Social Evolution

The authors suggest to view the origins of Islam against the background of the 6th century AD Arabian socio-ecological crisis whose model is specified in the paper through the study of climatological, seismological, volcanological and epidemiological history of the period. Most socio-political systems of the Arabs reacted to the socio-ecological crisis by getting rid of the rigid supra- tribal political structures (kingdoms and chiefdoms) which started posing a real threat to their very survival. The decades of fighting which led to the destruction of most of the Arabian kingdoms and chiefdoms (reflected in Ayyãm al- 'Arab tradition) led to the elaboration of some definite "anti- royal" freedom-loving tribal ethos. At the beginning of the 7th century tribes which would recog- nise themselves as subjects of some terrestrial super-tribal political authority, the "king", risked to lose its honour. However, this seems not to be applicable to the authority of another type, the "ce- lestial" one. At the meantime the early 7th century evidences the merging of the Arabian tradition of prophecy and the Arabian Monotheist "Rahmanist" tradition which produced "the Arabian pro- phetic movement". The Monotheist "Rahmanist" prophets appear to have represented a supratribal authority just of the type many Arab tribes were looking for at this very time, which seems to ex- plain to a certain extent those prophets' political success (including the extreme political success of Muhammad).

In the paper, we express some doubts about one of the assumptions
of Robert Carneiro’s model on state (and chiefdom) formation,
namely the role of circumscription. In our opinion, the main flaw of
Carneiro’s original theory of state formation is that it implicitly
assumes that every community dreamt to conquer its neighboring
communities. We test the presence of various types of warfare (such
as conquest warfare, land acquisition warfare, and plunder warfare)
in societies with different degrees of political centralization.
Quantitative cross-cultural tests reveal a rather strong correlation
between political complexity and the presence of conquest warfare
suggesting that conquest warfare was virtually absent among
independent communities. Newer works by Carneiro propose a
model explaining how simple chiefdoms could appear in the absence
of conquest warfare. This model also includes circumscription, but
our analysis suggests that it is unnecessary.

The theory of autopoiesis claims that adaptation should be understood as a precondition, and not as a constraint, guiding the evolution of social and living systems. This premise is at first sight incompatible with the perspective of the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution. In the case of speciation (phylogenesis) the varying adaptation to the environment is here, in fact, understood as a determinant factor arranging how organisms are selected. Nevertheless, the present study tests out a perspective on evolutionary biology, which is compatible with the implications of the theory of autopoiesis and can demonstrate a productive explanatory potential for evolutionary biology. In this way, it is possible to demonstrate an approach to solving the problems being intensively discussed in (neo-Darwinian) evolutionary biology. Namely, the problems of the units to be selected in evolution, or of rendering the meaning and function of the evolutionary development of sexuality comprehensible, or of relativizing the problem of altruism in evolution. Also, explanations for the so-called Cambrian Explosion and the fundamental difference between the evolution of prokaryotic and eukaryotic forms of life can be derived. And finally, the perspective so so developed permits us to determine the relation of biotic and social evolution in a differentiated manner.

The article analyzes the specifics of urbanization dynamics in Egypt, which is noteworthy for a number of reasons. First, there was a shift from the logistic trend in the 1970s, and the share of urban population stopped growing. The UN data analysis shows that such a shift usually occurs against the background of very serious economic difficulties (and other problems associated with them). However, the urban population proportion stopped growing in Egypt when the country
was experiencing a period of exceedingly rapid economic growth. We find labor migration of
unprecedented scale to be the main reason which engendered this seemingly paradoxical situation.
We further proceed to analyze the UN forecast on the dynamics of the Egyptian urban population
proportion up to 2050, which implies a return to the logistic trend and rapid growth of the urban
population share, which is fraught with socio-political instability risks. However, we present data
proving that the logistic urbanization trajectory is not inevitable for Egypt, and the destabilization
risks connected with the rapid increase of urban population share are largely irrelevant to Egypt in the forecasted period.

We review human effects on biodiversity using archaeological and ethnographic cases with contrasting ecologies, population densities, and economies. Relevant trends include increasing human populations, settlement sizes, and permanence; intensification of subsistence and political economies; world colonization; and changing environmental values. Although humans have always transformed ecosystems, many pre-industrial societies maintained diverse and stable environments that are now considered natural. Disastrous strategies have resulted from values associated with colonization, market economies, property systems, resource extraction and production technologies, and the isolation of decision-makers from environmental consequences. Present-day solutions should engage decision-making by local communities, especially Indigenous and traditional societies, empowering them to shape policies and achieve conservation goals.

Well illustrated, full-color, site-by-site survey of prehistory captures the popular interest, excitement, and visual splendor of archaeology as it provides insight into the research, interpretations, and theoretical themes in the field. The new edition maintains the authors' innovative solutions to two central problems of the course: first, the text continues to focus on about 80 sites, giving students less encyclopedic detail but essential coverage of the discoveries that have produced the major insights into prehistory; second, it continues to be organized into essays on sites and concepts, allowing professors complete flexibility in organizing their courses.

The present article is devoted to the issue of unity of laws, patterns and mechanisms of evolution at all its stages and levels and also to the place of social evolution in the single and universal process of universal evolution or mega-evolution. Despite the enormous differences between cosmic, planetological, chemical, biological, and social evolutions, there are many similarities. Unfortunately, quite a few works are devoted to their identification. In the present article we will consider a number of such important similarities, which, in our opinion, clearly demonstrate the systemic-structural and functional-evolutionary unity of the world at its different levels and in different areas. The understanding of these similarities deepens our perception of social evolution and its regularities, and leads us away from the false idea that social evolution in all aspects is different from the evolution of previous levels. In the first section our key goal is to give our own definitions of evolution and social evolution which would cover as many variants of evolutionary changes as possible. In the second section we tried to give a rather voluminous and dialectical picture of the unfolding universal evolution instead of a primitive scheme: cosmic – biological – social. There introduce notions of main and transitional phases of universal evolution and show the importance of its planetological and chemical phases. In the third section we show that one can reveal a number of similarities at all levels and phases of mega-evolution, which can be generalized in uni-versal laws, rules, mechanisms, patterns and principles of evolution. One should note that in fact none of the important laws and principles as well as none of important rules of evolution have been ‘lost’ in the process of moving from lower to higher levels. They were only modified and became more complicated, and there also appeared some new principles and rules (in retrospect one can see their rudiments at the lowest levels of evolution). Some of these laws and rules are described in this section. In the fourth section we will try to present some evolutionary and philosophical ideas that explain the profound similarity in the laws and patterns of mega-evolution at all its levels and phases. In the Conclusion we discuss evolutionary and non-evolutionary matter.

The future of human computation (HC) benefits from examining tasks that agents already perform and designing environments to give those tasks computational significance. We call this natural human computation (NHC). We consider the possible future of NHC through the lens of Swarm!, an application under development for Google Glass. Swarm! motivates users to compute the solutions to a class of economic optimization problems by engaging the attention dynamics of crowds. We argue that anticipating and managing economies of attention provides one of the most tantalizing future applications for NHC.

Авторы теории последовательности человеческого развития Р. Инглхарт и К. Вельцель утверждают, что модернизация является одним из основных процессов, формирующих ценностные установки населения. В статье исследуется соотношение
ценностей и модернизации с использованием некоторых элементов методики Инглхарта и Вельцеля на данных Ш. Шварца. В обследовании Шварца выделяются две основные оси ценностей: «сохранение — открытость к изменениям» и «забота о лю-дях — самоутверждение». Нами выявлена разная направленность корреляций между этими двумя ценностными осями в западном мире (включающем страны Европы и бывшие переселенческие колонии обеих Америк и Океании) и афразийском мире.
Действительно, в обоих макрорегионах модернизация (аппроксимируемая через такие показатели, как ВВП на душу населения и доли занятых по секторам экономики)
сопровождается уменьшением ценностей сохранения и ростом ценностей открытости к изменениям, но в западном мире рост открытости сопровождается ростом заботы об окружении, а в афразийском мире — ростом самоутверждения. Мы выдвигаем две гипотезы, позволяющие объяснить противоположную направленность корреляций в данных макрорегионах — нахождение на разных стадиях модернизации и различие в цивилизационных паттернах. Дальнейший анализ показывает, что
обнаруженное различие между Европой и Востоком можно объяснить через стадиальный фактор лишь очень частично. В значительно большей степени речь, видимо,
идет о различных цивилизационных паттернах модернизации ценностей.

We seek to present a reading of Henri Bergson’s 1900 work, Le Rire ( Laughter ). The primary theme of this book is the comic phenomenon, as expressed through the bodily element of laughter. What interests Bergson is the evolutionary role of laughter in social regulation. As the vitalist philosopher sees things, society is perpetually threatened by the danger of rigidity. Society is always in danger of regressing into a machinic, static, rigid state. We laugh at living human beings who behave automatically and machinically. Hence, laughter is a form of punishment, designed to compel individuals to behave more organically. Subsequent authors on humor have extensively critiqued Bergson’s rather narrow equation of humor with punishment, drawing attention to the wide variety of comic types. What especially interests us is how Le Rire can be read as part of a broader vitalist concern with the maintenance of an organicity always under threat from its own tendencies. Finally, we also interp...

I propose a clear definition of money, as opposed to credit, through a biological distinction between the concepts of cooperation and altruism. I argue that these aspects of animal sociality are often confused because they are evaluated from a sociocentric perspective. Objectively speaking, the function of a monetary token is to mediate interactions that are more constructive than reciprocal altruism, synergistic interactions involving partner-choice and non-additive benefits. This focus on proximate mechanisms explains the challenges encountered by monetary theorists, who typically emphasise the utility of a token or its symbolism. The invention of Bitcoin provides empirical support. Indeed, the value of bitcoins does not come from any intrinsic utility nor does it come from an institution. This form of digital money has simply emerged on the internet, an open network akin to the ecological environment in which trade has evolved. Like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, money is naturally created by humans as a signal of cooperative intent. This potential for indirect exchanges is then seized by altruistic systems of reproduction that transform money into credit. The understanding of money thus helps elucidate the nature of human society and our ability to cooperate indirectly.

Colman, AM, & Wilson, JC (1997). Antisocial personality disorder: An evolutionary game theory analysis. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 2, 23-34. [Discussed in R. Matthews, “Game Theory Backs Crackdown on Petty Crime”, New Scientist, 1997, 154(2078), 18; “La ...

De la naissance d'un concept… Depuis les Grandes découvertes, les témoignages s'étaient accumulés sur des peuples ignorant les institutions qui, en Occident, étaient au fondement des inégalités sociales les plus criantes. En bien des contrées, la propriété foncière paraissait inconnue, tout au moins sous les formes qui prévalaient en Europe depuis deux millénaires, et les inégalités de richesse elles-mêmes semblaient parfois absentes. À la surprise des colonisateurs faisait écho celle des colonisés : un Indien tupinamba en visite au Havre, par ce qui constitue sans doute un des premiers exemples d'ethnologie inversée, s'étonnait devant Michel de Montaigne « qu'il y avait parmi nous des hommes pleins et gorgés de toutes sortes de commodités, et que leurs [semblables] étaient mendiants à leurs portes, décharnés de faim et de pauvreté, [trouvant] étrange comme ces [semblables] ici nécessiteux pouvaient souffrir une telle injustice, qu'ils ne prissent les autres à la gorge, ou missent le feu à leurs maisons » (1998 : 358). Dès cette époque, et davantage encore à celle des Lumières, il fut de plus en plus admis que les inégalités socio-économiques, de même que la propriété foncière ou le pouvoir politique étatique qui apparaissaient comme leur corollaire, n'étaient pas des attributs de la nature humaine, mais le fruit d'une évolution sociale dont il fallait percer les mécanismes ; c'est autour de cette conviction que s'organise le célèbre Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes (1755) de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Le concept de « communisme primitif », forgé afin de caractériser les formes sociales ayant précédé les sociétés de classes, n'émergea cependant que dans la seconde moitié du xix e siècle, à la confluence de deux courants de pensée naissants : le marxisme et l'anthropologie sociale. Celle-ci, apparue en tant que discipline scientifique dans les années 1860 et s'inscrivant alors toute entière dans la perspective de l'évolutionnisme, était le théâtre d'un

Alain Testart (1945–2013) fut l'un des principaux anthropologues sociaux de son temps. Il laisse une oeuvre aussi considérable qu'originale, traitant des structures sociales et de leur évolution qui fournissent les clés d'une réinterprétation du matériel archéologique. Se réclamant autrefois du marxisme, il avait abandonné cette référence théorique il y a bien des années. Néanmoins, dans la mesure où ils abordent des questions cruciales pour ceux qui veulent comprendre le passé afin de changer le présent, ses écrits constituent une source d'information précieuse et un ensemble de raisonnements stimulants.

"Patterns in War Dynamics. WARning 2020". In this study, complexity and network science are applied to the dynamics and development of the (International) System. This study shows that the System periodically becomes critical and produces "systemic wars". The typical dynamics that are revealed in this study are a consequence of laws of physics that apply also to the System. Systemic wars are instrumental in rebalancing the System, and in periodically producing "upgraded" international orders that allow for further growth and development. The patterns that can be observed in the war dynamics of the System, make it possible to predict these dynamics and the System's direction of development.
Data-analysis shows that the System will again become critical around 2020 (+/- two years).
This study shows that intensifying war dynamics pose an existential threat to human kind: Systemic wars will cause increasing damage and suffering and will put our climate system at (additional) risk: Fundamental change is a prerequisite for our survival.
This study was initially published in 2016. The publication "On the Thermodynamics of War and Social Evolution" (2019) provides a scientific explanation for the war dynamics that can be observed.

Человеческое общество – это сложная неравновесная система, постоянно развивающаяся и изменяющаяся. Мнение о том, что в истории развития общества не может быть простых общих законов, крепко укоренилось в научных воззрениях, особенно среди представителей гуманитарных наук, непосредственно сталкивающихся в своей деятельности со всем многообразием и непредсказуемостью социальных процессов. Человеческое общество действительно предельно сложная система. Возможно ли описать его развитие какими-либо достаточно простыми законами? Современные достижения в области математического моделирования дают однозначный ответ: "Можно". Социальная эволюция действительно подчиняется строгим и достаточно простым макрозаконам.

Can science tell us what’s objectively true? Or is it merely a clever way to cure doubt – to give us something to believe in, whether it’s true or not? In this essay, I look at the pragmatist account of science expounded by Charles Sanders Peirce in his 1877 essay, ‘The Fixation of Belief’. Against Peirce, I argue that science does not come naturally to our species, nor does the doubting open-mindedness upon which its practice relies. To the extent that science is successful in ‘curing’ doubt, it’s because it tracks the real state of the world; and I argue that Peirce himself – his pragmatist narrative notwithstanding – is implicitly committed to this view as well.

The authors suggest to view the origins of Islam against the background of the 6th century AD Arabian socio-ecological crisis whose model is specified in the paper through the study of cli-matological, seismological, volcanological and epidemiological history of the period. Most so-cio-political systems of the Arabs reacted to the socio-ecological crisis by getting rid of the rig-id supra-tribal political structures (kingdoms and chiefdoms) which started posing a real threat to their very survival. The decades of fighting which led to the destruction of the most of the Arabian kingdoms and chiefdoms (reflected in Ayyam al-`Arab tradition) led to the elabora-tion of some definite "anti-royal" freedom-loving tribal ethos. At the beginning of the 7th cen-tury a tribe which would recognize themselves as subjects of some terrestrial super-tribal polit-ical authority, a "king", risked to lose its honour. However, this seems not to be applicable to the authority of another type, the "celestial" one. At the meantime the early 7th century evi-dences the merging of the Arabian tradition of prophecy and the Arabian Monotheist "Rah-manist" tradition which produced "the Arabian prophetic movement". The Monotheist "Rahmanist" prophets appear to have represented a supratribal authority just of the type many Arab tribes were looking for at this very time, which seems to explain to a certain extent those prophets' political success (including the extreme political success of Muhammad).

The authors quantitatively analyse the long-term dynamics of technological progress from 40,000 BCE and offer projections through the 22nd century. We provide one method to measure technological progress over that time period, using a simple hyperbolic equation, yt = C/(t0 – t), as our model. We define yt as the
technological growth rate, measured as number of technological phase transitions per unit of time. Our method measures the worldwide technology dynamic growth
with an accuracy of R2 = 0.99. We find the singularity date occurs in the early 21st century and expect a new powerful acceleration of technological development
after the 2030s followed by a slow-down in the late 21st and early 22nd centuries. The authors discuss the role of global ageing as one of the main factors in both the technological acceleration and the subsequent deceleration.

Reflecting on the recent book by Marina L. Butovskaya and Victoria V. Rostovtseva, the author discusses altruism and selfishness as preconditions for cooperation of humans in society for collective actions, as a result of which its sociocultural transformations take place. It is argued that the problem of sources of cooperative behavior is by no means the one of strict choice between altruism and selfishness. Cooperation in society is based on a combination of altruism and selfishness in human behavior, with reciprocity of relationships as a connecting link between them. Butovskaya and Rostovtseva’s approach to the problem of the sources of cooperation as the background of social evolution is compared with the theories for which this problem is crucially important, too but solved differently – the collective action theory and collective acceptance theory of institutions.

Christopher Buck, “’Abdu’l-Baha’s 1912 Howard University Speech: A Civil War Myth for Interracial Emancipation.” ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Journey West: The Course of Human Solidarity. Edited by Negar Mottahedeh. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Pp. 111–144. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137032010.0009.

EXCERPT:

In his 1912 Howard University speech, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invoked the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation in essentialist terms, anchored in historical generalizations, as a rhetorical strategy for promoting interracial emancipation. Abolition of slavery was a first step in the progressive emancipation of African Americans within color-bound American society. Slavery’s roots run deep in American history, and are yet to be fully extirpated. They extend, in more subtle forms, down to the present. Racism is a ghost of the slaver’s psyche, and legislation alone cannot eradicate the problem. Something profoundly different is needed to significantly steer social history in a new direction. This is what makes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1912 sojourn in America of such historical import. . . .

To recapitulate, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in his Howard University speech, emphasized the personal sacrifice of Northern whites for Southern blacks in the course of the Civil War, and that African Americans (as the descendants of emancipated slaves) should therefore be grateful to whites in kind. In so saying, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invoked history (or a certain view of it) in order to make history—by completing the unfinished work of the Emancipation Proclamation. . . .

And so it is that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tasked the whites with a mission equal to the objectives of the Civil War, Emancipation, and Reconstruction in achieving what was (and is) still undone, to “endeavor to promote your [i.e. African Americans’] advancement and enhance your honor.” Such interracial unity entails more than fostering interracial camaraderie. Advancement is required. Actual progress must be fostered, for it is this “advancement” that “will be the cause of love (sabab-i maḥabbat).” In other words, doing “good” (by tangible actions) is a precondition for “goodwill” (as an intangible feeling). This, indeed, was the mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), founded in 1909, as an interracial endeavor. . . .

The advancement of African Americans was an integral element in the progress of America as a nation, and so there is a strong argument that the development of its own social capital was in the nation’s enlightened self-interest. Here, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s rhetorical strategy was to establish a clear basis, anchored in American history, for overcoming entrenched antagonisms in favor of reciprocal appreciation in the interests of interracial harmony and cooperation. In that sense, the accuracy of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s historical generalizations is quite beside the point, as the focus was on fostering racial healing and solving America’s racial crisis. . . .

On February 1, 2012, Cornel West, professor of African American Studies and Religion, Princeton University, expressed his appreciation of the Bahá’í efforts to foster ideal race relations: “When you talk about race and the legacy of white supremacy, there’s no doubt that when the history is written, the true history is written, the history of this country, the Baha’i Faith will be one of the leaven in the American loaf that allowed the democratic loaf to expand because of the anti-racist witness of those of Baha’i faith.” (“Cornel West praises work of Baha’is in establishing Racial Unity” (February 1, 2012). Professor West here recognizes the leavening influence of the Bahá’ís in the history of race relations in America. . . .

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1912 Howard University speech was for then, yet it has a message for us now as well: It could be said that in his Howard speech, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invited his audience to build on history by making history, in commencing a new era of global solidarity.

https://www.academia.edu/29904876/_Abdu_l-Baha_s_1912_Howard_University_Speech_A_Civil_War_Myth_for_Interracial_Emancipation_2013_

I motori di ricerca hanno trasformato il nostro modo di esplorare la realtà per ottenere in modo selettivo informazioni. La sociologia ha tuttavia trascurato di chiedersi a quali condizioni ciò sia stato possibile. Poiché i motori di ricerca operano come sistemi di indicizzazione, essi andrebbero inclusi negli studi sulla memoria culturale. Questo libro intende dare un contributo a una questione ancora poco indagata da questi studi, ovvero quale sia il rapporto fra evoluzione e memoria sociale. Se l’evoluzione favorisce le funzioni e la funzione della memoria è quella di dimenticare, allora una ricerca di tipo socio-evolutivo dovrebbe spiegare non solo come avviene questo favoreggiamento, ma anche che cosa lo favorisca. Nel tentativo di dare una risposta a queste due domande si chiarisce infine che il vero problema della memoria culturale non è il passato, bensì il futuro.

"The megalithic tomb at Montelirio is off the scale in more ways than one. As well as being the largest example of its type known in Spain, the burial goods secreted in its subterranean chambers are unsurpassed in both quantity and quality. Leonardo García Sanjuán reveals what the dead of Montelirio can tell us about Copper Age society."

Max Webers Religionssoziologie als eine Typologie und Soziologie des Rationalismus ist von Interesse geblieben, da in ihr nicht nur Einsichten in die Einstehung der Teilordnungen des modernen Gesellschaftssystems, sondern auch in die Entwicklung- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte des Okzidents überliefert sind. Diese Untersuchung nimmt im Kontext des Forschungsstandes eine Neubewertung seiner Religionssoziologie vor. Sie möchte zu einen Zugang zu Webers leitender Fragestellung beitragen und die Grenzen herausfinden, die uns heute von seiner Soziologie trennen.

A brief overview of the negative aliens' history contaminating the consciousness fields of the Nebadon (our) Universe, together with a short list of atrocities that they have committed while invading the territory of Nebadon through creating unauthorized tears in the fabrics of space-times, joining them together to form wormholes, and in turn, linking these wormholes to form a black hole system, is presented. It is explicated that these negative aliens have created an incredible amount of energetic wastes or 'miasma' in the consciousness field of Earth through utilization of their AI machinery that progressively has led to the generation of' black goo' and its adherence to human DNA, culminating in a variety forms of genetic mutations and alien hybridization. Being of parallel-antiparallel dimensions to our Earth and being energetic or stealth to our physical plane, their negative agendas have been particularly carried out by a horde of narcissistic, self-serving hybrid human individuals who are firmly set on attaining fame and fortune for themselves at the expense of others, with utter apathy and ruthlessness, who consider everyone else as inferior to their 'elitist' linage and pyramidal hierarchical societal structure, even viewing other humans as nothing more than 'farm animals,' to be put in, essentially, forced labor, and being utilized as slaves and such, at the same time being totally mind controlled, mind slided, and blank slated as to not be aware of what is transpiring in their Phantom Reality, that to a significant degree, is actually governed by the negative aliens AI machinery. Finally, it is explicated as to what will happen to these nefarious individuals during the beginning of this current Ascension Cycle with reference to their new course of existence.