A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History (hereafter known as ATYNH) is a 1997 book by Manuel De Landa. The book forms part of DeLanda's ongoing project of applying dynamical systems theory and the like to such diverse fields as history, analytical science and realist philosophy, challenging prevailing paradigms in each instance. Specifically, ATYNH offers a novel neo-Cartesian reading of history which sees the evolution and interplay of complex systems (geological, economic and linguistic) as primary, and opposes naive teleological notions of anthropocentric progress, to paraphrase the author.
The book chooses an arbitrary starting date, 1000CE, and plots the fluctuations, bifurcations and extinctions of various heterogeneous or homogenous aggregates of 'matter' (the author uses the word 'matter' to describe the elements of any accumulation of geological, economic and linguistic content) from this point until 2000CE. One of the central points of ATYNH is that the patterns of behaviour inherent in the study of complex systems (e.g. strange attractors, emergent properties) are found in all these domains of 'matter', informing a view of the world as a dynamic, highly interconnected bricolage of self-adaptive, amorphous systems composed of morphogenetically potent matter.
In summary, ATYNH conceives of a world of infinite variation, one which is immanent, both hierarchical as well as non-hierarchical and a "mesh work" of linear and non-linear progressions, and thus one which can be most accurately modeled using the tools provided by complex systems, emergence theory and other related fields of study.
De Landa's later book, Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy, sees all phenomena in the abovementioned domains as 'emerging from' a core set of abstract (yet real) dynamic systems which are themselves multiplicitous and in constant flux.
Both books are also useful for the way they elucidate some of Deleuze's notoriously difficult ideas and neologisms, including the body without organs, smooth and striated space, the plane of consistency, assemblages and abstract machines.
Famous quotes containing the words thousand, years and/or history:
“My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Neither years nor books have yet availed to extirpate a prejudice then rooted in me, that a scholar is the favorite of Heaven and earth, the excellency of his country, the happiest of men. His duties lead him directly into the holy ground where other men’s aspirations only point. His successes are occasions of the purest joy to all men. Eyes is he to the blind; feet is he to the lame. His failures, if he is worthy, are inlets to higher advantages.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I am not a literary man.... I am a man of science, and I am interested in that branch of Anthropology which deals with the history of human speech.”
—J.A.H. (James Augustus Henry)