Friday, March 14, 2008

From Athens via Jerusalem to the shopping mall

For me history is at the centre: it is the central science, the central study. In comparison physics seems a simple if an esoteric field, mathematics a self-evident logical game with only fairly mechanical complexities etc. etc. About the structure and workings of the subject matters of all natural sciences we understand so much more than about our inexplicable human experience of being in the world. We have next to no penetration of this chaotic process, being immersed in it, seeing only dimly and never far. We have ever more minute comprehension of the nature and dimensions of space-time but have no theory of historical causation. 

We can explain the physical universe in the language of hard science but can't do the same for the smallest, shortest of historical moments. Perhaps that is why we have only a very limited perception of the strangeness of our path, of this mad shooting arc that has brought us to this completely unique new, complex ever manically shifting society, only mere decades old. One can only wonder what is yet to come - will the explosion into more complexity continue or will it all come to abrupt halt at some stage? In any case there is no control of our direction, we ride a huge wild wave without any meaningful way to influence its course. What will come after the mall? We have no idea, no influence.