Big History
Discussion
Cadell Last:
"Big history is the study of the human past in relationship to the history of the universe (see Christian 2004; Spier 2011). This endeavor attempts to utilize the entire collective body of human knowledge in order to construct a deeper understanding of all natural processes(e.g. Aunger 2007a, b; Chaisson 2011a, b) from ‘‘Big Bang to Global Civilization’’ (e.g. Rodrigue et al. 2012). In contrast with the traditional attempt in physics to construct a ‘grand unified theory’ of the universe, big historians see the subject as providing the beginnings of a working ‘‘grand unified story’’ of the universe (Christian 2004, p. 4). From my perspective this goal should not be to eventually develop ‘one unchanging objective story’, but rather to develop the empirical framework for a story of our collective history that everyone can in turn relate to and utilize on a personal level. Thus big history has the opportunity to become simultaneously one story of our shared world as well as an infinite number of stories of how individuals can relate to that world. The usefulness of such a common origin story is that it can always be re-symbolized depending on contemporary sociopolitical context and scientific understanding. Consequently, big history offers humanity a deeper perspective and an opportunity for cosmic reflection in relation to the meaning of human life from an exploration of the processes that culminated in our existence."