Element-Based Method of Civilization Study
* Article: The Element-Based Method of Civilization Study. Andrew Targowski. Comparative Civilizations Review, Volume 81 Number 81, Fall 2019 Article 6
URL = https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2114&context=ccr
Abstract
- The purpose: to define the element-based method of studying civilization with a meaningful contribution to contemporary life. The methodology: the transdisciplinary, big-picture view of human development on Earth based on graphic modeling of civilizational elements, their relations, and dynamics.
- The findings: about 200+ civilizational elements have been recognized within about 500 possible elements of society, culture, and infrastructure.
- Practical implications: today, civilization infrastructure challenges society and culture, which can lead to the fall of the Homo sapiens race and the rise of a human-machine race. Moreover, one of the options will be the rise of designer babies and the dichotomy of our race into traditional people and super healthy people; another option may lead to the labor-free economy and killer robots.
- Social implications: to practice sustainable civilization it is necessary to regulate technological progress which conquers our well-being.
- Originality: this approach offers an element-based understanding of civilization which is essential for developing wise aims and strategies of wise civilization."
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"We know that our bio-system is composed of about 19,000-20,000 protein-coding genes1 and 23 chromosome pairs in cell nuclei and each gene has a particular function determining our well-being. The reverse process should take place in the study of civilization. Namely, one must decompose this enormous societal organism, perceived by the majority of researchers as a solid cloud into many elements and sub-elements, and then investigate their functions, dynamics, and consequences. This investigation will address the process of recognizing categories of civilization’s elements and their functions, leading to research on their dynamics and consequences, for example at the level of the civilization indexes (Targowski 2004 and 2009a:62-74). In this way, one can better understand what the set of critical problems of contemporary civilizations is and what can we expect and how to prevent bad solutions. "
(https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2114&context=ccr )