Navigating Complexity in Big History: Exploring Periodization Across Cosmic and Biosocial Dimensions

This book explores periodization in Big History against the background of complexity growth across the Universe, on our planet, and in biological, social, and cultural systems. It traces the accelerating rise in complexity throughout history and the major historical transformations involved in the evolution of life, humans, and civilization. It draws on concepts from physics and evolutionary biology to offer potential models of the underlying mechanisms driving this acceleration, along with...