Did the last 40 years see more change than any other period of history?

[viper37]

Anything better out there? The last days of rome lining up with one of china's divided periods?

I believe Tim posted an article about a volcanic eruption disrupting agriculture around the time of the last days of Rome, and there were also effects felt elsewhere in the world.

[Josquius]

40 years ago a smart phone would have sounded like something out of science fiction: a device which fits in your pocket which can be a phone (a Jetson's phone for that matter), compass, phone, camera, video camera, calculator, notepad, photo album as well as having access to a vast library of books, music and movies and can facilitates all manner of commerce.  That we use such a marvelous technology mostly to spread conspiracy theories, watch cat videos and film ourselves eating detergent pods would probably have sounded equally preposterous.

Yes.
Not even this far.
When we have the ability to video call distant relatives on the other side of the world... in practice that's largely just done by pensioners. Most young people just use it to send text only messages to people a few doors away.
Alongside the heightened technology in calling we've seen a cultural move completely the other direction.

[Tamas]

To me the most fascinating sucky period is the plague and Byzantium and Persia completely exhausting each other before the Muslim initial surge. Fascinating what-if of what would have happened if that storm hit against less unstable empires.

[Norgy]

To me the most fascinating sucky period is the plague and Byzantium and Persia completely exhausting each other before the Muslim initial surge. Fascinating what-if of what would have happened if that storm hit against less unstable empires.

That is a really fascinating period. One that usually isn't taught in history classes here. The Sasanians were looking impossible to fall before that long war. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have not read much that indicate that the Arab invasion and incursions were tactically different from what the Bedouins and Arabs had done before. The two empires were just fully bled out.
I think the sources also mention that the silk road trade was disrupted and that taxation was heavy on those left in both empires.
So, when a new power emerged, with a softer hand, conversions came easily. At least that is my understanding.

[grumbler]

To me the most fascinating sucky period is the plague and Byzantium and Persia completely exhausting each other before the Muslim initial surge. Fascinating what-if of what would have happened if that storm hit against less unstable empires.

That is a really fascinating period. One that usually isn't taught in history classes here. The Sasanians were looking impossible to fall before that long war. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have not read much that indicate that the Arab invasion and incursions were tactically different from what the Bedouins and Arabs had done before. The two empires were just fully bled out.
I think the sources also mention that the silk road trade was disrupted and that taxation was heavy on those left in both empires.
So, when a new power emerged, with a softer hand, conversions came easily. At least that is my understanding.

Yeah, the hand of the Church was heavy in Byzantium, on top of already-high state taxes.  Losing that burden, combined with the claims of the equality of all Muslims, made conversion attractive, and the ease of conversion added to the pace of conversion.