four eras

* the aboriginal

* fifty thousand years ago
the “Great Leap Forward” in regard to culture and consciousness

* between ten and five thousand years ago
agriculture, settlement; then states and empires
the latter the embodiment of collective Striving
their toxic over-running; their warring

* between three hundred and two hundred years ago
acceleration of “progress and development”
the Luddites and Thoreau had an intimation re:
touted modern industrialism
awesome
powerful
mass/massive
complex
far-flung
over-developed
technologies, institutions, culture-en-masse, people-en-masse

all leading to our current
overwhelm
frustration
distraction
exhaustion
dissatisfaction
malaise

and bafflement as to why

* * * *

[a case could be made re: a fifth era
the recent cyber era
whereas the scales of the industrial era are insane
the cyber era introduces an extreme of mass / far-flung
because the internet takes attention out
into the ultra-insanity of the whole wide world]