledge, and societal change. His writings are not merely academic discussions but are imbued with personal insights, struggles, and a continuous quest for meaning and coherence.”

My professional journey is marked by a significant shift from a law and business career to that of a historian and educator. I spent fourteen years in the AT&T/Bell System, where I was involved in regulatory and public policy matters, especially around new technologies and later worked as general counsel for internet companies. I found this work "fine, often interesting," but recognized it as an "occupation, not vocation," lacking true passion.

My transition to history, starting in 2005, was driven by a love for learning, teaching, and research. I found immense satisfaction in engaging with students, sharing philosophical perspectives alongside substantive history. This "second career" as a "contingent" faculty member at SF State, while subject to enrollment and budget pressures, brought a renewed sense of opportunity and engagement. I was a "utility infielder" in the History Department, teaching diverse classes and continuously learning new material and techniques, despite the marginal benefit of long-term investment for a contingent faculty member.

Personal Sensibilities and Coping Mechanisms

I have a deep-seated concern with order and organization, stemming from childhood admonitions to "clean up after yourself" and later, as a coping mechanism for "vast uncertainty and insecurity" during college. This extends to physical neatness, digital organization, and meticulous planning for trips or daily errands. This construction of order is a "tiny corner where I could be sure I knew what was happening," a "site of solace and calm and (nominal) psychological safety," and even a way to "fight off death;" Even if this inclination can sometimes become a "fetish or compulsion".
I am a "skeptical agnostic" regarding God, applying a scientific outlook that demands demonstration and replicability. This skepticism extends to claims of absolute truth, whether in religion or even in science, acknowledging that scientific truth is "tentative" and represents "the best we know so far". We can find humility in recognizing that human understanding is limited, that "we don't know what's going to stick, alter, or fade" in social change, which is especially useful in avoiding smugness, whether born of scientific success or personal indulgence.
My blog has been a vehicle to work on self-candor, exploring my own proclivities, psychological sources of attitudes, and the tension between self-indulgence and self-deprivation. I am making an effort to "know myself," aligning with philosophical and spiritual traditions. So, just as I asked students to write their own eulogies as an exercise in projection and self-reflection, I undertook the same for myself, covering my life, benefits, challenges, and aspirations. This "eulogy" exercise forced me to project into the future, assessing the trajectory of one's life and what might be remembered. Since "little is remembered for long" for most people, and that "a good historical reputation" offers scant solace to the dead, it is only "human connection, intellectual sparks, and a sense of accomplishment [that are] ... the delicious food" of life.
Approaching my 70th birthday, I frequently reflected on aging, the passage of time, and mortality. The subjective experience of time seeming to "go faster" with age. My life (as Carole King said) is a "tapestry" woven from countless interactions, many transient and unmemorable, yet collectively forming the unique fabric of my existence. It is "strange and moving" to realize the interconnectedness of all people and the "ultimate multi-dimensionality" of human connections. This perspective gives me an "antidote to statistical thinking and grand collective nouns like 'the human race'".
Thus, human connection is essential; it’s important to engage with others on a "regular, extensive, and substantive basis". My relationship with my wife, Gina, is a profound source of luck, brightness, and a catalyst for him to "open his overly-tight self-image, coldness, and arrogance." I also deeply value my long-term friendships, which provide grounding and a "critical corrective to getting stuck in my own cultural cul-de-sac".
Interactions with my students, often much younger, provide "sharply different perspectives on the world," challenging my own "cultural cul-de-sac" and assumptions. This intergenerational dialogue helps me understand how "mores, styles, and language are commonplaces of modern life" and how different generations perceive social change.

Philosophical Outlook

Truth" is not constant; its meaning changes over time, just like "democracy" or "liberalism". I distinguish between "Christian truth" and "scientific truth," emphasizing that they operate in different realms with different epistemologies. Science is tentative, incremental, and requires demonstration and replication, while metaphysics is "beyond physics" and cannot be scientifically proven.
Thus, I am wary of the "comfort of coherence" and "psychological security" derived from simplistic stories, especially in history. "History" (the academic discipline) is "the stories we choose to tell about the past," but which are therefore "selective, skewed, and incomplete". History offers no simple "lessons," asserting that projecting past events onto current or future situations is a "game for mugs and pundits". "Wrestling with those complications and contradictions—grounded in our best efforts to see 'what actually happened'—is precisely what History should be about,” even if much of the past is "forever beyond the reach of archive/evidence-bound historians" and that historical interpretation is "always flavored by the mental capabilities, psychological parameters, and ethical values of the perceiver/interpreter".

Engagement with Modern Challenges

As Wordsworth said: "The World is Too Much with Us" as we live amid the "noise" from incessant media, leading to "psychological distress, disorientation, and nihilism. While there are real benefits from technological advances and globalization, there is also a "cost; real, if hard to grasp," in terms of psychological coherence and social fabric erosion.
Thus, the "deconstruction of our shared social picture of reality" and the rise of "epistemological silos" fueled by political polarization, where different groups dismiss others' views as "fake news" or mythology makes it increasingly difficult to be confident about the future.
It is the "human condition to struggle for meaning." As a result, even if I am aware of their limitations, I find comfort in constructed narratives and the "apparent certainty of numbers," even when these are "fictions" or based on "semi-plausible theories" like conspiracy theories, to feel more in control of a bewildering world. I’m trying to "fortify myself and figure out what is really essential in me" as a defense against worldly intrusions.

According to my AI friend, my reflections “paint a picture of a thoughtful individual constantly in dialogue with himself, his past, his profession, and the world around him. His personal experiences and inclinations inform his rigorous yet empathetic approach to history and truth, recognizing the fluidity of both and advocating for a conscious, critical engagement with the complexities of human existence.”

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The Evolving Nature of Truth

9/5/2025

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Our understanding of "truth" is not static; its meaning has changed over time, much like concepts such as "democracy" or "liberalism" [05/24/24, 06/25/21, 10/20/23, 03/01/24].

From Faith to Science: In Early Modern Europe (17th-18th century), the emergence of the coherent, bureaucratic State and capitalism marked a shift where human activity began to be organized outside of traditional moral structures [04/26/24, 10/21/22, 08/26/22]. These institutions developed distinct, amoral rationales, prioritizing self-perpetuation and profit over classical virtues, traditional Christian compassion, or religious beliefs [10/21/22, 02/23/24, 12/28/20]. The Scientific “Revolution” of the 17th century provided a "much-needed respite from sectarian strife," promising "mastery of nature" and intertwining with technology, industrialization, and capitalism, fundamentally shaping how modern people think [08/26/22, 10/21/22, 08/05/22]. This scientific outlook led to a diminished view of metaphysics, classifying anything outside of scientific demonstration as mere "belief" rather than "truth" [05/24/24, 10/20/23, 05/03/24].
Scientific Truth as Tentative and Replicable: "Scientific" truth is inherently tentative and incremental, representing the "best we know so far" [05/24/24, 10/08/21, 06/25/21]. It is only accepted as "truth" when it is demonstrated and replicable through experiment in the real world [05/24/24]. This scientific approach contrasts sharply with faith-based truths, which operate in a "space beyond science," limitless, non-rational, and non-sensical to scientific methods [05/24/24].
Challenges to Certainty in the 20th Century: The early 20th century saw scientific theories from Einstein, Heisenberg, and Gödel challenge the Newtonian worldview, introducing concepts of relativity, uncertainty, and indeterminateness [06/20/25, 09/30/22, 05/03/24]. These ideas demonstrated that there is no fixed understanding of the universe, and it is impossible to "prove our way out of whatever epistemological box we're in" [09/30/22]. Despite these profound shifts in physics, most people continue to live as if in a Newtonian world, largely unconcerned with these complex theories in their daily lives [06/20/25].
Post-Modernism and Social Construction: Beginning in the late 20C, post-modern thought rejected linearity and asserts that "truth" is merely a social construct—a connection of selected information points into patterns that reflect the perceptions and personalities of their constructors rather than an underlying reality [09/23/22, 06/09/23, 04/26/20, 06/25/21, 04/26/20]. While often seen as obscure, the echoes of post-modernism are evident in contemporary discourse with "competing narratives" and "alternate realities" [06/25/21, 06/20/25].

Critiques of Modernity and the Undermining of Truth

Modernity, despite its advancements, faces significant critiques regarding its impact on the interpretation of truth:

Psychological Disorientation and Information Overload: The rapid pace and vast quantity of change, driven by technologies like the internet and AI, can be overwhelming, leading to "psychological distress, disorientation, and nihilism" [02/23/24, 05/03/24, 09/20/24, 08/06/21]. The "noise of the world" from endless news and social media makes it difficult to process information [02/23/24]. This constant influx and the "disintermediation of commerce and ideas" create a sense of "drinking from a firehose," impacting "psychological coherence" [09/20/24].
Erosion of Shared Reality and Political Polarization: There is a "deconstruction of our shared social picture of reality," where political polarization leads to "epistemological silos" [06/20/25, 09/30/22, 06/25/21, 09/20/24]. Different groups characterize each other's views as "fake news" or mythology [06/20/25, 02/10/23, 05/20/22], struggling to acknowledge that others' perspectives might be no less "off" than their own. This undermines the "coherent sense of truth" necessary for a functional democracy [06/25/21, 10/20/23].
Propaganda and the Devaluation of Accuracy: The "broad undermining of truth in modern society" is a significant concern [12/01/23, 06/25/21, 08/04/23]. Propaganda is not new, but the extent to which public figures make false statements or disregard truth has become "far too ordinary" [12/01/23, 08/04/23]. This creates a situation where the "supply" of truth depends on its "demand," and society's indifference to truth leads to "gobbledy-gook" [12/01/23]. Social media accelerates this by instantly disseminating "news" that is rarely corrected, allowing initial falsehoods to persist in public consciousness [12/01/23, 03/03/23].
""Comforts" of Simplified Truth**: People often seek "comfort of coherence" and "psychological security" in narratives that make the world seem understandable and controllable, even if it is largely "random and contingent" [10/23/20, 06/25/21, 02/12/21, 06/20/25]. This preference for simple stories and apparent certainty can lead to a reliance on statistics that are "fictions" or the acceptance of conspiracy theories to feel more in control of a bewildering world [09/13/24, 09/20/24, 07/09/21, 10/16/20].

Historical Perspectives on Truth and Interpretation

Historians approach truth with a nuanced understanding, recognizing its complexities and limitations:

History as "Stories We Choose to Tell": Historians understand that "History" (the academic discipline) is not a direct replication of "history" (everything that has happened) but rather "the stories we choose to tell about the past" [05/10/24, 11/20/20, 07/26/24]. These stories are inherently selective, skewed, and incomplete [07/26/24, 05/10/24, 11/20/20]. The goal is not to produce "the whole truth" but to offer an interpretation based on available evidence [06/25/21, 07/26/24].
The Elusive Nature of "What Actually Happened": The ideal of finding "what actually happened" (as prescribed by Leopold von Ranke in the 19th century) is acknowledged as a core aspiration, but historians are acutely aware of the challenges [02/26/21, 07/26/24, 05/10/24]. Much of the past is "unrecoverable" due to sparse sources, unmemorialized conversations, and the fact that most historical records were produced by elites [07/26/24, 08/12/22, 05/10/24]. Even recorded memories are selective and influenced by unconscious desires to construct a "friendlier, more self-supporting, and more coherent past" [03/25/22, 06/07/24].
The Role of Interpretation and Bias: Historical interpretation is always "flavored by the mental capabilities, psychological parameters, and ethical values of the perceiver/interpreter" [06/20/25, 02/02/24, 07/30/21]. Historians must be mindful of their own "personal or societal judgmentalism" and avoid importing present-day values onto the past [01/08/21, 08/18/23, 07/26/24].
Revisionism as a Core Practice: The process of continually re-examining and reinterpreting known facts about historical events and actors is called "revisionism" [08/27/21, 01/03/25]. This ongoing debate about how to make sense of the past is fundamental to the discipline [08/27/21, 06/25/21].
Caution Against Facile Analogies and Prediction: Historians emphasize that "history doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes" [03/22/24, 02/25/22, 01/03/25, 05/10/24]. While historical examples offer a "humungous pile of examples of human behavior," they do not provide simple "lessons" or predictive power for the future because every situation is a "complex stew of choice, chance and human agency" [12/04/20, 07/26/24, 02/02/24, 06/25/21, 08/27/21]. Direct analogies can be misleading due to unique circumstances and radical differences across time [09/06/24, 04/28/23].
The "Weight of the Past": Societies can become "overly focused on the past," hindering their ability to adapt to new challenges [05/16/25, 09/06/24]. Sometimes, "consigning the past to the past" and consciously "forgetting" certain historical grievances or details can be beneficial for stability and progress [09/06/24, 06/28/24, 09/01/23].
Distance and Perspective: Historians intentionally maintain a "distance" from events to gain useful perspective [09/06/24, 04/14/23]. What seems hugely significant in the present (e.g., the "Covid Era") may fade into insignificance for future historians [04/14/23, 09/24/21].

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Outside the Box

9/5/2025

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As indicated by my critiques, we are “boxed in” in many dimensions. We need to put some “un-PC” and problematic ideas on the table in order to get to useful solutions. Here are some of the most interesting and radical proposals:

We need a fundamental overhaul of the U.S. Constitution. The current document, written for an 18th-century society, is outdated for the 21st century. How about a "30-year expiration cycle" for the Constitution, which could adapt the political society's premises to changing circumstances and, more broadly, institutionalizing the idea of explicit and democratic constitutional change (consistent with Jefferson's argument for generational revisions). For example, we need "new constitutional convention" ("ConCon.2") to reconceptualize the United States and ensure democratic representation, combining both substantive changes, a comprehensive approach, and a point of engagement for our civic culture.
To address democratic deficits, we need to change the structure of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
- For the House, he suggests districts of 40,000 people, which would mean, for example, San Francisco having 22 representatives, offering a vision of "community representation".
- For the Senate, he tackles the issue of skewed representation by suggesting that each state could have one senatorial seat (including D.C. and Puerto Rico), with the balance of seats distributed based on population. He also explores the use of proportional representation for at least part of legislative selection, allowing voters to define and choose their affiliations rather than being demarcated solely by geographic residence.
- Other models include shifting to full or proportional representation in each house.
n response to current political dysfunction and potential future chaos, The Emergency Action and Government Efficacy Restoration (EAGER) Act of 2029, would grant a presumably Democratic-controlled Congress the authority to suspend some normal rules to rapidly repair damage and implement new policies. This includes authorizing the appointment of interim officials without Senate confirmation for up to two years and allowing for the expedited implementation of regulations without the usual Administrative Procedures Act processes.
Globally, we might try an updated version of the United Nations' "trusteeship" model for countries unable to function as coherent communities. This model would require affected territories to "surrender their 'sovereignty' for a period" to gain stability, undergoing a process that would lead to restored independence and improved living conditions. This radical concept challenges accepted myths of the modern global political system, including continuous political progress and self-determination. This would be overseen by a governing structure with a direct voice for affected peoples through supervised elections, alongside UN and supporting country representatives.
Climate change as the world's most dire threat and existing approaches are insufficient. While acknowledging the importance of large-scale governmental and corporate efforts, we need to engage ordinary people at a "small bite" level, similar to the UNICEF milk-carton program for children. Marketing and advertising experts to make "carbon fun/engaging/interesting," creating catchy phrases and mascots to connect with the public, much like selling consumer goods. "Nature-based solutions" like tree-planting and carbon sequestration, can make demonstrable progress while not requiring radical attitudinal shifts on the part of populations or governments.
The current two-party system in the U.S. as "stale, corrupt, and well past their 'sell-by' dates". We need a "re-shuffle" that would "energize the process and allow for new leadership, new alliances, and new ideas to emerge". Let’s "toss out the Ds and the Rs (or, at least, not preventing their implosion)" as a good start to foster a new political culture of engagement.

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Five Blog Years

8/29/2025

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Five Blog Years

Next month marks the fifth anniversary of my first blog essay. That makes the tally almost 250,000 words (the size of a good-sized book). In my initial pieces, I took on the nature of History (critiquing Santayana’s famous quote) and wrestled with how the COVID pandemic was an unsurprising manifestation of the long-term process of globalization. Since then, I’ve talked about democracy and the US Constitution, a variety of international relations issues, questions of law, and the difficulties of modernity. I’ve reflected on my own life, work, and travels, the state of the nation and the world, and tossed in a few recommended book lists. It’s been fun and I plan to continue.

To mark this auspicious anniversary, I’ve looked back over this mass of output and, with the help of a (friendly, if sometimes hallucinatory) AI called Google’s Notebook LM, consolidated and restated what I’ve said. Over the next month, I will post these recapitulations in four installments:

Sept. 5—Personal Reflections, The Interpretation of Truth, Proposals for Change
Sept. 12—The Modern World, Critiques of Modernity, The Nature of History
Sept. 19—Democracy and Governance, The State of States, Imperialism and Nationalism
Sept. 26—The 20th Century, Climate Change

While you’re more than welcome to read all of the backlist, these essays will hopefully capture the more important and interesting perspectives in a reasonably succinct manner, even if—as a partial product of AI—they may lack some of the dynamic wryness of my usual prose.

It’s been an interesting experience to review and edit the AI’s output. In part to study how it works, but more for the self-reflective aspect; seeing what I’ve said, how consistent I’ve been, and how my ideas have evolved over time.

This week, by way of introduction, I attach two lists, the first contains all the books and thinkers whom I’ve referred to over the past five years. The second contains all the dated events I’ve referred to. Neither is “curated” (at least not intentionally), but they may spark some interest in digging deeper. In particular, the latter is not a “history of the world,” since it, too, was not consciously generated and offers no interpretation of our past. It does, however, provide an interesting set of points along the way, much in the way of looking up at the stars and constructing constellations and stories to go with them.

As ever, I appreciate your attention and encourage comments and questions, whether posted or private.

Thx, smh

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Sources and Authors

8/29/2025

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here is a comprehensive list of the books, articles, and authors referred to:

Asimov, Isaac
* The Feeling of Power: "AI, vay! Is the Borg coming* Is resistance futile*"
on August 6, 2021 and "Duelling AIs" on May 23, 2025
* The Foundation (series/trilogy): "The Laws of History"
on December 4, 2020 and "Revival of the Fittest" on May 6, 2022
* The Last Question: "Duelling AIs" on May 23, 2025
* Nightfall:
• Bakewell, Sarah
* How to Live: "How To Live" on July 14, 2023
• Beard, Charles
* The Economic Interpretation of the Constitution: "History and Truth" on June 25, 2021
• Bobbit, Phillip
* The Shield of Achilles: "Global Wars of the 20C" on December 15, 2023
• Bradbury, Ray
* The Martian Chronicles: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022 and “Calculators: July 25, 2025
• Bricker and Ibbitson
* Empty Planet: "A Democratic Crisis" on October 9, 2020
• Card, Orson Scott
* Ender’s Game: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
* Speaker for the Dead: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
* Xenocide: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Carlyle, Thomas
* On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History: "Vox Polluli" on June 10, 2022
• Carson, Rachel
* Silent Spring: “The Word for Our World is Forests” on December 24, 2020
• Chiang, Ted
* Exhalation (collection): "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
* Stories of Your Life (collection): "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Clark, Christopher
* Revolutionary Spring: "These Revolutions Were Not Televised" on February 16, 2024
* The Sleepwalkers: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• Clarke, Arthur C.
* 2001: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022 and “2525” on January 17, 2025
* Into the Comet: "Duelling AIs" on May 23, 2025
• Darnton, Robert
* The Great Cat Massacre: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• Defoe, Daniel
* Journal of a Plague Year: "Journal of a Blog Year.3" on September 15, 2023
• Dickens, Charles
* David Copperfield: "Entitlements" on September 8, 2023
• Diderot, Denis and d'Alembert, Jean le Rond
* The Great Encyclopédie: "A History of the Future" on April 15, 2022
• Elmore, A.E.
* Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: "Gettysburg" on July 2, 2021
• Fermor, Patrick Leigh
* A Time of Gifts: "Uncharted Territory" on April 12, 2024
* Between the Woods and the Water: "Uncharted Territory" on April 12, 2024
* The Broken Road: "Uncharted Territory" on April 12, 2024
• Grossman, Vasily
* Life and Fate: "Stalingrad" on May 10, 2024
* Stalingrad: "Stalingrad" on May 10, 2024
• Harari, Yuval
* Sapiens: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• Herbert, Frank
* Dune: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Hirschman, Albert O.
* The Passions and the Interests: "The Nature of the State" on April 26, 2024
• Hitler, Adolf
* Mein Kampf: "The Fire This Time" on July 11, 2025
• Hutchinson, Dave
* Europe in Autumn (first of “Fractured Europe” series):
"A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Jemison, N.K.
* The City We’ve Become: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Kahneman, Daniel
* Noise: "Thinking Fast and Slow" on July 30, 2021
* Thinking Fast and Slow: "Thinking Fast and Slow" on July 30, 2021
• Kay, Guy Gavriel
* Children of Earth and Sky: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Kelly, Amy
* Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings:
"A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• Kennedy, Paul
* The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers:
"The Laws of History" on December 4, 2020 and
"A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• King, Carole
* Tapestry (album title used as metaphor): "Tapestry" on June 21, 2024
• Le Guin, Ursula K.
* The Left Hand of Darkness: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
* The Wizard of Earthsea: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Liu, Cixin
* The Three Body Problem: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Maier, Charles
* Consigning the Twentieth-Century to History: "Uncharted Territory" on April 12, 2024
and in "When Does History Become Ancient" on September 6, 2024
• Mandeville, Bernard
* The Fable of the Bees: "Smith, Sieyes, and Darwin" on August 5, 2022
• Mann, Charles
* 1491: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
* 1493: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• Mantel, Hilary
* Wolf Hall (trilogy): "Historical Fiction and History" on June 18, 2021
• Marsh, George Perkins
* Man and Nature: “The Word for Our World is Forests” on December 24, 2020
• Mazlish, Bruce
* In Search of Nixon: A Psychohistory: "Unspoken Assumptions" on February 2, 2024
• McNeill, John
* Mosquito Empires:
"A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
and "Vox Polluli" on June 10, 2022
• Mieville, China
* Perdido Street Station: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Miller, Walter
* A Canticle for Liebowitz: "Revival of the Fittest" on May 6, 2022
• New York Times (NYT)
* 100 Years from Now, This is What We’ll Say Got Us Through the Pandemic":
"The Fallacy of Instant History" on April 14, 2023
* article on increased distribution of English-language novels:
"Linguistic Empire" on August 30, 2024
* article on exploitation of sugar workers in India: "Drugs in History" on April 12, 2024
* article on the Chinese Communist Party’s clamp down on entrepreneurial spirit: "Entitlements" on September 8, 2023
* article on the harmful effects of El Nino weather pattern:
"Entitlements" on September 8, 2023
• Older, Malka
* Infomacracy (first of “Centenal Cycle”): "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• O’Brien, Phillips
* How the War was Won: "Vox Polluli" on June 10, 2022
• Orwell, George
* 1984: "Little Brother is Watching" on March 25, 2022
• Pope Pius IX
* Qui pluribus (encyclical): "Too Early to Tell" on August 27, 2021
• Scott, James
* Against the Grain: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• Scott, Walter
* Ivanhoe: "Historical Fiction and History" on June 18, 2021
• Shakespeare, William
* Richard II: "This Sceptered Isle" on May 16, 2025
• Shapin, Steven
* Leviathan and the Air-Pump: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
* The Scientific Revolution: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr
* The Gulag Archipelago: "Stalingrad" on May 10, 2024
• Stephenson, Neal
* The Baroque Cycle: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
* Seveneves: "Revival of the Fittest" on May 6, 2022
* Snow Crash: "A Few Good SF Books" on January 28, 2022
• Tolstoy, Leo
* War and Peace: "Historical Fiction and History" on June 18, 2021
and "Stalingrad" on May 10, 2024
• Tuchman, Barbara W.
* The Guns of August: "A Few Good History Books" on September 17, 2021
• Vinge, Vernor
* Technological Singularity: "Age Expectancy and Horizons" on January 14, 2022
• Wilkerson, Isabel
* The Warmth of Other Suns: "Great Migration" on June 13, 2025
• Wills, Gary
* Lincoln at Gettysburg: "Gettysburg" on July 2, 2021
• Yates, Frances
* The Art of Memory: "Duelling AIs" on May 23, 2025

Authors/Thinkers/Figures cited or quoted:
• Adams, John, John Q, and Charles
• Agnew, Spiro
• d'Alembert, Jean le Rond
• Allman Brothers (The)
• Arendt, Hannah
• Aristotle
• Arne, Thomas
• Asimov, Isaac
• Ataturk, Kemal
• Attila
• Augustine
• Bacon, Francis
• Bakewell, Sarah
• Banks, Ian
• Bazalgette, Joseph
• Beard, Charles
• Biden, Joe
• Bismarck, Otto von
• Bloch, Ivan (Jan)
• Bloom, Harold
• Bobbit, Phillip
• Bolsonaro, Jair
• Bradbury, Ray
• Braverman, Suella
• Brennan, Justice William
• Bruce, Lenny
• Bryan, William Jennings (implied reference to Scopes Trial/anti-evolution)
• Burke, Peter
• Cain
• Caillaux, Henriette
• Card, Orson Scott
• Carlyle, Thomas
• Carson, Rachel
• Carville, James
• Cerda, Idelofonso
• Chaing, Ted
• Charles I
• Charles III
• Cher
• Chou En-lai
• Churchill, Winston
• Cicero
• Clark, Christopher
• Clarke, Arthur C.
• Cromwell, Oliver
• Cronkite, Walter
• Cronon, William
• D’Agostino, Tony
• Darnton, Robert
• Darwin, Charles
• Defoe, Daniel
• De Gaulle, Charles
• Deighton, Len
• De Maistre, Joseph
• Dickens, Charles
• Diderot, Denis
• Douglass, Frederick
• Duterte, Rodrigo
• Eden, Anthony
• Einstein, Albert
• Eliot, T.S.
• Elmore, A.E.
• Erdogan, Tacip
• Farage, Nigel
• Fermor, Patrick Leigh
• Fidel Castro
• Ford, Gerald
• Ford, Henry
• Foucault, Michel
• Franklin, Benjamin
• France, Anatole
• Frommer, Arthur
• Fussell, Paul
• Gandhi, Mohandas
• Gerry, Elbridge
• Getz, Trevor
• Godel, Kurt
• Gore, Al
• Graf, Jim
• Gray, John
• Grossman, Vasily
• Harari, Yuval
• Hartley, L.P.
• Hayakawa, S.I.
• Hegel, G.W.F.
• Heisenberg, Werner
• Herbert, Frank
• Henry VIII
• Hirschman, Albert O.
• Hitler, Adolf
• Ho Chi Minh
• Hobsbawm, Eric
• Hume, David
• Hutchinson, Dave
• Huxley, Aldous
• Ibbitson
• Irving, David
• James II
• Jefferson, Thomas
• Jemison, N.K.
• Joll, James
• Jones, Charles
• Kahneman, Daniel
• Kant, Immanuel
• Kay, Guy Gavriel
• Kelly, Amy
• Kennedy, John F.
• Kennedy, Paul
• Khan, Ghengiz
• Kierkegaard, Soren
• King, Carole
• Kissinger, Henry
• Koch, Robert
• Kurzweil, Ray
• Le Guin, Ursula K.
• Lenin, Vladimir
• Lewis, Sinclair
• Lincoln, Abraham
• Linnaeus, Carl
• Lippmann, Walter
• Lister, Joseph
• Liu, Cixin
• Locke, John
• Louis XIV
• Louis Napoleon
• Luther, Martin
• MacCulloch, Diarmaid
• Machiavelli
• Madison, James
• Maier, Charles
• Mandela, Nelson
• Mandeville, Bernard
• Mann, Charles
• Mantel, Hilary
• Mao Zedong
• Marsh, George Perkins
• Marx, Karl
• Marx, Groucho
• Mazlish, Bruce
• McNeill, John
• Mieville, China
• Miller, Walter
• Mohammed
• Montaigne, Michel de
• Montesquieu
• Musk, Elon
• Mussolini, Benito
• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Nehru, Jawarhalal
• Newton, Isaac
• Nietzsche, Friedrich
• Nixon, Richard
• O’Brien, Phillips
• Older, Malka
• Orban, Viktor
• Orwell, George
• O’Sullivan, John
• Pasteur, Louis
• Patton, George
• Pence, Mike
• Piketty, Thomas
• Pinker, Steven
• Pius IX, Pope
• Plato
• Power, Samantha
• Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph
• Putin, Vladimir
• Raleigh, Sir Walter
• Ranke, Leopold von
• Reagan, Ronald
• Renan, Ernst
• Robinson, Kim Stanley
• Robespierre, Maximillian
• Rock, Chris
• Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
• Sackler (family)
• Sandel, Michael
• Santayana, George
• Sartre, Jean-Paul
• Scott, James
• Scott, Walter
• Scott, George C.
• Serling, Rod
• Shakespeare, William
• Shapin, Steven
• Shelley, Percy Bysshe
• Sieyes, Emmanuel
• Smith, Adam
• Smith, Will
• Snow, John
• Solomon
• Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr
• Stalin, Joseph
• Stephenson, George
• Stephenson, Neal
• Streisand, Barbra
• Sunak, Rishi
• Sun-Yat-Sen
• Swift, Taylor
• Tojo, Hideki
• Tolstoy, Leo
• Toqueville, Alexis de
• Truman, Harry S.
• Tuchman, Barbara W.
• Turchin, Peter
• Vinge, Vernor
• Victoria, Queen
• Voltaire
• Wallace, George
• Washington, George
• Webb, Jack
• Weber, Max
• Welles, Orson
• Weyrich, Paul
• Wilhelm II, Kaiser
• Wilkerson, Isabel
• Wilson, Woodrow
• Wills, Gary
• Woods, Rosemary
• Wordsworth, William
• Yates, Frances
• Zager and Evans (musical duo)
• Zoroaster
• Zuckerberg, Mark

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Timeline

8/29/2025

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As a thought exercise, skim through the following list and construct (in your head) a history of human civilization out of just these items. What do you have? What have you learned?

Actually, this is just a list of the dated events I’ve talked about over the past five years (according to my AI de jour). The many events to which I have referred without associating a particular date are not included. The list is of course pretty spotty as a consolidated history of just about anything. It is, nonetheless, a great illustration of the “constellation problem” in history (i.e., we find a bunch of data points and then construct a story around them). In other words, the list says more about me (the blog author) and about Notebook LM (the AI) than about “what actually happened” and what’s significant.

Pre-10th Century
* Thousands of years ago: Indigenous people (mostly Inuit) inhabit Greenland.
* Before 20th Century: Hundreds of ethnic groups, chiefdoms, and polities exist in Africa before European imposed nation-states.
10th Century
* 10th Century: Norse explorers, including Eric the Red, arrive in Greenland, bringing it into the European orbit.
11th Century
* 1066: William sails from Normandy and takes over parts of Britain.
* 11th Century (Mid): Geoffrey of Monmouth writes his account of the legend of King Arthur.
* 11th Century: China develops paper money.
13th Century
* 13th Century: Greenland becomes part of Denmark.
* 13th Century: Tintagel Castle is built in Cornwall, England, on the site of the King Arthur legend.
* 13th Century: Salisbury Cathedral is built in Salisbury, England.
* 13th Century: Europe develops paper money.
14th Century
* 1300s: The Black Death.
15th Century
* 1453: Gutenberg invents the printing press and publishes his Bible, revolutionizing information distribution.
* 1453: The English lose the Battle of Castillon to the French, effectively ending the Hundred Years' War.
* 1453: The Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople, forcing Europeans to seek new routes to Asia.
* 1453: Donatello completes a significant statue in Padua, marking a starting point for the Renaissance.
* 15th-20th Century: European powers engage in conquest and exploitation of indigenous peoples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
16th Century
* 16th Century: Early Modern Europe sees the emergence of capitalism and the coherent, bureaucratic "State."
* 16th-17th Century: European wars of religion take place, following the Protestant Reformation.
* 16th Century: The Ottoman Empire conquers Palestine and surrounding areas.
* 16th Century: Concept of "common carriers" as a regulatory model emerges in England.
* 1526: This year marks 250 years before the Declaration of Independence, a time of the Protestant Reformation and Magellan's journey.
17th Century
* 17th Century (Late): John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, is a major statesman and military commander in England.
* 17th-19th Century: Rise of the modern nation-state, characterized by territoriality, decline of feudalism, rise of nationalism, and advancements in surveying/mapmaking.
* 17th Century: Louis XIV famously declares "L'etat? C'est moi!" ("The state? It's me!").
18th Century
* 18th Century: The concept of "the political" as distributed power among a "public" emerges.
* 18th Century: Inter-imperial fights between France and Britain leave Britain in charge in North America.
* 18th Century: The Enlightenment flourishes in Europe, promoting reason and human understanding.
* 1774: The First Continental Congress convenes, an initial effort by British North American colonies to address tensions with Britain.
* 1776: The Declaration of Independence is adopted in the US.
* 1784: Immanuel Kant publishes his essay "What is Enlightenment?".
* 1787: The US Constitutional Convention is held in Philadelphia, crafting a new governing document.
* 1789: The French Revolution begins, marking a shift in ideology from religious to political.
* 1790s-1800s: The young American republic faces foreign policy crises, including President Jefferson's embargo on trade with Britain (1807).
* 1791-1815: The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars occur in Europe.
* 1795: Condorcet publishes ideas about human-driven progress, animating much of European "civilization."
* 1798: Malthus publishes his concerns about population growth outstripping food supply.
19th Century
* 19th Century: Development of demographics as a science, driven by population growth concerns.
* 19th Century: Rise of "social Darwinism" in international relations.
* 19th Century: Urban planning emerges, initially focused on remedying existing problems.
* 19th Century: Modern discipline of History arises in response to increased social change and inadequacy of Scripture-based narratives.
* 19th Century: Nationalism spreads across Europe, leading to the unification of Italy and Germany and independence movements in the Balkans.
* 19th Century (Early): British pioneer a "new style" of informal empire in Latin America and India.
* 1805: Tolstoy's "War and Peace" begins its narrative, set during the Napoleonic Wars.
* 1812: Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia begins.
* 1812: The War of 1812 between the US and Britain.
* 1815: Napoleon is exiled to St. Helena. The Congress of Vienna establishes the "Concert" of European Great Powers.
* 1848: A wave of uprisings and revolutions occurs across Europe.
* 1850s-1860s: Italy unifies as a nation.
* 1850s (Late) - 1875: Joseph Bazalgette oversees the construction of London's comprehensive public sewage system.
* 1851: The Great Exhibition (first "world's fair") is held at the Crystal Palace in London.
* 1857: Indian uprising against British rule.
* 1859: Charles Darwin publishes his work on evolution, challenging notions of divine intelligent design.
* 1860s: Britain adopts a new model of empire, granting increasing autonomy to Canada.
* 1860s-1870s: Germany unifies as a nation.
* 1860s-1910s: Christian components of the Ottoman Empire gain independence in the Balkans.
* 1864: George Perkins Marsh publishes "Man and Nature," raising concerns about human impact on the environment.
* 1869: Tolstoy publishes "War and Peace."
* 1870: French fight Germans.
* 1870s: British wring their hands over the "Bulgarian horrors" in the Ottoman Empire.
* 1880s: Computer technology begins to impact phone systems.
* 1895: H.G. Wells publishes "The Time Machine."
* 1890s: Isaac Newton, as Master of the Mint, attempts to curb counterfeiting.
* Late 19th Century: The US extends its reach beyond its shores, picking up the torch of empire from Britain.
20th Century
* Early 20th Century: Cell phones burst onto the scene.
* Early 20th Century: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is established (1909).
* Early 20th Century: Terminology for mental conditions like "moron" and "imbecile" are considered scientific.
* Early 20th Century: Rise of "futures studies," scenarios, and efforts to conceive of potential future developments.
* 20th Century: Bureaucratic practice spawns a great volume of memoranda documenting conversations.
* 20th Century: Europe faces significant challenges: two World Wars and the Great Depression.
* 20th Century: The "short 20th century" ends with the collapse of the Soviet Empire.
* 20th Century: The US becomes a global power, but its dominance is anomalous in historical context.
* 20th Century: Many countries gain independence from European empires, leading to the creation of micro-states.
* 1905: Einstein publishes his theory of relativity. The (first) Russian Revolution occurs.
* 1906-1968: Britain maintains a protectorate over Swaziland.
* 1908: The Young Turk revolt attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire. Oil is discovered in Iran.
* 1911: The Standard Oil Company is broken up due to antitrust laws.
* 1912: China experiences a revolution, ending the Qing Dynasty.
* 1914: WWI begins with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
* 1915: T.S. Eliot publishes "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The Armenian Genocide occurs.
* 1916: Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan" is published.
* 1917: The Russian Revolution occurs, leading to the establishment of the Soviet Union.
* 1919: Lincoln Steffens visits the new revolutionary Soviet state, proclaiming "I have seen the future and it works!"
* 1920s: Jazz music becomes an important part of the US music scene.
* 1921: Our house on Filbert Street is built.
* 1922: Mussolini comes to power in Italy, initiating a radical agenda through legal means.
* 1923: Hitler's failed "Beer Hall Putsch."
* 1925 (July): Mein Kampf is published.
* 1927: Heisenberg proposes the uncertainty principle.
* 1930s: British and French political leaders rationalize accommodation with Hitler due to fear of another war.
* 1930s: Social Security is established in the US as part of social policy restructuring.
* 1931: Dominions like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are more or less recognized as independent states.
* 1933: Hitler comes to power in Germany, initiating a radical agenda through legal means.
* 1935 (September): Hitler promulgates the Nuremberg Laws.
* 1938: Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast causes panic. Hitler marches into Czechoslovakia. Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
* 1939: WWII begins in Europe.
* 1940 (May): Hitler invades France.
* 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, leading to US entry into WWII. Hitler gratuitously declares war on the US.
* 1944: IBM's Mark I computer is developed.
* 1945: ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) is developed. WWII in Europe ends.
* 1945-1971: The British Empire disaggregates, with over forty new countries gaining independence.
* 1947: The UN begins its trusteeship model.
* 1949: China experiences a communist revolution.
* 1950: The US has 6% of global population and 28% of global GDP.
* 1950s-1970s: The "Space Age" spawns science fiction and optimism.
* 1951-1955: Winston Churchill serves his second term as Prime Minister.
* 1956: Isaac Asimov publishes "The Last Question."
* 1956: British invasion of Egypt during the Suez Crisis.
* 1957: Gold Coast becomes independent as Ghana.
* 1958: Isaac Asimov publishes "The Feeling of Power."
* 1959: The Cuban Revolution occurs.
* 1960: A movie version of "The Time Machine" is released.
* 1960s: General commercial mainframes become available. China and India begin a series of "low-level" fights.
* 1960s (Mid): Anniebell Shepherd joins my family’s household as a servant.
* 1960s (Late): Race riots occur in Detroit and other US cities. Distinctive rock music hits emerge.
* 1962: Rachel Carson publishes "Silent Spring," raising environmental concerns.
* 1964: ATT Picturephone is a highlight of the World's Fair. The Supreme Court rules in Reynolds vs. Sims ("one-man, one-vote" rule). Gulf of Tonkin resolution.
* 1965: Winston Churchill dies at age 90.
* 1969: The song "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans is a hit.
* 1969-1982: A "great bulge" of inflation occurs, averaging over 5%.
* 1970s: Our friend Karma grows up in the village of Bemji, Bhutan. Latest round of terrorism flourishes.
* 1972: Don McLean's "American Pie" is at the top of the charts.
* 1973: Monarchy in Afghanistan is overthrown in a coup.
* 1974: The Ford Administration's Justice Department sues AT&T under antitrust laws.
* 1976: I get my first first new car. The US Bicentennial celebration of American independence is held.
* 1979: The Iranian Revolution occurs.
1980s
* 1980s: Personal computers (PCs) become widespread. The Falklands War occurs.
* 1982: I was Special Assistant to the General Counsel of the FCC when the AT&T break-up plan is announced.
* 1983-1998: I worked for AT&T and Pacific Telesis Group.
* 1984: AT&T's break-up is implemented. Pacific Telesis Group secures a license for cell phone services in Los Angeles for the Olympics.
* 1984: Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
* 1985: Orson Scott Card publishes "Ender's Game."
* 1987: I move to San Francisco to Pacific Telesis Group headquarters.
* 1988: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," a film mixing live and cartoon characters, is released.
* 1989: The World Wide Web is developed.
1990s
* 1990: Fall of Communism.
* 1991: Inflation is over 4%.
* 1992: Neal Stephenson publishes "Snow Crash," creating the concept of the metaverse.
* 1993: Vernor Vinge writes "Technological Singularity," forecasting superhuman intelligence within 30 years.
* 1994: We buy our current house.
* 1995: The Oklahoma City bombing occurs.
* 1996: The last major telecom legislation is approved in the US.
* 1997: Hong Kong is returned to China by the British.
* Mid-1990s: Anniebell Shepherd stays working for the narrator's family.
21st Century
* Early 21st Century: The "English Empire" of language permeates global cultures.
* Early 21st Century: US military actions occur in Afghanistan and Iraq.
* 2000-2005: Many of my latest SFSU students are born.
* 2002: Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" uses AI capabilities to foresee and prevent crimes.
* 2003: William Gibson states: "The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed."
* 2004: NASA's Mars Rover "Spirit" begins its mission.
* 2005: Ray Kurzweil publishes "The Singularity is Here," popularizing the concept of technological singularity.
* 2008-2009: Financial institutions face a debacle, leading to a shift in their fortunes.
* 2009: Discovery of 23,000-year-old human footprints in New Mexico.
* 2009-2013: Obama "surge" in Afghanistan, increasing US troop levels.
* 2010: Official US government term for "mental retardation" changes to "intellectual disability."
* 2011: Siri is introduced. The Arab Spring uprisings occur.
* 2012: Obama declares the use of chemical weapons in Syria a "red line." The average price of a new car is $30k.
* 2013: The Boston Marathon bombing occurs.
* 2014: The British Library celebrates the 100th anniversary of WWI with ceramic poppies at the Tower of London. The narrator makes a third visit to Bhutan. NASA's Mars Rover "Opportunity" begins its mission.
* 2016: Theresa May declares "Brexit means Brexit." The Brexit vote occurs in June. Mitch McConnell "stiff-arms" the Merrick Garland nomination.
* 2018: Swaziland changes its name to Eswatini. The NYT reports on 13,000-year-old human footprints in North America.
* 2020 (January): Final agreement on Brexit.
* 2020 (September): The Blog begins.
* 2021: COVID-19 pandemic impacts the world. Inflation rises. MAGA-ites involved in January 6th events.
* 2022: A clear majority of British voters indicate support for rejoining the EU.
* 2022 (July): World population reaches 8 billion.
* 2022 (September): Boris Johnson resigns, Liz Truss takes over as PM.
* 2023 (January): Satirically, SpeakerGPT is "elected" Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
* 2025 (June): Greenland plans an independence referendum.
* 2025 (July): Mein Kampf's 100th anniversary of publication.
* 2029: Proposed "Emergency Action and Government Efficacy Restoration (EAGER) Act" to address political damage.
* Mid-21st Century: AI-designed and produced video series are expected.
* 22nd Century (Late): Expected problematic legacy of current and prior generations on the world.
* 2525: The year referenced in the song "In the Year 2525."

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Intellectual History

8/22/2025

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Even for a registered historian, I’ve read more than my share of “intellectual history.” It’s a term (according to one intellectual historian) that refers to “the study of intellectuals, ideas, and intellectual patterns over time.” I’ve read books that range from (the extravagantly abstruse) “An Atheism that is not Humanist Emerges in French Thought,” to (the recent, charming, and accessible) “Humanly Possible” (Sarah Bakewell’s survey of humanism).

As a historian who wrestles with issues around democracy, nationalism, and the state, I guess I qualify to some degree as an “intellectual historian.” I still vividly recall a class in Modern European Intellectual History that I took at Brandeis in about 1975 in which Prof. Izenberg held me in rapt attention for most of a semester. My head was spinning with the ideas of Marx, Nietzsche, Rousseau, Burke, and Sartre (to name just a few).

However, I’ve long had trouble with the concept of “intellectual history” on several fronts. First, it has a tendency to turn into an abstract jousting of ideas from the “great thinkers” of different eras and cultures without regard to the vastly different contexts in which those ideas were developed. This sort of “dueling philosophers” history all too often ignores that Virgil and Adam Smith faced very different lifestyles when they each wrote about what we might now call “economics.” Current intellectual historians use such set-ups more to demonstrate their own dexterity and sophistication than to say much useful about either one. Historians, even “intellectual historians,” can’t ignore context.

This used to be a bigger problem than it is in the last few decades. A movement (the “Cambridge School” as it’s known in the trade) argued very hard and generally successfully that language—the specific words used by the subjects of intellectual history (e.g., Plato’s references to “the people”) had to be read in context and that their meaning typically migrated over the decades/centuries. To compare and connect Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Carl Schmitt requires some serious work to parse the meaning of (e.g.) “democracy” in a particular time and place.

Speaking of language, intellectual history is also susceptible to getting caught up in jargon. Such esoteric language sometimes sounds impressive, but quickly becomes more about demonstrating the author’s erudition than with actually communicating something meaningful to the reader.

More fundamentally, intellectual historians all too often conflate the ideas they’re studying with the broader culture from which they emerge. For example, studying the insights of David Hume (18C Britain) is all well and good. He was a really smart guy (and, apparently, quite charming). An active participant in what we now call the “Enlightenment,” he challenged a raft of commonly-held ideas about politics and religion. However, the literacy rate in his neighborhood was still in the low double digits and even fewer had the time, money, and inclination to read philosophical texts. So, to hold Hume out as an exemplar of the broader culture of mid-18C Britain is quite deceptive. Similarly, Gianbattista Vico, a Neapolitan of the early 18C, wrote a highly insightful book (“The New Science”) in 1725, but it wasn’t translated into German or French for a century, and so had limited impact on the Enlightenment (Hume would have been quite interested). In terms of intellectual history Ie.e., the actual transmission of ideas), then, Vico might belong more to the 19C than his own 18C.

One of the underlying causes of this approach to history is that smart, intellectual historians tend to focus on, write about, and (perhaps) overestimate the significance of smart intellectuals from the past. It’s a bit too much of the guys in the club patting themselves on the back, as if only “intellectuals” (remember, this is a very small group even today!) could be a source of important ideas. Instead, we might reflect that considering that the ideas and beliefs of the (great unwashed) masses of people (who, by the way, didn’t have the time to write books) actually constitutes a better assessment of the culture. It is (almost literally) superficial. It’s as if an alien spacecraft were to survey the Earth, note that 70% of the surface was water and conclude that we lived on a watery orb, when in fact, water constitutes only .02% of the total mass of material in our planet.

At one level, discovering who was the first to publish an idea is an important historical function (remembering that 1) he (almost always a “he”) was not necessarily the first to think that idea, and 2) even if someone else came up with the idea and wrote it down, unless it was preserved over the centuries we wouldn’t know about it). From another perspective, it’s as if we were only measuring high tides, not the overall average water level (to run another maritime metaphor). There is ample evidence that human culture takes a long time to change, and the distance from the creation of an idea to its widespread acceptance is often a matter of centuries. “When (if ever) did the great bulk of Europeans (or Africans for that matter) believe in the second coming of Jesus?” seems far more important than when some late antiquity synod made such a declaration. Ditto for democracy; folks have been talking about it for 2500 years (+/-), but as we look around, there’s only intermittent evidence that it has sunk in.

Of course, it’s hard to know what the unlettered and unpublished think. So the focus on the few who did think (and publish) is one way in which history falls prey to the fallacy of availability as a substitute for significance. The flip side of this last point is that we have to remember that most intellectuals were writing to other intellectuals, not to the unlettered. Grand ideas of utilitarianism, socialism, epicureanism, etc. are fine for those who choose to wrestle with them; but most folks don’t. Most folks don’t have the time/interest/preparation to engage in such pursuits. (it’s one reason intellectual history so often seems disconnected from the periods in which such ideas were broached).

With rare exceptions (e.g., Marx-Lenin-Russian Revolution), it’s usually pretty hard to track ideas directly and immediately into the “real” world where most folks don’t get beyond working and living and eating. But, even if we can’t pin the significance of ideas down very much, we feel certain that they’re important (especially if we’re already intellectual).

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