we've officially regressed back to premodernity
"It was the first time in Arizona judicial history — and possibly nationwide — that AI has been used to create a deceased victim’s own impact statement"
www.abc15.com/news/region-...
www.abc15.com/news/region-...
May 6, 2025 at 6:40 PM
we've officially regressed back to premodernity
Lotta people learning firsthand, really unfortunately, about the horrors of premodernity
December 18, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Lotta people learning firsthand, really unfortunately, about the horrors of premodernity
YES! I have been banging this drum constantly for years now, mostly at my prior institution. Premodernity is marginalized even in history departments, which should absolutely know better.
Humanities programs have ceded scholarship of the premodern to bad actors on the right. This is a serious problem, not only because it represents a loss of current and future knowledge, but also because it enables white supremacists and Christian nationalists to twist history to their own ends.
December 30, 2025 at 6:37 PM
YES! I have been banging this drum constantly for years now, mostly at my prior institution. Premodernity is marginalized even in history departments, which should absolutely know better.
I think in general there is a very weird tendency among some people to try and shame folk for being vaguely interested in premodernity in something other than an actively disparaging way, like if you don't profess enough hatred of premodernity you are abandoning your post in defence of liberalism
December 16, 2025 at 1:56 PM
I think in general there is a very weird tendency among some people to try and shame folk for being vaguely interested in premodernity in something other than an actively disparaging way, like if you don't profess enough hatred of premodernity you are abandoning your post in defence of liberalism
human brains evolved in premodernity were not meant to handle big numbers or to process social media in general tbh
I’ve heard this described once as the “Chinese robber problem.” There are over a billion Chinese people. Statistically, some percentage of them are robbers. This could be as few as one hundredth of one percent. But that would still be one hundred thousand robbers.
The human mind’s grasp on statistics is tenuous enough as it is; I am not sure it can survive the rise of short-form crime video content
September 9, 2025 at 8:32 PM
human brains evolved in premodernity were not meant to handle big numbers or to process social media in general tbh
i thought we left imperial harem drama causing a geopolitical crisis back in premodernity, specifically, Greece
"Is the presidential concubine going to cause a breach in US/ROK relations?" and other such 2025 topics
Laura Loomer, extremist MAGA personality with influence in the White House, is also publicly claiming Lee Jae-myung’s victory was the product of communist Chinese influence. Lee had been very supportive of the alliance with the US but this cannot sit well with him on day 1 of his administration.
August 25, 2025 at 1:57 PM
i thought we left imperial harem drama causing a geopolitical crisis back in premodernity, specifically, Greece
Like that was possibly the worst facet of premodernity bar none imo
July 14, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Like that was possibly the worst facet of premodernity bar none imo
...churchgoing USED TO BE an important indicator of religiosity in modernity but isn't anymore. moreover, it wasn't an important indicator through all of premodernity!
Calvin started mandatory church attendance. it wasn't required before that! was no one "religious" in premodernity? of course not!
Calvin started mandatory church attendance. it wasn't required before that! was no one "religious" in premodernity? of course not!
January 8, 2024 at 12:57 PM
...churchgoing USED TO BE an important indicator of religiosity in modernity but isn't anymore. moreover, it wasn't an important indicator through all of premodernity!
Calvin started mandatory church attendance. it wasn't required before that! was no one "religious" in premodernity? of course not!
Calvin started mandatory church attendance. it wasn't required before that! was no one "religious" in premodernity? of course not!
Harboring a casual disdain for premodernity is how we end up with a nation full of people so committed to progress and innovation as abstractions that just using those words is enough to defend any proposition without debate.
July 2, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Harboring a casual disdain for premodernity is how we end up with a nation full of people so committed to progress and innovation as abstractions that just using those words is enough to defend any proposition without debate.
"They were often less convinced than caricatures of a magical premodernity suppose, and we are much more open to magic than stereotypes of secularism allow."
Yes! Never been convinced by the whole "disenchantment" thing, it's too much "We are so smart now, our ancestors were primitive and ignorant"
Yes! Never been convinced by the whole "disenchantment" thing, it's too much "We are so smart now, our ancestors were primitive and ignorant"
If magic never really “declined”, what actually happened to it? Really pleased to see this new forum in ‘Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft’ that extends my claims about doubts to suggest other terms, such as “counter-probabilistic wishing” and “wonder”. williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2026/09/03/w... 🗃️
Who doubts doubt?
Magic never went away. There is now a widespread – though far from universal – sense among historians that what Max Weber called ‘the disenchantment of the world’ and Keith Thomas…
williamgpooley.wordpress.com
September 3, 2026 at 12:43 PM
"They were often less convinced than caricatures of a magical premodernity suppose, and we are much more open to magic than stereotypes of secularism allow."
Yes! Never been convinced by the whole "disenchantment" thing, it's too much "We are so smart now, our ancestors were primitive and ignorant"
Yes! Never been convinced by the whole "disenchantment" thing, it's too much "We are so smart now, our ancestors were primitive and ignorant"
Lots of new followers- hi.
The thing I'm most proud of recently has been an accessible, inclusive, interdisciplinary conference with @metalclassicist.bsky.social & @sboyarin.bsky.social
Check out videos of papers from two years of Heavy Metal& Global Premodernity:
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
The thing I'm most proud of recently has been an accessible, inclusive, interdisciplinary conference with @metalclassicist.bsky.social & @sboyarin.bsky.social
Check out videos of papers from two years of Heavy Metal& Global Premodernity:
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity II: Presentations - YouTube
Presentations recorded for the Heavy Metal & Global Premodernity II online conference, held 15-17 March 2024, hosted by Miami University and co-organized by ...
youtube.com
November 21, 2024 at 9:56 PM
Lots of new followers- hi.
The thing I'm most proud of recently has been an accessible, inclusive, interdisciplinary conference with @metalclassicist.bsky.social & @sboyarin.bsky.social
Check out videos of papers from two years of Heavy Metal& Global Premodernity:
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
The thing I'm most proud of recently has been an accessible, inclusive, interdisciplinary conference with @metalclassicist.bsky.social & @sboyarin.bsky.social
Check out videos of papers from two years of Heavy Metal& Global Premodernity:
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
the fantasy of premodernity is primarily defined by freedom from advertisement
the cyberpunk genre is primarily defined by the heavy presence of advertisement
September 6, 2026 at 3:29 PM
the fantasy of premodernity is primarily defined by freedom from advertisement
this is actually something that’s tied to the other, in that one can understand why “be a bandit” may be preferable to “be a peasant”, but only by the very common dilemma of premodernity that “anything that is good for you is bad for someone else”
April 2, 2026 at 3:29 PM
this is actually something that’s tied to the other, in that one can understand why “be a bandit” may be preferable to “be a peasant”, but only by the very common dilemma of premodernity that “anything that is good for you is bad for someone else”
So, if gendered division of labor was generally much weaker in premodernity than most people believe, from whence does Patriarchy flow?
The answer: control of reproduction.
The most effective way to control and order a society's reproductive habits is, generally, to control women, specifically.
The answer: control of reproduction.
The most effective way to control and order a society's reproductive habits is, generally, to control women, specifically.
May 3, 2026 at 4:19 PM
So, if gendered division of labor was generally much weaker in premodernity than most people believe, from whence does Patriarchy flow?
The answer: control of reproduction.
The most effective way to control and order a society's reproductive habits is, generally, to control women, specifically.
The answer: control of reproduction.
The most effective way to control and order a society's reproductive habits is, generally, to control women, specifically.
not the main point, but we should note how Americans (and Europeans before them) thought that the boundaries between modernity and premodernity are porous - how we can, by our actions, replace place with time
Jim Cramer suggests on CNBC that Trump could “bomb Tehran into the Stone Age” until Iran reopens the strait, citing U.S. bombings of North Vietnam in the 1970s. Carl Quintanilla points out to him that Hanoi won that war.
March 11, 2026 at 3:34 PM
not the main point, but we should note how Americans (and Europeans before them) thought that the boundaries between modernity and premodernity are porous - how we can, by our actions, replace place with time
What's happening I think is people like Sununu are importing a pre-capitalist notion of independence that applied to *landed nobility* to a very different context. Capitalist modernity is superlatively socially dynamic compared to a quasi-caste-based premodernity in which elites were highly secure.
December 29, 2024 at 5:57 PM
What's happening I think is people like Sununu are importing a pre-capitalist notion of independence that applied to *landed nobility* to a very different context. Capitalist modernity is superlatively socially dynamic compared to a quasi-caste-based premodernity in which elites were highly secure.
So remember the bleak news about History abandoning premodernity? The most recent American Historical Review has reviews of only 2 books on premodernity, among dozens of others 🗃️
open.substack.com/pub/modernme...
open.substack.com/pub/modernme...
History Departments should care about more history
Oof
open.substack.com
September 28, 2023 at 7:40 AM
So remember the bleak news about History abandoning premodernity? The most recent American Historical Review has reviews of only 2 books on premodernity, among dozens of others 🗃️
open.substack.com/pub/modernme...
open.substack.com/pub/modernme...
thinking about what it was like ruling in premodernity, do you think the Pharaoh even noticed like his nation in a hot and arid wetland was beset by flies, frog, boils, locusts, and a sudden spike in child mortality?
December 24, 2025 at 10:44 PM
thinking about what it was like ruling in premodernity, do you think the Pharaoh even noticed like his nation in a hot and arid wetland was beset by flies, frog, boils, locusts, and a sudden spike in child mortality?
I think premodernists of all types need to be thinking together about how to make a case for why the deep past matters, without falling back on worn out old stuff of the "western civ" variety. We need a story of why complex global premodernity matters for understanding complex global modernity.
December 30, 2025 at 6:52 PM
I think premodernists of all types need to be thinking together about how to make a case for why the deep past matters, without falling back on worn out old stuff of the "western civ" variety. We need a story of why complex global premodernity matters for understanding complex global modernity.
Having kids 1-2 years apart was almost unheard of in premodernity (except for very rich people who often had wet nurses to breastfeed instead - people were aware that breastfeeding delays the return of ovulation) and is only possible now thanks to modern diets and early weaning of toddlers
May 3, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Having kids 1-2 years apart was almost unheard of in premodernity (except for very rich people who often had wet nurses to breastfeed instead - people were aware that breastfeeding delays the return of ovulation) and is only possible now thanks to modern diets and early weaning of toddlers