13. Modernity

Modernity is not a descriptive state of being, but rather an interval of time. There is no way to pinpoint the advent of modernity in the past, because modernity is constantly moving forward, changing with the now.

Calling a past society modern, or more modern than another past society, is only meaningful in relation to the society of now, the current society of the person giving out the labels. It is impossible to call one past society modern, and another one not modern, only more or less modern in relation to the now.

Since modernity encompasses all of now, this means that there are many current definitions of what modernity is and looks like. Thus, to even try to label a past society modern is to make a decision regarding which current vision of modernity one is using.