Historian Niall Ferguson on the roots of today's political polarization

Nothing to laugh at, but the American audience did just that, believing as Ferguson reprimands them that nothing before America started is important. . . . and he gives examples comparing what's happening now to The Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries > a disruption of the public sphere that lasted more than 125 years. History, says Ferguson, happens 10x faster now after the Internet
[compared with the time after the widespread use of the printing press]
 

Published on Dec 18, 2018

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Historian Niall Ferguson argues that today’s political polarization echoes the religious polarization of the Reformation. Both were brought about by technological disruption: The printing press, in the case of the Reformation; and the personal computer and internet, in the case of today.
From Niall Ferguson's Long Now Seminar “Networks and Power”:http://longnow.org/seminars/02018/nov...

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