Big History I

The old joke is that some students don't like history because "it's just one thing after another." For students it can often seem like a jumble of unconnected facts. History teachers try to create themes that tie these facts together-if you went to OA when Hazel Varella was here then you did a lot of analysis finding the political social, and economic connections in and between events, but humans are hardwired to find patterns even in things that are completely random. Finding patterns in the flow of historical events is just one of the challenges facing the "new" field of Big History.

 Stonehill College recently sponsored a lecture by David Christian of Macquarie University in Australia, the so-called founder of Big History. He defines Big History as an attempt to connect the hard sciences with a multidisciplinary approach to teaching history. His 15 week semester course in Big History attempts to place mankind in its proper place in the universe-people don't make an appearance until about week eight. Christian admits this is cheating since in the timeline of the universe people wouldn't really show up until the last few minutes of the last class.

Connecting science to history is something Chet Raymo has been doing for years. I told a friend sitting next to me about Chet's The Path which connects the history of Sheep Pasture to the energy of the sun among many other connections. "Chet's been teaching Big History since the 1990's," I said only to have a Stonehill faculty member turn around and tell us "No, that's wrong! Chet's been teaching Big History at least since I had him in class in the early '80s." As Professor Christian points out this idea of the sciences influence on history has been in the zeitgeist at least since the Apollo astronauts took a picture of a small blue green earth floating in the vastness of space back in the 1960's.

One of Christian's overarching themes is entropy. This is the idea expressed in the second law of thermodynamics that things, left to themselves tend to fall apart. However, in certain parts of the universe processes occur that make things more complex at least for a time. Gravity can pull interstellar dust left over from exploding stars together into new stars and planets. Life can organize chemicals in increasingly complex ways. Humans can organize themselves into society's that are the most complex things we know. Christian teaches that there are somewhat arbitrary "thresholds" that history steps over where things get more complex.

So why is Christian's Big History so hot right now? The answer is Bill Gates, the fellow who made billions selling a defective operating system called Windows. Gates has decided that American education needs reform and has latched onto Big History as part of his initiative for better schools. Christian and others are working on a high school course in Big History which is being piloted this year. You can check out the Big History Project here. Despite some problems with the details of Big History which I'll post tomorrow, I think this would be a wonderful culminating course for seniors at Oliver Ames. The Philosophy course, created by Hazel Varella, and developed by the teachers that followed her, seems to be already moving in that direction.

The Teaching Company has a course of 48 half hour lectures by Professor Christian on Big History that is now being offered at full price (several hundred dollars depending on format). The good news is the Teaching Company steeply discounts every course at least once a year so if you are on their mailing list you should be able to get his college course for as little as $50. Bill Gates first learned about Big History from this site. Christian's TED lecture where he was introduced by Gates is available on the web at this location.