HIS104      FALL 2012    LECTURE KEY TERMS

Lecture 2 - 3    Day 1.      A day some time between the 'Big Bang' and 10,000 BC
                           Big History:  A Brief History of the Universe and the Birth of Civilization

B.C.E. / C.E.  [Before Common Era - Common Era ] before/after year 1 on current western Gregorian calendar

(deprecated nomenclature)
B.C. / A.D.  [Before Christ / Anno Domini "Year of the Lord" ]

Big Bang

four fundamental forces of the universe:

1. electromagnetism
2. gravitation
3. weak nuclear interaction
4. strong nuclear interaction

traditional Western cosmology: universal equilibrium

matter & energy (ME)

Laws of Thermodynamics

entropy

Heat Death Theory

knowledge as epiphenomena

Eastern and non-traditional Western cosmology:  sustainable non-equilibrium theory

mental and spiritual capacity as instruments of anti-entropy

Genus Homo

 Homo habilis
Homo erectus
Homo floresiensis (discovered in 2003)
Homo neanderthalensis
Homo sapiens

Panov’s evolutionary equation or Snooks ‘law of cumulative genetic change’

Snooks-Panov Verticle

Anthropogenic Crises

Stone Age Periods: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic

  • Paleolithic Revolution (2,5-1,2 million years  ago)

    necrophobia

    Law of Techno-Humanitarian Balance

  • Upper Paleolithic Revolution”,
    or the “Cro-Magnons’ Cultural Revolution”
    (35-40 thousand years ago)

  • Neolithic Revolution (10,000 - 8,000 ВС)

  • Urban Revolution  (5,000 – 3,000  ВС)
    ("Civilization")

    Bronze Age

  • Axial Revolution (circa 500 BC)

    Iron Age

  • Industrial Revolution (1800 - 1900 AD)

    Steam Age - Fossil Fuel Age

  • Information Revolution (1950 AD)

    Atomic Age - Digital Age

civilization

Latin root:  civilis, civis, civitas

three global civilizations

extinction event

Hiroshima, Pompeii, Thera (Thira), Yellowstone Caldera Classes of Destruction

VEI scale event [ Volcanic Explosivity Index ] Link

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

strange theory  (strange attractor)

strong anthropic principle

nomogenesis - orthogenesis

teleology

anthropomorphisim

noosphere

'ascent of man'

The Self-Organizing Universe: Scientific and Human Implication of the Emerging Paradigm of Evolution by Erich Jantsch

information (knowledge)

'special weight of information' (SWI)

matter, energy plus information (MEI)

"Artificial Intelligence"
(Non-biological intelligence)

[ Technological ] Singularity

2045 Strategic Social Initiative ( www.2045.com )

 

Scale of Civilization Destroying Natural and Anthropogenic Catastrophes  (Nomenclature of Destruction)

EVENT                      DATE             TYPE            ENERGY IN
                                                                                  KILOTONS/MEGATONS

World Trade Center    A.D. 2001       collapse                 1.6 kilotons

Hiroshima                     A.D. 1945       fission bomb    10-24 kilotons
(Hiroshima class)

Mount Pelée                AD. 1902        volcano               15-20 kilotons

Mount St. Helene        A.D. 1980       volcano                10 megatons

Tunguska                     A.D. 1908       asteroid          10-15 megatons

Pompeii                       A.D. 79            volcano            24 megatons
(Pompei Class)

Krakatoa                      A.D. 1883        volcano            240 megatons

Tambora                      A.D. 1815         volcano      20,000 megatons
(Thera class event - civilization destroying event)

Unknown Pacific            A.D. 535       volcano           Thera class

Thera                               1628 B.C.     volcano        24,000 megatons

Yellowstone Caldera   74,000 B.C.   super volcano  100,000 megatons
(Caldera Class - extinction event)

 

From:  Nomenclature of Destruction, in Charles Pellegriono, Ghosts of Vesuvius:  A New Look at the Last Days of Pompei, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Phenomena, p. 62 (New York:  Harper-Perenial, 2004.