Mega-Evolution

Description

Akop P. Nazaretyan:

"Mega-evolution is the chain of transformations that have taken place in the Universe over a period of 13.7 billion years. As we study this subject, we can find how more and more complex forms of organization, mechanisms of activity, and systems of reflection have been arising, and perhaps will continue to rise. This highly intricate subject requires new interdisciplinary paradigms and methodologies for us to integrate all the data about the physical Universe, the Earth, the biosphere, society, culture and mind into a single model. From the 1970s into the 1990s, an assemblage of such holistic knowledge was developed by scholars from various academic backgrounds in North and South America, Australia, Western Europe and Russia.

Initially, these scholars worked independently and without much contact, but new networks developed by the end of the 20th century, as work on mega-evolution gained acceptance in the world's academic community.

Indeed, in November 2005, an international conference in Dubna (Russia) paraphrased the slogan from the Communist Manifesto: ‘The Specter of Big History is Roaming the Earth’.1 Big History is one of the names for the study of mega-evolution. It is a research program aimed at the synthesis of Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and the Humanities. Through Big History, we try to identify megatrends, mechanisms and regularities in evolution, the specific character of processes at each stage of development, and the peculiarities in phase transitions."

(http://www.socionauki.ru/almanac/issues/evolution_2_en/full_text_nazaretyan.pdf)

Source: Evolution: A Big History Perspective 2011 82–100 8