New for CounterPunch: Thinking About Time

“The Emergence of Time as a Social Force”

An excerpt from my first piece of 2025, “The Emergence of Time as a Social Force,” for those curious:

In 1336, Milan was expanding to become one of the richest and most important cities in all of Europe. From the end of the 13th century, it was ruled by a powerful dynasty that would go on to found the Duchy of Milan, a major state that would remain intact until Napoleon’s armies swept across Europe centuries later. That year, Milan cemented its position as a burgeoning technological powerhouse by introducing “the first documented hour-striking clock in a public setting.” Milan’s spectacular clock was an international sensation and “has been described as the first true automat in Europe and the locking wheel as a precursor of the computer.” The hourly ringing of its bells heralded the modern world, the world we know today, dominated by the power of time, where nothing would fall outside of its ambit. It was spellbinding, the cutting edge breakthrough of its day. Until then, time was conceived not as fixed and linear, as a standardized grid within which to situate the tasks of daily life—rather the tasks of daily life were the clock, dictating and defining time rather than the inverse.