Contemporary Time as "Now": in Defense of "Simple" Notions

The article presents the notion of Contemporary time as “now” based on individual experiences of culture demanded by bearers of culture at a moment. An attempt to avoid the connection between such notions as Contemporary time, the idea of progress and novelty is presented. To review the progress is quite difficult because of a gap between the idea of progress and the progress itself. The progress is mostly identified retrospectively, many transformations of society come so slowly, that they rest invisible for a lot of people of the culture. Some other changes can be noticeable, but at the same time, they are not always truly new. Some phenomena could exist in the culture earlier, but later they could be lost and taken as new by other parts of society. The results of historical research can’t be used for predicting the future as no relevant methodology exists. Taking some phenomena as new, progressive, contemporary depends on the theoretical position of a researcher, bearer of culture. The presented notion of Contemporary time as “now” can be taken as a methodological position. It can be used to smooth comparison and assess the value of phenomena with a long history and some others just starting their way in culture.