In the rich tapestry of change surveyed in the book, modernism emerges as a turn-of-the-nineteenth-century syndrome, as well as a moving force for the advancement of the artificial in the service of society. Postmodernism is a post-Second World War phenomenon. It may best be described as a reflection of changes which are so rapid as to make their integration into the recent past and onrushing future impossible. The environment created by individuals and societies thus outruns the adaptive capacities of their creators and leads to a loss of temporal horizons or, as Professor Nowotny calls it, the extended present.
It is along this path of understanding that the social interpretation of proper time proves itself to be helpful in elucidating the global problems of our age.
Foreword
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