Guest Editor’s Introduction: The Role of Historical Studies in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

If we were to line up academic disciplines in the order of their speed of change in step with the times, the study of law will come at the very end. It is because laws change only after numerous precedents have been accumulated over time. Since laws change with the majority, not minority, consent of the people, law is considered the most conservative field of study. Then which academic disciplines adapt quickly to the changing times? I believe that art and technology stand at the forefront. In art, a small number of creative geniuses are always the first to read the changing trend of the times when creating their artwork. As a result, the public does not necessarily love or agree with their work, which are often considered strange. Great artworks in history that we love today might have been thought of as bizarre and unconventional in their time. Even today, people do not tend to enjoy and love modern art but rather think of it as strange and curious.