A/N: This essay is related to the theory of Big History put forth by David Christian. It is my take on his theory; the idea that all things in the universe, both organic and inorganic, are united by their ability to cooperate, and that nothing is an island.

Snail Archer (2017)

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The most important theme underlying and uniting Big History is the rise of complexity through cooperation. From the most ancient particles to the modern network of human minds, cooperation has been fundamental to increasing complexity. Although cooperation plays out behind-the-scenes in Big History, it is a crucial component to the story. Cooperation means to work together towards the same end, and does not apply exclusively to sentient life. In the case of Big History, this end is the continued existence of the cooperating parts. Cooperation has therefore shaped the course of history on the biggest of scales; from the dawn of time 14.3 billion years ago until today and into the future.

From the dawn of time, as energy spread out from its original singularity, the four fundamental forces of nature, the gravitational, electromagnetic, and strong and weak nuclear forces, cooperated to form the universe as we know it through a Big Bang event.[1] The energy making up our universe began to spread approximately 14.3 billion years ago, and around 380,000 years later, cooled sufficiently to condense into matter.[2] Quarks were created and fundamentally cooperated to form more complex particles of protons, neutrons and electrons.[3] As this occurred, a colossal amount of energy was released as photons, the remnants of which are observable today and form the basis of the Big Bang Theory, a term ironically coined by sceptic Fred Hoyle to describe the explosive origins of the universe.[4] There are three primary evidences for the Big Bang which marked the earliest moments of complexity in history around 13.8 billion years ago; Cosmic Background Radiation, the redshift of light, and distribution of elements. The electromagnetic radiation dispersed by the formation of matter is detectable in modern times as microwave background radiation, known as Cosmic Background Radiation.[5] First detected by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in 1964, it is detectable evenly in all measurable directions, providing the strongest evidence of the Big Bang, as physicists have proven that photons are emitted by cooling atoms[6]. Furthermore, spectral analysis of starlight has revealed the universe to be composed primarily of hydrogen, at around 76 percent, with the remaining consisting mostly of helium and a small amount of heavier elements.[7] This distribution is expected by the Big Bang Theory, as energy cooled too rapidly for heavier elements to form in abundance outside of stars.[8] Finally, the light observed from distant galaxies is redshifted. As this light is up to 13.8 billion years old, it is the earliest moments of our visible universe that we are observing.[9]  The redshift indicates that, in accordance with the Doppler Effect, these ancient galaxies are accelerating away from Earth.[10] This is suggestive of a Big Bang event. The Steady State Hypothesis, which suggests the universe exists now as it always has done and has never changed in complexity, was the accepted theory prior to this evidence for the Big Bang.[11] Together, Cosmic Background Radiation, the distribution of elements and the redshift of light point toward the early universe being one of rapidly increasing complexity through the fundamental cooperation of time, space, matter and energy.

The cooperation of atoms, gravity and heat then helped history cross its second and third thresholds, forming the more complex bodies of stars and heavy elements. Thankfully for the existence of rising complexity, there were a number of wrinkles in the fabric of the early universe; space where the density of atoms varied.[12] Over millennia, these the heavier wrinkles drew in neighbouring atoms through the force of gravity and as the density of these spaces increased dramatically, they began to heat up due to the friction.[13] These spaces are known to scientists today as giant molecular clouds, or nebulas, and are observable in young local stellar neighbourhoods such as the Orion Nebula in the Orion Constellation a mere 1,600 light-years away.[14] Stellar birth there has been observed through photography and spectroscopy from land-based and orbiting telescopes as well as unpiloted spacecraft.[15] The collapse of a giant molecular cloud forms a star, an object sufficiently dense, and therefore hot enough, to perform ongoing nuclear fusion.[16] Fusion is a simple form of cooperation, which creates more complex heavier elements and releases a great deal of heat and electromagnetic energy.[17] The heaviest element able to be formed by stellar fusion is iron, with all heavier elements being generated by the collapse of a star in an explosive supernova.[18] With the cooperation of gravity, heat and atoms, the universe had dramatically increased in complexity as stars and heavy elements formed.

An inestimably important side effect of the cooperation of matter and fusion in stars is the formation of planets, without which there would have been no further avenue for increasing complexity. The solar nebula theory, proposed by Immanuel Kant and Pierre Simon Laplace, states that as a star is formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud, as little as 0.1 of the matter of that cloud can remain outside the star, in its orbit.[19] During the collapse, a dense core forms under gravity, heating and spinning, and eventually becoming a star.[20] Due to the forces of centrifugation and differentiation, the outer disc contains interstellar grains and gases, while the inner disc holds iron compounds and heavy silicates.[21] After around 100,000 years for a mid range star such as Earth’s sun, though this time varies depending on the size of the collapsed nebula, the T Tauri winds stop the proto-sun from growing any further, leaving remaining debris, or planetesimals, to form into various bodies in the solar system.[22] These bodies include the planets of a star, and form through accretion, which is the process of planetesimal collision and subsequent coalescence into larger bodies through electrostatic forces.[23] Over the next 10 to 100 million years, the largest of the proto-planets gained orbital and gravitational calm.[24] This process of planet formation occurred in our solar system between 4.5 and 5 billion years ago, with radiometric dating putting the formation of the Earth’s crust around 4 billion years ago.[25] Furthermore, chemical differentiation played an important role in the Earth’s formation, as heavy elements such as iron sank to form the core and lighter silicates floated up to form the mantle and crust.[26] As with the Big Bang, the formation of stars, and the creation of heavy elements, cooperation played a crucial role in the formation of the planets as forces including gravity, differentiation and accretion worked together as architects of the solar system.

On Earth, around 3.8 billion years ago, complex molecules began to cooperate in such a way that they would actively seek to gather energy to further their own existence; this was life, and since the crossing of this historical threshold, life would evolve to cooperate in increasingly complex ways.[27] Perhaps the most important kind of molecular chain in history, deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA, had arrived on Earth, the origins of which remain a contentious issue in science.[28] Hypotheses for the origin of DNA include seeding of the Earth by an asteroid and formation in warm rock pools.[29] Regardless, the fossil record shows the first prokaryotic, or single celled, life-forms appeared 3.8 billion years ago. Eukaryotic, or multi-cellular, life evolved around a billion years later, through the cooperation of prokaryotic cells to divide tasks amongst themselves and improve their fitness and ability to occupy various niches.[30] It was not until about 570 million years ago that more complex eukaryotes evolved in the Cambrian explosion.[31] Throughout the history of life on Earth, there have been Five Big Extinction Events.[32] They periodically freed up ecological niches into which new species may evolve to occupy. Some of the most successful species were cooperative species, including many of the dinosaurs and, more recently, primates including Homo sapiens.[33] Cooperation was therefore fundamental to the creation and increasing complexity of life on Earth.

The evolution of life into Homo sapiens took around 3.792 billion years and the success of the species was due, in a large part, to the cooperation. During the break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea around 200 million years ago, the first proto-mammals broke off from their reptile cousins.[34] Gradually, following Darwin’s model of evolution, they evolved into monotremes, then marsupials, and finally placental mammals, with the earliest fossil record of such being the Eomaiascansoria, dated to around 125 million years old.[35] Early mammals survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, which was brought about by either an asteroid impact in the Yucatan peninsula, preserved in the Chicxulub crater, or massive flood basalts, preserved in the Deccan Traps of India, or some combination thereof.[36] Mammals had evolved to live primarily in burrows or similar shelters, and had the advantage of being warm-blooded, which assisted in their survival.[37] Following the freeing of ecological niches by the extinction of the previously dominant dinosaurs, mammals evolved to occupy most niches. The common ancestor of Homo sapiens and Chimpanzees was forced to descend from the treetops of Africa, likely due to competition over food, and occupy the plains of Africa.[38] Around 8 million years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in this new ecological niche.[39] Humans had, to the best estimate of the fossil record, evolved from Homo erectus, a well travelled species of hominid which lived throughout Afroeurasia and Java and was a number of species removed from the common ancestor between Homo sapiens and Chimpanzees.[40] Yet what made humans so different to their cousins, the Chimpanzees, with whom they share 98 percent of their DNA, and to the other hominids, was the improved cooperation of neurons in the human brain and increasingly complex cooperation between humans. Early humans employed their new skill of Collective Learning to develop new technologies with which they conquered new ecological niches and so colonised the globe.[41] Through extensification, Palaeolithic humans migrated to new territories throughout the world without any noticeable parallel increase in average population density.[42] By 60,000 years ago, humans had reached Australia, and by 20,000 years ago had gone as far as Siberia, both of which are confirmed through archaeological evidence.[43] Climatic conditions, revealed by ice core samples, show that humans migrated to frozen Siberia during the Last Glacial Maximum; proof of the adaptability of humans, a skill created and preserved through cooperation.[44] Cooperation was evident at a new and complex level in humans.

Human cooperation through Collective Learning instigated the agricultural revolution, when around 12,000 years ago certain early human societies began to transition from foraging to agrarian lifestyles.[45] As indicated by ice core samples, the Last Glacial Maximum ended around this time with the beginning of the Holocene epoch, leading to warmer times with abundant resources.[46] This allowed early humans to adopt sedentary lifestyles as affluent foragers.[47]  Due largely to population pressures, those humans living in areas with species pre-adapted as potential domesticates, such as emmer wheat and barley, transitioned to a farming lifestyle.[48] Areas such as Australasia and the Americas were late to adopt agriculture, or never did, due to a lack of easily domesticable species that make agrarian, rather than foraging, lifestyles more appealing.[49] Agriculture enabled humans to cooperate further, increasing population and Collective Learning. Humans increasingly cooperated across cultures, developing a complex series of ‘highways’ known as Silk Roads which wove together Afroeurasia providing trans-civilisational and trans-ecological exchanges of cultures, ideas, technologies and goods.[50] Archaeological evidence, including the writings of Isoduros of Charax and Pliny the Elder, indicates the extent of the importance of cooperation along the Silk Roads which connected steppe pastoralists, nomadic foragers and agrarian civilisations.[51] Yet human cooperation stagnated prior to the unification of the world zones in the early modern period. The global empires of the early modern period (c. 1500-1750CE) brought together the full thrust of the collective human intellect for the first time.[52] Due in part to these new opportunities for innovation and Collective Learning, the Modern Revolution began in the late 18th century.[53] Human cooperation throughout the Modern Period has enabled humans to develop new ways to extract energy from and manipulate the environment, cementing humanity’s place as the dominant species in the world.[54] The ability of humans to cooperate in increasingly complex ways has allowed us to cross two historical thresholds, the agricultural and modern revolutions.

The most important theme visible through the lens of Big History is the increasing complexity of the universe and its components through the cooperation of those parts. The forces of nature cooperated in simple ways to create the earliest components of the universe, and the matter and energy created through this cooperation swiftly cooperated in new ways to form stars and heavy elements. This new threshold of complexity then cooperated to form planets, which in turn became a safe harbour in which complex molecules could cooperate to form life in the form of prokaryotes. This simple life eventually cooperated amongst itself to form increasingly complex forms of life, until around 8 million years ago, it evolved into Homo sapiens. Humans were unique among life on Earth for the ability of their neurons to cooperate in the most complex system currently known. As the cooperative social network of human brains grew, it enabled humans to adopt agriculture and, later on, industry. Without cooperation, the rise of complexity which has defined history on its largest scale, could not have occurred.

Bibliography

Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Croydon: Black Swan, 2003.

Christian, David. Maps of Time. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011.

Christian, David, Stokes Brown, Cynthia, and Benjamin, Craig. Big History: Between Nothing and Everything. New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013.

Christian, D. “Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History.” Journal of World History 11 (2000): p 1-26.

Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. Civilizations. London: Macmillan, 2000,

Jablonski, D. “Progress at the K-T boundary.” Nature 387 (1997): pp. 354-355.

Merali, Zeeya and Skinner, Brian J. Visualising Earth Science. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.

“Big Five mass extinction events.” BBC Nature. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/extinction_events

“Nuclear Fusion.” Georgia State University. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/NucEne/fusion.html#c1

 “Quarks.” Georgia State University. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Particles/quark.html

“Supernovae.” Georgia State University. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Astro/snovcn.html#c2

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[1] Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 543.

[2] David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 25.

[3] “Quarks,” Georgia State University, available from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Particles/quark.html

[4] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 18.

[5] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 20; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 33-34; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 544.

[6] David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 33.

[7] Ibid, p. 34.

[8] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 23.

[9] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 17; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 30-31.

[10] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 17; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 30-31.

[11] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 17.

[12] David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 43.

[13] Ibid, p. 43.

[14] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 37-38.

[15] Ibid, p. 34-35.

[16] David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 44.

[17] “Nuclear Fusion,” Georgia State University, available from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/NucEne/fusion.html#c1

[18] “Supernovae,” Georgia State University, available from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Astro/snovcn.html#c2

[19] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 38; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 525.

[20] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 38; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 525.

[21] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 38.

[22] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 39; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 60; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 524.

[23] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 39.

[24] Ibid, p. 39.

[25] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 42; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 494.

[26] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 42; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 62; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 530.

[27] David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 109.

[28] Ibid, p. 96-97.

[29] Ibid, p. 96-97.

[30] Ibid, p. 113.

[31] Ibid, p. 119.

[32] Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, (Croydon: Black Swan, 2003), p. 416; “Big Five mass extinction events,” BBC Nature, available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/extinction_events.

[33] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 74.

[34] David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 125; David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 74.

[35] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 74.

[36] Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 360; D. Jablonski, “Progress at the K-T boundary,” Nature 387 (1997): p. 354.

[37] David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 125; Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, (Croydon: Black Swan, 2003), p. 421.

[38] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 95; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 356-357.

[39] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 95; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 356-357.

[40] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 95; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 356-357.

[41] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 95; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 357.

[42] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 95; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 190.

[43] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 95; Zeeya Merali and Brian J. Skinner, Visualising Earth Science (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 357.

[44] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 95; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 194.

[45] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 104.

[46] Ibid, p. 107.

[47] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 110; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 235.

[48] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 109; David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 230.

[49] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 109.

[50] D. Christian, “Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History,” Journal of World History 11 (2000): p. 2.

[51] David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, and Craig Benjamin, Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2013), p. 178; D. Christian, “Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History,” Journal of World History 11 (2000): p. 2.

[52] David Christian, Maps of Time (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2011), p. 364.

[53] Ibid, p. 404.

[54] Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Civilizations (London: Macmillan, 2000), p. 23.