“Black Death, COVID, and Why We Keep Telling the Myth of a Renaissance Golden Age and Bad Middle Ages” is a brilliant essay by Renaissance scholar and all round Renaissance woman Ada Palmer, on why the question “If the Black Death caused the Renaissance, will COVID also create a golden age?” is based on multiple misconceptions about history in general, and the Renaissance in particular. However, there are things we can learn from history about how to tackle the Covid-19 aftermath, but will we?
The post is marvelous in general. But in particular, the concept of “Ever-So-Much-More-So” really struck a chord with me. As Palmer says, sprinkle some Ever-So-Much-More-So powder on the Middle Ages and you get the Renaissance: much more of the good bits, and much more of the bad bits.
And this just keeps on: the good things keep getting more and better, but the bad things keep getting more and worse. This is different from utopias (only the good things increase) or dystopias (only the bad increases): in the real future, everything gets Ever-So-Much-More-So. The optimists notice only the more good; the pessimists only the more bad. The reality is everything gets more complicated, more complex, more more. Ever-So-Much-More-So.
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