Meta-acceleration means social change itself accelerates, not just technology
Evidence
In contrast, a different, far-reaching question is whether the process of acceleration itself accelerates insofar as the waves of acceleration in the various spheres of life appear in ever thicker sequences, such that the rate of change itself increases until we arrive at a permanent transformation, an idea suggested by the “laws of acceleration” postulated by Siemens and Adams. An acceleration process of this kind cannot be understood as a form of technological acceleration, but must instead be conceived as a symptom of the acceleration of social change. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 181
Categorization
- DEFINE: Distinguishes technological acceleration from the acceleration of social change, the book’s core move.
- QUESTION: Worth chasing: what empirical evidence distinguishes rate-of-change acceleration from merely cumulative technological speed-up?
- XREF: connects to: Social acceleration splits into technical acceleration and social rates of change — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 227; Social acceleration concerns frequency of change, not speed over distance — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 226; Technological acceleration and acceleration of social change are analytically distinct phenomena. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 256 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Social acceleration splits into technical acceleration and social rates of change
#expands(0.90) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 227 - Social acceleration concerns frequency of change, not speed over distance
#expands(0.85) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 226 - Technological acceleration and acceleration of social change are analytically distinct phenomena.
#expands(0.85) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 256