A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History

330 Pages·3.983 MB·English

by  Manuel DeLanda

Wheant omaser t ralvlgei n
straighdto wtnh rohue gmpty
qutiei ndteermitneta imes
andp alcse,t heys werveev er
sol tiltferm o thecioursr e,
jsuts om ucht htay ouw ould
cailatlc hnag�o fd irteinco.
Iifwt e ern otf ort hsis wevre,
eveytrhiwnougl fda dlolw n­
wadrst hroutghaheb y sso f
spa.cN eoc olliioswnou ltdak e
palcea ndn o piamtco fa tmo
ona tmo woulbde c retaed.
Thunsat urew oulnde ver have
creaatenytdh gi.n
-Luctrieus
Swerve Editions
EditbeydJ onathCarna rSya,n foKrwdi ntaenrd,B rucMea u

I woullidk teo d edicatthei s btooom ky parents,
ManueDle Landaa ndC armenA costDae LandaI.w ould
alsloi kteo t hanCke liSac habefro rh erc onstasnutp port
andi nspiratDioonnM ,c Mahonf orh isc arefeudli ting
andu sefuslu ggestioannsdM, e ighaGna lea ndt hee ditors
atZ oneB ooks. -ManueDle Landa
© 1997M anueDle Landa
ZoneB ooks
611B roadwayS,u it6e0 8
New YorkN,Y
10012
Alrli ghtrse served.
FirPsatp erbaEcdki tion
No parotf t hibso okm ayb er eproducesdt,o reidna
retriesvyaslt emo,rt ransmititnea dn yf ormo rb ya ny
meansi,n cludienlge ctronmiecc,h anicpahlo,t ocopying,
microfilmriencgo,r dionrgo ,t herwise (efxocrte hpatt
copyinpge rmittbeydS ectio1ns0 7a nd1 08o ft heU .S.
CopyrigLhatw a nde xcepbty r eviewefrosrt hep ublic
pressw)i thouwtr ittpeenr missiforno mt heP ublisher.
Printiednt heU nited StoaftA emse rica.
DistribubtyeT dh eM ITP ress,
CambridgMea,s sachuseatntdsL, o ndonE,n gland
LibraorfyC ongresCsa tlaoging-in-PublDiactaat ion
De LandaM,a nuel.
A thousanyde arosf n onlinear hi/s tory
ManueDle Landa.
p. cm.
Includbeisb liograprheifcearle ncaensdi ndex.
ISBN0 -9422929--93( paper)
1.S cienc-eP hilosop-hHyi stor2y..N onlinetahre ories
-History. 3. Ph-iHliosstooprh4yy..G eolog-yH istory.
5.B iolog-yH istor6y..L inguist-iHciss torIy.T.i tle.
Q174.8.D_ 4139 97
501-dc20 96-38572
CIP
{'
1/
HfG
�KaBrl.sC.iru�bhek I iO'th
,I
. r h.. ., "I
/
Contents
11 Introduction
I:L AVASA ND MAGMAS
25 GeologicHails tor1y0:0 0-170A0. D.
57 Sandstonaen dG ranite
71 GeologicHails tor1y7:0 0-200A0. D.
II:F LESHA ND GENES
103 BiologiHciaslt or1y0:0 0-17A0.0D .
135 Species aEncdos ystems
149 BiologiHciaslt or1y7:0 0-200A0. D.
III:M EMES AND NORMS
183 LinguisHtiisct or1y0:0 0-170A0. D.
215 Argum entsa ndO perators
227 LinguisHtiisct or1y7:0 0-200A0. D.
257 Conclusiaonnd S peculations
275 Notes

In troudc tion
Despiittes ttihtilisesn , o t
a booko fh istobruyta book
ofp hilosopIhtiy sh.,o wev,e r
a deeplyh istorpihciallo so­
phyw,h ichho ldass i tcse n­
tratlh estihsa atl slt ructures
thastu rrouunsda ndf orm
ourr elait(ym ountaiannsi,­
malsa ndp alntsh,u manl an­
guagess,o ciianls titutions)
aret he prodoufcs tpse cific
historpircoacle ssTeosb .e
11
A THOUSANYDE ARSO F NONLINEAR HISTORY
consitesntth,i st ypeo fp hilsoohpym usto f
necessyi ttaker elah itsoyr asi st straitgn
ponitT.h e probleims o,fc our se,t htat hsoe
whow rie thistyo,h rowevers cholal,yrd os o
froma gievnp hilsoophiaclp onito fv eiw,
and st whoiulds eemt ot arpu si n vai cious
cricel.B utj usta sh istyo arndp hilsoohpy
may itneract ins uhc aw aya s tmoa ke an
objectiev assessmento fr elatiyi mposisb­le
whene nternhced wordlveiwsa ndr outine
"-
procedures rgf aohternigh itsorailce videen c
constriane ahc othren egaitevyl-thecya n
asloi tnearctp osiivtealnyd turnt hism utual
deepndecnei tnoa vriutoucsri cleM.o erover,
itm ay bea rgude thtat hsi posiet iinevtrac­
tino has aleradyb egnu.M any histaonrsi
havea bandonde theiEru rocnetriasnmd
now qusetiotnh ev eryr isoeft heW est( Why
notC hian orI slla?in sn ow ac omnlonq ues­
tino)a,n ds omeh avee vne lfetb ehnidt hier
anthropocnetriasnmd icnlduea hosotf
nohnumanh itsoriients h ierac count.s nAu m­
bero fp hlisoohpers,f otrh ierpa rth,av eb ene­
ftiedf orm then ew hisrtioacle vidnecet hta
schoalrs suhc asF ernanBdra udealn dW ilalmi
McNeihlavle u nearhted,a ndh aveu seid t as
a poitno fd eaprtur ef oar n ew,r eivvefdor m
12
INTRODUCTION
ofm ateirails,ml bieartefdor m thed ogmaso f
the spta.
Phiolsohpy isn ot,h owevre,t heo nlyd sic­i
plitnheta h as beeni fnulencedb ya new
awarenesso ft her oleo fh itsoiraclp rocess.e s
Scinece,t oo,h as acqueidra hitsorailcc on­
scisonuses.I ti sn ota ne xgageriatotno s ay
thta int hel satt woo rt hree decades hitsory
has ifnialtterpdh yissc,c hemistyr,a ndb ilo­
og.yI ti st ruteh tan ienteenht-centruyt hremo­
dynamsi hcad aleradyit norducedt iem's
arrowi tnop hyiscsa,n dh ence thei dae of
irrevrsebilhei tsoriaclp rocsese.sA ndt he
theoyr ofe voultiohand arleadys hownt hta
aniamls apnlndats weren ote mbodiemnts
ofe ternaesls enecs bpuitce emealh istcoalr i
construtcionsslw,o accumultaoinso fa dap­
tiev taritcse mentetdog ethrev irae produc­
tiev isotliao.H nowevre,t hec lassiaclv ersions
oft hseet wot heorsi iecnorporatead r ahter
weak notioonfh istoyr itnot heicron ceptual
machineyr:b othc lasaslti hecrmoydnaimsc
and Darwinsim admittoendy l onep osbslie
hitsorailoc utcome,th er eahcingo ft hermal
equilruiimbo ro ft hef ittesdtes gin.I nb oth
case,os nec thisp oitnw as reached,h itsoriacl
processceessa edt oc onutI.n a sens,oe pti-
13