Invention of modernity

Nice reflection on history:

Some months later, I joined a book club. Run by Venkatesh Rao, this year’s edition focuses on a simple idea that goes a long way: Maybe grand historical paradigms like modernity and postmodernity are not suddenly emerging monoliths. Instead we might see them as “history machines” consisting of components that developed on their own for a long time, before all of a sudden, things fall into place together, causing shock and awe.1 Therefore, modernity may have started much earlier than usually assumed, not in the 15th century, but maybe around the 12th century.2

Hence it makes sense to read about pre-modern civilizations. I joined the October episode of Rao’s book club, reading “Majapahit: Intrigue, Betrayal and War in Indonesia’s Greatest Empire” by Herald Van Der Linde. The book covers the rise and fall of the Empire of Majapahit, an early naval empire located around the islands of Java, Sumatra and Bali. Despite vanishing quickly and being forgotten for several centuries, Majapahit now has become the main source of national identity for today’s state of Indonesia, the 4th largest population in the world and the largest muslim country.