From Cabinet Magazine (so glad I still have the printed version of this timeline at home):
The problems presented by 20th-century versions of the timeline arise from different sources. In most important respects, the conceptual issues were already on the table in the 18th century. But the 20th century brought developments in time reckoning that gave timelines new poignancy. In 1945, it became relevant for the first time to tell world history in terms of milliseconds, and, very soon, it also became necessary to start thinking in practical terms about the transmission of information over the course of the very long term. There is something more than a little sobering about the recurrence of the cyclical form in the US government glyph for the declining radioactivity of nuclear waste stored in Yucca Mountain. In it, there may be an echo of Joseph Mede’s indecision about the appropriateness of applying the linear form to an apocalyptic narrative.
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