The Acceleration of History: From the Enlightenment to the Anthropocene

Modernity, proposes Christophe Bouton, is not about the acceleration of time, but about living in multiple temporalities—polychrony.

Like a speeding locomotive that has lost its driver, the history of Western society since the mid-nineteenth century has been characterized as an exponential, out-of-control acceleration. Simultaneously, in recent decades, the destructive impact of human activity on the planet has increased at a spectacular rate, giving rise to what has been called the Great A...