Big history and political science

Gustafson, Lowell

doi:10.4324/9780429299322-9

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Fish produce thousands of eggs and rarely care for their young, reptiles produce hundreds of eggs and have only limited contact with their offspring, most mammals produce only a litter of a half dozen young and care for them for a long time through nursing, and humans have one or maybe two babies at a time and produce the most parent dependent creatures on Earth!" (Gustafson, 2013).…”

Section: Complexity: a Rationale For The Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2024

JBH

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Although complexity plays a significant role in big history, substantial gaps persist in our comprehension. While the papers in this issue do not provide definitive answers to these gaps, they contribute to the ongoing discussion on how to address these issues and propose potential pathways for resolution. These gaps encompass measurement, focus, organization, relevance, consistency, and interpretation. While there may not be unanimous agreement on the specific direction to take, the academic discussions evident in these papers aim to elucidate the issues and foster understanding within the expansive and diverse scientific community.The theme of this special edition is "Evolving Continuously to Bridge Substantial Gaps in Our Understanding of Complexity." Comprising 14 articles, including this Introduction, the issue is organized with a focus on complexity growth, evolution, and various aspects. The articles on growth explore methodologies for measuring, assessing, and examining the symmetry of singularity trends in complexity within the framework of Big History. Those addressing complexity and evolution delve into perspectives such as chaotic cascades, general evolution, selection, and chemical evolution. The aspects section encompasses discussions on integration with traditional academic disciplines, handling the multidirectional aspects of complexity, practical applications of complexity science, proposing an approach to interpreting the Big History journey, and comparing the process to cybernetic models.The significance of the concept of complexity, along with its various facets, is not merely substantial; it forms the very structure of understanding. When contemplating the broadest concepts that can encompass the entirety of Big History or the field of evolutionary studies, only a handful stand out. These include notions tied to evolutionary dynamics, such as development, change, and progress, yet these concepts often spark debates. Central among them are energy and entropy, and to a lesser extent, self-organizationencompassing crucial aspects of energetic and structural ordering. Information is also a contender, though the period at which it becomes an independent aspect of evolution remains a subject of debate. However, we contend that one can fundamentally discuss information from the inception of Big History.Arguably, few would dispute that complexity stands as one of the key concepts in Big History. Yet, given the substantial gaps in our understanding of the complexity concept, any novel ideas or hypotheses are warmly welcomed.The complexity growth papers delve into fundamental questions of measurement, assessment, and symmetry of patterns. Nick Nielsen ("A Complexity Ladder for Big History") suggests that big history could draw inspiration from astronomy, where a unifying ladder of distance measurement was constructed to handle diverse spatial and temporal scales. This ladder extended from the size and distances of the Earth-moon-sun system to other stars and galaxies, allowing telescopes across the ele...

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Section: Complexity: a Rationale For The Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2024

JBH

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Section: Physical Anthropology and Homininsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity: A Rationale for the University

Gustafson

2024

JBH

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Complexity provides a unifying theme that responds to fundamental questions about the emergent structure of the universe as well as human nature. It offers an intellectual framework for disciplines throughout universities. It structures a universe of knowledge across natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities – from quarks to global societies and human fascination with inter-galactic relations. Ideas of complexity begin with its unidirectional emergence from the big bang to us now. The idea is developed by its multidirectional emergence that includes narratives from the big bang to planets, galaxies, and life forms other than our own. Furthermore, complexity often entails stasis, with levels of complexity remaining as they are, reversing to simpler levels, or all or parts of nature ending altogether. Speculations about multiple universes lead to an idea of infinite complexity.

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Big history and political science

Cited by 2 publications

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Complexity: A Rationale for the University

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