David Christian structures his groundbreaking Big History course around eight fundamental thresholds. Each of them is associated with new forms of complexity, and each of which has new emergent properties. Dive in and take a high-level look at the eight fundamental thresholds of Big History and the topics covered within each.
By David Christian, D. Phil, Macquarie University
The Eight Fundamental Thresholds of Big History
Threshold 1—Origins of Big Bang Cosmology
The first is the creation of the Universe, Threshold 1, about 13.7 billion years ago. That’s a subject normally discussed within cosmology— the moment of the big bang, and the scientific evidence that allows us to piece together the ever-evolving story of creation.
Threshold 2—The First Stars and Galaxies
The second is the creation of the first complex objects, stars. The first stars appeared more than 12 billion years ago, soon after the creation of the Universe. They provide energy and raw materials for later forms of complexity.
Threshold 3—Making Chemical Elements
Threshold 3 is the creation inside dying stars of the chemical elements that allowed the creation of chemically complex entities, including planets and you and me.
This is a transcript from the video series Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Threshold 4—The Earth and the Solar System
The next threshold is the creation of our Earth. Here we look at the creation of solar systems. Now, these are objects that are chemically significantly more complex than stars, creating a new level of complexity. Our Earth was created as a by-product of the creation of our Sun and solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. This threshold also surveys the history of our home planet—and we’re in the territory of geologists.
Learn more about the background and unique aspects of this broad, multidisciplinary perspective on history
Threshold 5—Life
Threshold 5 is the creation and evolution of life on Earth. The first evidence of life comes from about 3.8 billion years ago on this planet. Now, the creation of life is a threshold that may also have been crossed many times, billions of times before in other parts of the Universe, but as yet we have no firm evidence that this is true. So far, we can only study life on our one planet. This threshold also surveys the evolution of our ancestors, the hominines, from about 6 million years ago.
Learn more about the development of increasing complexity since the creation of the Universe
Threshold 6—What Makes Humans Different?
By Threshold 6 we’re now just 250,000 years ago. We’ve now covered most of 13 billion years, and we’re reaching the present moment. Threshold 6 is the creation of our species, Homo sapiens, about 250,000 years ago. It argues that we have a capacity to adapt and to change that is unprecedented among other organisms on Earth. We also cover the Paleolithic era of human history—the oldest, the longest, but also the least well-documented part of our history. The Paleolithic era lasts until the appearance of agriculture, 10,000 to 11,000 years ago.
Threshold 7—Agriculture
Threshold 7 is the emergence of agriculture and agricultural societies from about 11,000 years ago, and it introduces what we can call the Agrarian era of human history, the second of three major eras of human history. Agriculture marked a fundamental change in human history because it accelerated the pace of change. It allowed population growth—the emergence of larger, denser, and eventually more complex societies, including the great agrarian civilizations, such as the Roman Empire or the great empires of China.
Learn more about how new dating techniques have allowed scientists to peer further back
Threshold 8—The Modern Revolution
Finally, we come to Threshold 8, the “Modern Revolution.” This introduces the Modern era of human history. This section covers the astonishing series of transformations that have created today’s unified, complex world in just three or four centuries.
Then what we do is widen the lens again to look at the future of humans, of the Earth, and eventually of the Universe as a whole. What’s going to happen to the Universe?
Big History provides us the chance to think deeply about the place of human beings and modern society in the larger scheme of things. It offers a clear understanding of the overall shape of what I’m tempted to call a “modern, scientific creation story,” and an understanding of why this story is both important and in some ways very beautiful. Behind the fragmented vision of reality that modern educational systems offer, there is a unified account offered by modern science of reality and its evolution.
Common Questions About the Thresholds of Big History
What makes Big History important is the way it’s explained from the origins of the universe up until now, tying all the various disciplines together. It creates the ultimate science to help us understand how we got here.
There are eight fundamental thresholds of Big History: Origins, Stars and Galaxies, Molecules, Earth, Life, Why humans?, Agriculture, and the Modern Revolution. Each are elements of study in Big History.
Big History uses all the best ideas from biology, astronomy, history, and chemistry to weave an explanation of the present.
The Modern Revolution according to David Christian is the paradigm we live in where energy, innovation, and global trade have become so fast and complex that we are in a phase unlike any before.
