The Middle Ages (~400 to ~1400) are frequently divided into the ~400-1000 years (the era of decline or “Dark Ages”) and the ~1000-1400 years (when activity picked up again (the “High” or “Late” Middle Ages). The existence of a “Dark Age” is hotly and sometimes angrily contested. Three data visualizations for your consideration, followed by my commentary.
1. World economy ups and downs by region, from Angus Maddison’s The World Economy: Historical Statistics. Note the light blue line for western Europe, which declines sharply until around year 1000, at which point it recovers and ascends.
2. Artistic and historic artifacts. Note the 400-1000 CE era.
3. Interesting and otherwise significant thinkers.
The latter two charts are via https://x.com/Scientific_Bird. My work-in-progress contribution is this chart, which plots the dates for some major philosophers, university foundings, key inventions, artistic developments, and artists:
My podcast, on the historical and value controversies—especially for that sub-group of conservatives who wish it weren’t real— in the Open College series: “Conservatives: Get Over the Dark Ages.”
The Middle Ages allowed the transition between antiquity and the so-called modern world.
Progress, the improvement of living conditions, the increase in life expectancy, is also for criminals, tyrants, exterminators, slave traders.
At least a billion people have directly suffered from communism, communism that used technological progress to establish its tyranny.
100 million dead.
The two world wars alone have caused the suffering of hundreds of millions of people and the death of tens and tens of millions of people, in a few years, thanks to technological progress, as never before seen in the entire history of humanity.
6 million Jews were exterminated with the help of technological progress. (moreover, on this point Heidegger accepts technology).
How many tens and tens of millions of people, outside of the two world wars, have died because of wars using technological progress in the last two centuries? How many hundreds of millions of people have suffered directly from this?
How many billions of animals have been treated, as animals have never been treated in the entire history of humanity, with the help, and for the progress of humanity, in the 20th century?
Thanks to progress, criminals live longer, and a tyrant will now be able to tyrantize his population for a century.
A tyrant within a family will be able to tyrantize his relatives for much longer.
Criminals of all kinds will live longer and will be able to commit crimes longer.
To weigh something properly, you have to put the totality of what needs to be weighed.