Big History

Bill Gates and David Christian

Big History is an emerging and rapidly growing academic discipline which examines history scientifically from the Big Bang to the present.

It examines long time frames using a multidisciplinary approach based on combining numerous disciplines from science and the humanities, and explores human existence in the context of this bigger picture.

It integrates studies of the cosmos, Earth, life and humanity using empirical evidence to explore cause-and-effect relations.

While some academic historians are skeptical about its value or originality, the 20-year-old discipline appears to be poised for further growth, including an effort to make the discipline available worldwide via a project from philanthropist Bill Gates and David Christian called the Big History Project.


Phases: physical evolution → biological evolution → cultural evolution
Epochs: particulate → galactic → stellar → planetary → chemical → biological → cultural.


Christian explains Big History in terms of eight thresholds of increasing complexity:

1. The Big Bang and the creation of the Universe about 13 billion years ago
2. The creation of the first complex objects, stars, about 12 billion years ago
3. The creation of chemical elements inside dying stars required for chemically-complex objects, including plants and animals
4. The formation of planets, such as our Earth, which are more chemically complex than the Sun
5. The creation and evolution of life from about 3.8 billion years ago, including the evolution of our hominine ancestors
6. The development of our species, Homo sapiens, about 250,000 years ago, covering the Paleolithic era of human history
7. The appearance of agriculture about 11,000 years ago in the Neolithic era, allowing for larger, more complex societies
8. The "Modern revolution", or the vast social, economic, and cultural transformations that brought the world into the Modern era

Wikipedia on Big History
The Big History Project - David Christian at Macquarie University - video