The harder you look the harder you look
Can events be accurately described as historic at the time they are happening?
Claims of this sort are in effect predictions about the evaluations of future historians; that is, that they will regard the events in question as significant.
Here we provide empirical evidence in support of earlier philosophical arguments1 that such claims are likely to be spurious and that, conversely, many events that will one day be viewed as historic attract little attention at the time.
photo { David Sims }
