My impression is that the OP says that history is valuable and deep without needing to go back as far as the big bang—that there’s a lot of insight in connecting the threads of different regional histories in order to gain an understanding of how human society works, without needing to go back even further.
That’s really awesome. I’d never heard the term big history. I’ve always tried to convey a similar idea with terms like “stepping back from your own point of view” or “cosmic perspective.”
To the original post: do you think there is a fourth tier, maybe with predictive value, where someone (a human being, not a Bayesian superintelligence) can draw on these observations to identify these leverage points and make informed decisions during them?
a fourth tier, maybe with predictive value, where someone (a human being, not a Bayesian superintelligence) can draw on these observations to identify these leverage points and make informed decisions during them?
It seems like you’re gesturing in a similar direction to Big History. I wonder if you’d like to highlight what you see as the distinctions?
My impression is that the OP says that history is valuable and deep without needing to go back as far as the big bang—that there’s a lot of insight in connecting the threads of different regional histories in order to gain an understanding of how human society works, without needing to go back even further.
That’s really awesome. I’d never heard the term big history. I’ve always tried to convey a similar idea with terms like “stepping back from your own point of view” or “cosmic perspective.”
To the original post: do you think there is a fourth tier, maybe with predictive value, where someone (a human being, not a Bayesian superintelligence) can draw on these observations to identify these leverage points and make informed decisions during them?
I.e. psychohistory.
Good point. Hadn’t noticed that connection. I don’t think I had anything quite that sophisticated in mind, but that’s the underlying idea.