The four decades that still define our world

The ways of doing things laid down by them and their contemporaries in this period had a long, brutal and tragic life that defined the world for centuries to come. The upheavals of the current period—the kinds of incentive structures, values, and permanent new institutions being created—will surely do the same, in ways we can’t yet imagine. In 1530, the Industrial Revolution and world empires were still far in sight, even if the twisting paths leading there, I believe, had been marked. We should take a critical look at the potential downsides of our innovations as well.