New times always come with new standards of excellence, and we certainly live in an era that is unlike any other we’ve ever known. Of course, every generation is convinced that they are living through an original experience, and wants to find ways of defining its own uniqueness. In this time of so much specialization, however, it is obvious that there are more experts from multiple generations who are commenting on the things that make this moment more spectacular than any other. It could very well be that we are simply reliving some of the most important cycles of history at a faster rate. That is to say, perhaps the wheel is turning more quickly these days.
Whatever the reasons, we are also coming to find ways of making very quick assessments of our contemporary situation. We look at the things that please us the most, and place them in a swift rank system so that we can judge them according to what seems to us to be an objective system. It seems very likely that the systems we’re currently using are less objective than previous generations, and that our judgements are based on very temporary criteria.
It is a culture of the moment, and excellence is determined by comparisons to a very short list of successes. But because we tell ourselves that time is short, and we’re always running out of that commodity, we need to think more quickly and respond more quickly. This leads to some very quick judgements that, in a few years’ time, will probably demonstrate very little actual clear judgement. But by then it won’t matter, because time will become even more scarce by then, and the wheel will continue to spin. This would suggest that those who are willing to step out of the cycles of time will perhaps be the wisest of their generation, and it may be very true that it has always been this way.