Figure 5 Five generations of computers in 50 years
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fable 2. In the evolution of Humans stage, simple characterization of environment, energy, organization, and information changes in each step fable 3. In the evolution of Civilization stage, simple characterizatio1 of environment, energy, organization, and information chan ges in each step order in the form of a temporal narrative (past-present-future) that can reconcile a totalizing understanding of substance (Big Bang to global civilization). One may refer to this desire as the desire for a naturalist ‘metalanguage’ (Evans 2006) capable of transdisciplinary integration (Heylighen 2011). Can human beings converge on an understanding of the structure of substance and its de- velopment from its initial emergence to its contemporary actuality? (see Fig. 1) n the contemporary Big Historical ideal a metalanguage would mean that re- searchers from any discipline would have the linguistic tools necessary for any problem related to the universal historicity of being. From this ideal we would have a convergence of empirical methodology and conceptual terminology in he natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities (Wilson 1998). This is an unresolved problem that has long plagued contemporary academia (Snow 1959; Kauffman 2010). To be specific, a convergence of method and language ap- pears to become beyond reconciliation when we focus on Big Historical eras or epochs of significant qualitative change. For example, in the emergence of spacetime there is contention between theology and physics (Drees 1990), in Consequently, we get the following general representation of objective externa’ temporality (see Fig 2). Table 1. Big History Thresholds How are we to interpret this Big Historical fact? Big Historical interiorization during complexification suggests that complexification is somehow related to interiorization, of the universe becoming increasingly conscious of i self (Teil- hard de Chardin 1955). Consequently, the passive reflection correspondence between human epistemological constructs (i.e., Big History narrative) and the ontological nature of reality simply untenable in relation to i.e., physical evolution of universe in contemporary science the inadequacy of passive epistemological becomes unavoidable when ref ecting on the future of conscious and becomes the future of the present moment. For example, reflection technolo- gical evolution (Kurzweil 2005), the connections between physics and compu- tation (Lloyd 2006), and a future physics dependent on observation (Smolin 2001). Fig. 5. Metastructural totalization of symbolic order This gives us a different view than the view that conceptual coherence is a process whose past is fragmented and whose future is unified in a metalan- guage. To be specific it gives us a view that totalization of temporal substance is always something that subjectivity repeats in the present moment (reducing both past and future to the narrativistic present). Here we get a view of the nar- rativistic temporality of the subject (Ricoeur 2010). In this sense past humans engaged in symbolic totalization (e.g., Biblical, Newtonian, Marxist, etc.), and we are continuing this evolution of symbolic totalization with new/different content (in the Big Historical sense, the content of cosmic evolution and the theory of complexity science). Thus, when the observer is within the system we must attempt to think the psychoanalytic ‘metastructure’ of the symbolic order. In this metastructure there is no unifying ‘metalanguage’ between particular historical subjectivities that would unify knowledge of being (see Fig. 5). Fig. 6. Metastructural Backgrounds of the Symbolic Order ‘Complexity Threshold 8 to 9’ (global modern civilization to?) we must be able to confront the relation between complexification and internalization. In this context we are focusing on the way in which the universe is progressive- ly synthesizing or sublating itself in unified but competing and antagonistic conceptual forms as absolute backgrounds. In this mode the first step, as men- tioned, may be to focus on a meta-reflection of Big History as a movement cul- ture (i.e., the processual action of narrativized beings). Thus, in the same way that the Biblical narrative centers subjectivity in relation to God, or the Newto- nian narrative centers subjectivity in relation to Spacetime, and the Marxist narrative centers subjectivity in relation to Communism, we may say that the Big History narrative attempts to center subjectivity in relation to the reconcili- ation of planetary civilization (see Fig. 6). Table 2. Higher Orders of Symbolic Evolution The higher order focus here becomes self-action on the level of historical totali- ty. In the inclusivity of each order we must reflectively take into consideration more observation and more of the consequences of observation internal to the system. The external world thus loses its objective quality and gains a complex matrix of multiple internalizations. However, as mentioned, this complex ma- trix is not ‘infinite’ in its possible viable interpretations, but rather must possess a metastructure that limits the range of interpretation. In that sense we have to consider all of the possible configurations of the totalizing backgrounds that a finite and mortal self-consciousness would situate as its absolute ethical- political directive in relation to. For example, what is the metaphysical back- ground of the ideational eternalist and how does it differ from that of the dis- cursive relativist? How can both be situated as viable interpretations of being? In order to answer this question we also have to consider what this matrix of symbolic backgrounds is ultimately attempting to reconcile on the terms of the observer's desires. termine one's own reality. The real of freedom would here be juxtaposed against the constraining (and undeconstructible) background real of finitude and mortality: what we may call death as the fundamental limiting condition for any symbolic order whatsoever. In this situation, the formation of a particular ‘Other/Background’ within the metastructural matrix of the symbolic order would be dependent on the way in which a particular finite-mortal self- consciousness conceptually recognized desire for freedom against the back- ground of its own imminent disappearance (see Fig. 7c). Fig. 7b. Multiplicity of Non-Empirical Symbolic Backgrounds Fig. 8. Big Historical Internalization for Transcendental Freedom as Thresho d 9. What are the ultimate consequence ivization as a gravitational force? When we think of ion in the historical process, is it not possible to think that future ob- be able to lift the present moment to a s hat spacetime itself will fall away? Is the point of substance to ultimately release it in a state of eterna highest stai es of human creative self-action the subjective experience o y is often experienced as most real and most true (see Fig. 8). s of universal se ate of freedom so freedom? Indeed first order narrativization within the evolution of spacetime as Threshold 1 to he higher order narrativization of observers tending towards absolute freedom f-narra- he totality of narrativized radical internalizing all temporal , in the f eterni- Table 1. Evolution of the Human Brain From one perspective (see Baskin and Bondarenko 2014), human history seems to contain three periods when long-stable social structures were overwhel- med by growing population and new technologies — the Agricultural Revolu- ion (c. 11,000 to 5,000 years ago), the Axial Age (c. 800-200 BCE), and Modernity (c. 1500 CE to present). The first one occurred when the end of the ce Age and agriculture made increasingly larger communities possible, and human communities jumped from 20-person bands to cities of 40,000. The re- sult would be the early states of the pre-Axial period, such as Ancient Egypt, Sumeria, or Shang China. The second one occurred as cities grew to popula- tions of 100,000; iron weapons and widespread use of horses made warfare far more devastating; and the spread of writing became a driver of social change. The result would be the bureaucratic empires, such as the Chinese dynasties or Islamic empires. The third one occurred after the Mongols created the first Eur- asian world system; the gun and other mechanical weapons again made warfare far deadlier; and the printing press made mass literacy possible. Modernity, then, can be seen as humanity's response to the beginnings of globalization. The result is still unfolding (see Fig. 1). Fig. 1. Evolution of Human Culture Table 2. The phases of the Industrial Revolution The Cybernetic Revolution is a great breakthrough from industrial production to the production and services based on self-regulating systems. breakthrough. We suppose that the final phase of the Cybernetic Revolution wii lead to the emergence of various self-regulating systems (see below). The scheme of the Cybernetic Revolution is presented in Fig. 1. Fig. 2. The relationship between citation frequency in scientific publi- cations and the technologies forming MANBRIC, according to the Web of Science, 2010-2015 Source: WIPO IP Statistics Data Center 2016. Fig. 1. Planetary evolution where ¢, and n are the moment and the ordinal number of phase transitions (revolutions); a — coefficient of evolution acceleration, showing in what ratio the next interval between revolutions is shorter than the previous one; 7’ — dura- tion of the entire time interval; f° — the point (moment) of the singularity at which period between phase transitions tends to zero. This singularity is inter- preted either as a social catastrophe or as a transition of society into a new un- known quality (Nazaretyan 2016). One may recognize three types of such evolutional mechanism and three phases of social evolution — adaptive, structural and cognitive. These phases are separated by two singularities — the Neolithic transition of gatherers/hunters bands to a settled society and the Global transition of multinations' social struc- ure to a single society. Both phase transitions expel the previous mechanism of development and introduce the other. These mechanisms use different social means for competition-cooperation and different social means for cognition. In fact, these are three different evolutions at these phases, in which course dif- ferent features evolve. Put it simply, one can say that adaptive skills evolved in he first phase, social structure is evolving in the contemporary phase, and af- er transition to a single global society only knowledge and technology will ovolve. When the growth of the social and political structure reaches an evolution- ary limit, a social entity ceases further expansion and depletes the accessible periphery. This leads to a decrease in consum) tension. On the other hand, this entity attempts over diverse social structure in a single society sult, political entity does not acquire broader co tional collective identity and social solidarity o ption and an increase in social to integrate and universalize an but does not fulfill it. As a re- lective identity and loses tradi- its core. For example, moder Western Europe had gone far in terms of informal social integration. This pro- cess is accompanied by the dissolution of t he national collective identity as a main social identity of individuals. If someone attempts to turn back to nation-states, Europe risks not acquire the pan- European collectivity and at the same time lose national collectivity, and then lose any social basis for collective cohesion. All social structures eventually collapse, but the maximum size of society and the relevant level of social complexity increase in the course of evolution. Therefore, the social evolution at the structural phase can be presented as a macro-sequence of max social formats in the axes of technology and ideology complexity (see Fig. 3). This sequence begins with neighboring settlements and continues up to a global society. Certain societies recapitulate the path of growth from small to large formats and from lesser to greater social complexi- ty, and finally collapse. In other words, we have to distinguish between the macro-evolution of the max structural formats and the meso-evolution through these formats of certain societies in their life cycles. Hereafter, I will use the concepts of macro and meso-evolutions in this specific sense. Greece and Rome, and town republics, principalities, duchies in Europe. Then. the universal societies were formed in a city-state format, which was accompa- nied by a cultural explosion — the ‘Axial Age’ revolution (Jaspers 1953), ma- nifested as the Classicism in Greece, the Hellenization in Rome, and the Re- naissance in Europe. Finally, large universal societies have emerged with commodity production and market economy. Some historians define Romar society at this stage as ‘proto-bourgeois’ or ‘capitalistic’ (Semyonov 2003: 164: Vassiliev 2008). It seems that every large civilization follows the same path of structural devel- opment and, therefore, it has its own singularity, in fact — its own collapse. By applying the hyperbolic model to the events of antiquity Andrey Korotayev, as a sort of science joke, calculated the ‘Korotayev-Archimedes singularity’ in AD 115 (Korotayev 2015). Table Fig. 5. Approximation of social evolution at the structural phase where 7(n) is the moment of evolutionary transformation, n is the ordinal num- ber of transformation. Fig. 1. Solar photovoltaic technology for the second solar-digital revolution Source: URL: _ https://www.powerelectronictips.com/solar-cells-power-part- 1-basic- operation. Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance & pv.energytrend.com Source: URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell Fig. 3. A solar energy plant in Oklahoma Source: URL: https://www.solarreviews.com/news/solar-sooner-than-later-sunpower- oge-to-develop-10mw-solar-plant-in-oklahoma-071917/ “ig. 4b. Lorenz cipher machine Source: URL: http://www.colossus-computer.com/colossus1.html Source: URL: https:/Awww.alamy.com/stock-photo/lorenz-cipher.html Fig. 6. A binary Digital Systems (bDS) industrial controller station, developed by one of your own educators (Hookes 1997), that correctly tests what you call Newton's Laws of mechanics. Your schools still use a single trolley experiment which is not, in fact, a test of Newton's Laws. This latter step of widespread development of critical thinking was crucial in making the vast majority of our population aware of the dangers of global warming and the need to replace fossil energy with solar energy. As you may have guessed this increased awareness of what was happening to the planetary system as a whole led to a major increase in political awareness. In fact there was a global move- ment to replace the fossil fuel-based capitalist system for a post-capitalist EEES. This followed after a vast global conversation that was initiated through changes in the education system in many countries. This large-scale increase in critical thinking enabled many other technical and scientific developments to be seen as necessary and possible. An example was solar energy-driven small farmer agroecological farming methods which led to the rapid collapse of in- dustrial farming, that is, agribusiness. Source: Hookes 1997. Fig. 7b. Digital instrumentation for the Physics-is-Fun Workstation Fig. 7c. Position-, velocity-, acceleration- time output graphs from the workstation for a two-vehicle elastic collision Fig. 7d. Correctly testing Newton’s laws with the Physics-is—fun workstation — ee EO —eeeee—ee ee ae ee xc: This realisation that our own existence as a species was itself a result of a solar- digital revolution, convinced the overwhelming majority that SDR2 was the cor- rect direction to take. We realised that the evolution of complex life itself re- quired two components: an early development of digital molecular genetic code (see Fig. 8) and a universally available supply of energy to drive the chemical reactions essential for life. That source of energy was, of course, the sunlight. The evolution of the intricate molecular apparatus that achieved this capture of energy and stored it as carbohydrates occurred in primitive prokaryote bacterial cells, called by you the cyanobacteria (see Fig. 9), i.e., the evolution of photosynthesis (see Fig. 10). These bacteria were eventually incorporated into plant cells to form the chloroplasts organelles (see Fig. 9), by a process, called endosymbiosis pro- posed by one of your leading scientists, Lyn Magulis (1998) and, fifty years earli- er, by Boris Kozo-Polyansky (2010). Photosynthesis stored energy in the form of carbohydrates and also released oxygen, which later played an important role in respiration in animal cells, as well as creating the iron oxide ores important for your Iron age, as well as the later Industrial Revolution. Source: URL: https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/discovery-of-dna-structure-and- function-watson-397. =ig. 8b. The role of DNA, messenger-RNA and transfer-RNA in protein synthesis for the quaternary Digital System (qDS) of the mo- lecular genetic code Sources: URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria; https://biologywise.com/chlo- roplast-structure-function Fig. 11a. The quaternary Digital-to-Analogue Converter (qDAC): for the first Solar-Digital Revolution Source: URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribosome Source: URL: https://www.sanger.ac.uk/science/computational-and-information-techno- logy. Fig. 1. Industrial-scale crop production Horii, and Sanghvi 2015) since 2004, global investments in the food-and- agribusiness sector have grown threefold, to more than US$ 100 billion in 2013. Fig. 2. Livestock corralled into industrial-scale animal units - the lar- gest in the world — has 500,000 animals in one operation. Globally, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization of UN (FAO), 181.5 million hectares was planted with GM crops in 2014, as stat- ed by the ISAAA (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Ap- plications), make up roughly 3.7 % of the total agricultural area and about 13 % of the world's 1,500 million hectares of arable land (ISAAA 2016). Over 80 % of this land is now covered with monoculture crops, which are highly dependent on fossil fuels and water. The total contribution of industrial food production to GHGs is estimated at 25-30 %. Additionally, the erratic weather patterns mean a near constant crisis to get to save the harvest (Altieri 2011). Half of the global GM crop area is located in developing countries (Qaim 2013). Sa anes SAU Seana Sea Renee SM SEEMS TESS STOMA UR GS SEER GEER Ga ISI! Sesto ~ Subsidising agribusiness. Contrary to ‘the neoliberal economic philo- sophy, agribusiness is heavily subsidised. Worldwide subsidies and price sup- port (in which governments keep the prices high to encourage producers to grow crops) amount to US$ 360 billion. This figure is six times the annual de- velopment assistance from Northern countries to the global South. In the Euro- pean Union over the 40 % of the value of agricultural production comes from subsidies (World-Energy-Resources... 2016; World Watch Institute 2014). Fig. 4. Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon Brazil devalued its currency in 1999 — this was trigger for foreign financial in- vestors to be attracted to all sorts of industry but particularly sugarcane, soya, and beef production. Agribusiness major global players arrived to offer intense development of Genetically Modified (GM) soya production alongside intensi- fication of the sugarcane industry where the sugar was converted to ethanol as a fuel competing with crops like castor oil for the bio-diesel market. Alongside his was a huge expansion chiefly of beef production with Brazil sporting the biggest ranch in the world of 500,000 animals in Para (see Fig. 2). This ranch is situated within an area where some 90 million hectares in the Amazon region have long been deforested, much of it illegally (see Fig. 4) and (Pressures on he Amazon). Brazil is an enticing market for pesticides banned or phased out in richer na- tions because of health or environmental risks (Brazil Chemicals 2017; see Fig. 6). But they are very capable of generating profits from countries where it is difficult to impose the law, or there is confusion about their toxic character, or even corrupt operators in need of the cheapest way to make a profit. Fig. 5. Cracked earth outside Sao Paolo, Brazil Below is a brief extract from a Reuters special report on what banned pesticides turned up and got used: Source: Bertoni et al. 1998. Table 1. Soil and water losses in annual and semi-perennial crops ir Brazil Rather than solving the food security problem the corporate agribusiness has made it worse. As Altieri (2011) shows convincingly, as the intense fertilizer cocktail is applied year after year the yield from the crop diminishes, as shown in the diagram (see Fig. 7). Fig. 7. The yield from the cereal crop diminishes despite the applica- tion of an intense fertilizer cocktail year after year It is easy to show that of all the agricultural ‘styles’ shown in the left-hand column only solar-powered agroecology meets the requirements for a viable new agricultural system (the 3" column) to replace the failing and unsus- tainable agribusiness system (the 4” column). The basic requirements of a viable and durable agricultural system capable of confronting the challenges of the 21st entury while carrying out its productive goals within certain thresholds established locally or regionally (Koohafkan et al 2011 From the present usage in diverse environments the yields are comparable, if not better, than the conventional production (see Fig. 9). Agroecology out- strips the conventional delivery of locally diverse crops, in many cases bred by the user and the agroecologists to meet the micro-environment in which they will be planted. The result is a greater variety of cereals, other staples, vegeta- bles, trees, shrubs and fruit that will improve the diet of the locals and lead to improved health of the community.
