DEEP FUTURE of BIG HISTORY:

The study of big history attempts to identify major trends and processes throughout the development and evolution of the local universe. Big history has allowed for the integration of many disparate academic subjects, revealing a science and art of studying the emergence of complexity, the relation between evolutionary processes, and the cosmic context of the human experience. Current big historical data and theory identifies “Three Eras” of ordered and organizing complexity regimes: Physical, Biological, and Cultural Eras. These Eras change as a consequence of “Three Evolutionary Processes”: Physical, Biological, and Cultural Evolution. Contemporary science has developed the necessary tools to extrapolate and make predictions about the future of both the Physical and Biological Eras of evolution, but the potential future of the Cultural Era of evolution remains mysterious, yet intriguing. Cosmological theory predicts that all Eras will eventually end in thermodynamic equilibrium, or “heat death”. However, throughout the history of the cosmos, complexity and order have steadily increased in our local region of the universe, drifting further and further from simplicity and thermodynamic equilibrium in the process. Physical systems achieve higher order through gravitationally influenced energy flows; and living systems achieve higher organization through an information-based regulation of energy flows. Both processes contribute to the cosmic evolutionary trends of increased material integration, variation, and space-time compression. Cosmic evolution is fundamentally unified throughout this complexification process, manifesting as physicochemical, biochemical, and biocultural evolution, respectively. By situating biocultural evolution within the context of cosmic evolution, as well as extrapolating the trend of increasing complexity, I attempt to construct a useful model for understanding the human deep future. This includes an addition and/or reformulation of technological singularity theory with the concept “atechnogenesis”, as well as an in-depth analysis of the potential properties of a “technocultural” world. Furthermore, I explore the potential deep futures of intelligence, and extrapolate towards two hypothetical versions of an “Omega Civilization”: Expansion and Transcension. These models and predictions have consequences for our understanding of the deep future, which may in turn significantly affect the future of many cultural institutions. In this work I also attempt to build upon the big historical approach, which emphasizes the integration of knowledge from the sciences and humanities. Of course, in this extrapolation and speculation I make a fundamental assumption that the frontier of cosmic evolution will not suffer from either an internal or an external existential crisis. © Cadell Last 2014 / submitted to Journal of Big History 2 Contents: 1. Introduction 3 2. Big History 4 1. History of Big History 5 2. Three Eras 6 3. Three Evolutionary Processes 10 4. The End of Order? 15 3. Human Future 17 1. Technological Singularity 18 2. Atechnogenesis and Technological Life 21 3. Big History in the (Real) Cultural Era 25 4. Deep Future 33 1. The Final Frontier: Expansion Hypothesis 34 2. The Final Frontier: Transcension Hypothesis 39 5. Big History: A Conclusion 46 6. Acknowledgements 47 7. References 48 © Cadell Last 2014 / submitted to Journal of Big History