Big History and the Future of Humanity

BIG HISTORY AND THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 7
LIST OF FIGURES......Page 10
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 11
Introduction......Page 19
Studying the Past......Page 20
A Very Short History of Academic History......Page 25
A Short History of Big History......Page 27
A Historical Theory of Everything?......Page 34
Introduction......Page 36
Matter and Energy......Page 39
Complexity......Page 42
Energy Flows and the Emergence of Complexity......Page 47
The Goldilocks Principle......Page 54
Introduction......Page 59
The Big Bang: No Complexity......Page 60
Recent Issues Concerning the Big Bang Scenario......Page 62
The Radiation Era: The Emergence of Complexity at the Smallest Scales......Page 63
The Matter Era: The Emergence of Complexity at Atomic and Molecular Scales......Page 67
Galaxy Formation: The Emergence of Complexity at Larger Scales......Page 69
The Emergence of Stars......Page 73
Stars as Nuclear Forges......Page 77
Introduction......Page 80
The Galactic Habitable Zone......Page 81
The Emergence of Our Cosmic Neighborhood......Page 83
The Solar System Habitable Zone......Page 86
Major Characteristics of Earth......Page 88
Early Inner Planetary History......Page 91
Early Earth History......Page 92
Life Is Very Special......Page 93
The Emergence of Life......Page 96
Life, Energy and Complexity......Page 100
Planetary Energy Flows and Life......Page 106
The Gaia Hypothesis......Page 108
The Emergence of Energy Harvesting from Outside......Page 112
The Emergence of the Biological Food Web......Page 115
The Emergence of Multicellular Organisms......Page 119
The Emergence of Brains and Consciousness......Page 121
The Increase and Expansion of Biological Complexity......Page 123
Conquest of the Land......Page 124
Further Increasing Complexity......Page 126
Introduction......Page 129
What Makes Humans Different......Page 130
Energy and Complexity......Page 133
The Emergence of Early Humans......Page 135
Improving Social Coordination......Page 138
Tool Making and Brain Growth......Page 139
Brains and Intestines......Page 142
Fire Control......Page 144
Migration......Page 146
The Rise of Modern Humans......Page 149
Early Religion......Page 154
Introduction......Page 156
The Agrarian Revolution......Page 159
The Developing Agrarian Regime......Page 164
Social Effects of the Agrarian Revolution......Page 167
The Emergence of Agrarian Religions......Page 169
Increasing Agricultural Complexity and Declining Untamed Complexity......Page 171
Early State Formation......Page 174
The Emergence of Big States......Page 178
The Emergence of Moral Religions......Page 180
Energy and Complexity in State Societies......Page 181
The First Wave of Globalization......Page 186
Industrialization: The Second Wave of Globalization......Page 191
Informatization: The Third Wave of Globalization......Page 198
Energy, Complexity and Goldilocks Circumstances......Page 201
Introduction......Page 207
A Very Short Overview of the Long Future of the Universe......Page 209
The Future of Earth and Life......Page 210
The Future of Humanity......Page 211
The Availability of Matter and Energy......Page 214
Exhaustion of Critical Resources and Growing Entropy......Page 218
Will Humans Migrate to Other Planets?......Page 220
Final Words......Page 221
Appendix: A SHORT TIME LINE OF BIG HISTORY......Page 224
NOTES......Page 226
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 257
INDEX......Page 280