An edition of Big history and the future of humanity
(2010)
Big history and the future of humanity
by Fred Spier
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""Big History" places the human past within the history of life, the Earth, and the Universe. In doing so, the emerging field of historical study provides us with an overview of the known past in its entirety, from the beginning of time until the present day. In big History and the Future of Humanity, Spier presents a simple theoretical approach that not only makes big history accessible, but reveals what the future may hold for humanity."--Back cover.
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Book Details
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to big history
Studying the past
2. General approach
Matter and energy
Complexity
Energy flows and the emergence of complexity
The Goldilocks Principle
3. Cosmic evolution : the emergence of simple forms of complexity
The Big Bang : no complexity
Recent issues concerning the Big Bang scenario
The Radiation Era : the emergence of complexity at the smallest scales
The Matter Era : the emergence of complexity at atomic and molecular scales
Galaxy formation : the emergence of complexity at larger scales
The emergence of stars
Stars as nuclear forges
4. Our cosmic neighborhood : the emergence of greater complexity
The Galactic Habitable Zone
The emergence of our cosmic neighborhood
The Solar System Habitable Zone
Major characters tics of Earth
Early inner planetary history
Early Earth history
Life is very special
The emergence of life
5. Life on Earth : the widening range of complexity
Planetary energy flows and life
The Gaia Hypothesis
The emergence of energy harvesting from outside
The emergence of the biological food web
The emergence of multicellular organisms
The emergence of brains and consciousness
The increase and expansion of biological complexity
Conquest of the land
Further increasing complexity
6. Early human history : the emergence of the greatest known complexity
What makes humans different
Energy and complexity
The emergence of early humans
Improving social coordination
Tool making and brain growth
Brains and intestines
Fire control
Migration
The rise of modern humans
Early religion
7. Recent human history : the development of the greatest known complexity
The agrarian revolution
The developing agrarian regime
Social effects of the agrarian revolution
The emergence of agrarian religions
Increasing agricultural complexity and declining untamed complexity
Early state formation
The emergence of big states
The emergence of moral religions
Energy and complexity in state societies
The first wave of globalization
Industrialization : the second wave of globalization
Informatization : the third wave of globalization
Energy, complexity and Goldilocks circumstances
8. Facing the future A very short overview of the long future of the Universe
The future of Earth and life
The future of humanity
The availability of matter and energy
Exhaustion of critical resources and growing entropy
Will humans migrate to other planets?
A short time line of big history.
Edition Notes
Paperback edition of 2010 book.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-261) and index.
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- Created February 22, 2022
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| December 8, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
| October 18, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
| February 22, 2022 | Created by ImportBot | Imported from Internet Archive item record |