Insights from General Complexity Evolution for Our Current Situation

Abstract

Will the pace of change in our global technological society continue to accelerate? Or will it follow the path of most previous technological waves, which slowed down as they matured? The purpose of this paper is to explore how historical general evolutionary processes involving increased energy flows and corresponding higher complexity levels might have contributed to the global problems we face today with regard to energy, environmental, inequality, and demographics. This situation will be compared with various integrated complexity evolutionary models of three major phases in evolution (life, humans, and civilization). While natural ecosystems seem to have both positive and negative feedback mechanisms to prevent the onset of senescence, the current economic system seems to have avoided constraints to enter a positive feedback loop that results in unsustainable resource use and pollution. There are still many contrasting interpretations of what this means for the near future, but integrating insights from these perspectives may help us better understand these processes.

On Trends and Periods in Big History

“…Reorganizations arise to maintain a sudden increase in energy flows in these adaptive systems, leading to more complex organisations -a process he calls 'extended evolution'. LePoire more recently has argued that there are four necessary aspects to such a transition: use of a new energy source, an innovative information processing mechanism, (re)organization, and a new relationship to the environment (as a source of resources and a sink for wastes) (LePoire, 2023). Transitions arise when the existing complex adaptive system reaches an environmental capacity bound (LePoire, in press).…”

Synthesizing Historical Research Leads to a Simple, Compatible, and Extensible Big History Framework and Periodization

“…Research purposes can also be served by categorizing aspects of Big History. For example, categorization might be based on the important mechanisms of complex adaptive systems (CAS, e.g., information, energy flow, organization, and relationship to the environment) over the long time periods of big history (LePoire, 2023). The evolutionary process might also show punctuation leading to periods of accelerated evolution rates.…”