The Hypermodern

About the name…

“The Hypermodern” refers dually to the style of chess play which David Shenk, in his book The Immortal Game, describes as

“a paradigm-shattering gift to chess… The lesson of the Hypermodern revolution was that anything was still possible… Hypermodernism was not about fear, but about the love of intellectual adventure. It was, in fact, archetypal modernism–the spirit of breaking decisively with past styles in order to make a new aesthetic contribution to the world,”

and to the view of contemporary society described by Gilles Lipovetsky and Sebastien Charles in their book Hypermodern Times as a historical context

“where no ideological discourse makes sense any more, and when the disintegration of society has reached its peak. Of course, society is being reconstituted, but in a way that starts out uniquely from the singular desire of individuals.”

In normal-talk, Hypermodernism is a school of thought that believes life in today’s world is evolving at such a rate that history has become an unreliable narrator. Thus, a break from the past is needed, making room for a future crafted by unique individuals. Hypermodernism, according to Wikipedia, also inheres

“a deep faith in humanity’s ability to understand, control, and manipulate every aspect of human experience. This typically is manifested in a forward-looking commitment to science and knowledge…”

That, metaphorically, is the goal of this publication. To provide multiple points-of-view from within and without China, commenting on its amalgamated culture and varied lifestyles in an effort to make sense of the human experience in what could be the most interesting cultural, economic, and sociopolitical battleground of the 21st century.

© 2007 The Hypermodern.