A permanent revolution (IM 605)

The revolutions of last two centuries have become radical that they have changed the fundamental characteristics of social order. Over the last two centuries, the pace of change became so quick that the social order acquired the dynamic nature. When we speak of modern revolution, what comes in our mind is the French Revolution (1789), the Liberal Revolution (1848) or the Russian Revolution (1917). But today, every year is revolutionary. For instances, personal computers in 1970s, the internet bubble of 1990s, the current revolution of black communities in United States, the launch of two astronauts in orbit by SpaceX and all the other historical revolutions that has been taking place. But most of us don't realize it. So we try to define the characteristics of modern society based on what we see externally, which is just like trying to define the color of chameleon. The main credit to this revolution goes to the capacity of human beings to imagine. We are the only species in the entire globe to be able to create an imagined communities. Yuval Noah Hararri said it beautifully," The two most important examples for the rise of such imagined communities are the nation and the consumer tribe. The nation is the imagined community of the state and the consumer tribe is the imagined community of the market." Both are imagined communities because it's impossible to know all the customers of the market or to know all the people form the entire nation. This imagined communities make us believe that we all have a common past, share common interest, common purpose and have a common future. This isn't a lie; it's an imagination. They exist only in our collective imagination and their power is immense. As long as millions of Americans believe in the existence of America, get excited at the sight of American national symbols, believe in American dream and myths, and are willing to sacrifice time, energy and money for the great America, America will remain one of the strongest powers in the world. This collective imagination has led us to many great revolution in recent days.