Science Fiction And History II

"Nor is it necessarily simpleminded to anticipate no new ordering of society, different in kind from any that have gone before. Though often proclaimed, this advent hasn't happened yet, in thousands of years."
-Poul Anderson, NESFA vol 2, p. 229.

A new order does not happen every time it is proclaimed! However, I suggest that:

hunter-gatherers;
slaves;
serfs;
wage-workers -

- have had qualitatively different experiences of life. We live in a world that has been changed by the scientific and Industrial revolutions. Of course, society can regress, as Anderson also points out, but I argue that nevertheless we have undergone several social transformations. Another is the rule of law. If a member of my family is murdered, then I am not obliged to exact revenge or to negotiate wergild. Instead, an entire apparatus of laws, courts, police and prisons deals with what originally had to be a private responsibility.

So I think that we are the fortunate heirs of several revolutions and new orders.