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THE COMING DARK AGE
Newsletter
August, 2005
1. INTRODUCTION
This month's newsletter contains a test/examination/quiz on the subject of dark age theory. The best solution reaching the Dark Age Team by 10 October 2005 will receive as a prize a copy of Seneca the Younger's "Letters from a Stoic" (Penguin edition). Few entries are expected, if any, so please do not hesitate to send in your submission even if it is incomplete. Note that not all questions have "correct" answers. Some are at the cutting edge of dark age theory.
Please submit your answers to test@darkage.fsnet.co.uk.
Past editions of the newsletter are at the following address: http://www.darkage.fsnet.co.uk/Newsletter.htm I welcome all comments, suggestions and contributions, especially the latter. Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested. Marc Widdowson
2. DARK AGE THEORY TEST
Q.1 Define or explain the following terms, as they are used in dark age theory (DAT): a) Scale b) Institution c) Principle of mutual causality d) Organisation e) Ensemble (or eigenmode - the terms are somewhat interchangeable) f) Stranger (please also expand any DAT technical terms used in your answer)
Q.2 Using units of "persons per year", estimate the scale of the following social contexts: a) A band of hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari desert b) A village in medieval Europe c) New York
Q.3 What are the component institutions of the stranger ensemble/eigenmode?
Q.4 Explain why the Nile Valley was one of the first regions where civilisation arose. You may like to use some of the following terms in your answer: circumscription, vagility, stranger, integration.
Q.5 Provide three illustrations of the phoenix principle (marks will be given for originality).
Q.6 Suggest measuring units for each of the three social dimensions of DAT: a) Integration b) Organisation c) Cohesion
Q.7 When would you place the peak of the following civilisations? Explain your reasoning. Credit will be given for considering a variety of issues, e.g. cultural, technological, imperial. You may find that there was more than one peak. a) Classical Roman b) Chinese c) Western (This means the civilisation that rose in Europe after the fall of Rome. The peak may be in the future or the past depending on your point of view.)
Q.8 Why are issues to do with education normally considered under the "organisation" dimension of DAT? Credit will be given for answers that also consider the relevance of the other two dimensions.
Q.9 The 2004 Turner prize for art was won by Jeremy Deller with a film about George Bush's hometown in Texas. Is this a sign of the coming dark age? If so, why? If not, why not?
Q.10 Will the following hasten or delay the coming dark age? Explain. a) The internet b) The Bush presidency c) The Chinese space programme d) Third world debt relief e) CCTV f) The European Union
Q.11 Why does the situation in Zimbabwe reflect the weakness of American hegemony? Try to give as technical an answer as possible, using the theoretical properties of integration. (E.g., how does one detect the extent of a politically integrated unit?)
Q.12 The Egyptian First Intermediate Period lasted about twenty five years. Greece's post-Mycenaean dark age lasted some four centuries. What factors might influence the duration of a dark age?
Please submit your answers to test@darkage.fsnet.co.uk by 10 October 2005.