Historical Periodization and the Age of Moore's Law (1965-)
Puck Brouwers · Groniek · 2019
Historical Periodization and The Age of Moore's Law (1965-) At the heart of history is the passing of time and how it aff ects the world around us.Th e practice of history involves the study of change; however, historians also seek to capture the spirit or Zeitgeist of a certain time; to freeze frame a certain environment, lifestyle or everyday practice and to capture the cultural, economic and political character of a time period.Periodization plays a key role in the study of history as it both illuminates how we look back at the past, while it at the same time shapes our understanding of past events.Periodization embodies a mutually constitutive character.Th is article seeks to 'unpack' the historical practice of periodization, and in connection to that, argues how the past fi ft y years can be characterized.Th ere are several commonly held practices of periodization that immediately surface.For example, we can characterize a period by its dominant material usage, as is done for the Stone Age or Bronze Age (the Plastic Age would be a good addition).However, periods may also refer to technological or scientifi c developments, such as is the case for the Neolithic, Renaissance, Age of Discovery, Industrial and Scientifi c Revolution and Information Age.Additionally, we may refer to a period's dominant ruler, as for example is done for the Napoleonic Era.Also, some periodizations make use of metaphors and clearly show how historians have come to view a certain time, as for example, 'enlightening' , as for the Enlightenment, or as 'dark' , as for the Dark Ages.Historiography is overfl owing with noteworthy examples, to name just a few others: Antiquity, the Romantic Era, Fin de Siècle, the Interwar Years and (post)modernity; they all seek to frame a period of time.