If a subset of advanced civilizations in the universe choose to rapidly expand into unoccupied space, these civilizations would have the opportunity to grow to a cosmological scale over the course of billions of years. If such life also makes observable changes to the galaxies they inhabit, then it is possible that vast domains of life-saturated galaxies could be visible from the Earth. Here, w...

This paper focuses on the central problem of the strong work ethic underlying capitalism. Historians and sociologists have found it impossible to determine why this arose or to what it is related. Comparing Japan and England, I first look at some social structural features common to both civilizations, in particular the large middling strata, social mobility, and the absence of family security....

What we understand today as being ‘modern science’ is in fact not that modern, but was born nearly half a millennium ago at the time of the Renaissance in Europe. But even if we think of great Renaissance thinkers, such as Galileo Galilei, Leonardo da Vinci or Sir Isaac Newton, as the first ‘true scientists’, we should not forget that all civilizations throughout history have produced and accum...

Mathematics has been built over thousands of years history, since the creation ancient civilizations [...]

You and I are highly unlikely to exist in a civilization that has produced only 70 billion people, yet we find ourselves in just such a civilization. Our circumstance, which seems difficult to explain, is easily accounted for if (1) many other civilizations exist and if (2) nearly all of these civilizations (including our own) die out sooner than usually thought, i.e., before trillions of peopl...

Mummification is one of man's earliest methods of human tissue preservation. Mummification is a term loosely used to describe different methods used by ancient civilizations to prepare human remains for burial. Various methods of preservation have been described in many articles. Some mummies which have been studied by scientists have become quite famous not only for their part in history as in...