Complexity Growth Patterns in the Stelliferous Era of Big History. Preliminary Observations

Journal of Big History. 2025. Vol. 8. No. 1. P. 1–12.

Korotayev A., LePoire D.

A previous study compared the symmetries of the cooling after the Big Bang and the development of life, humans, and civilization on Earth. A simple model of the relative rates of change depicts two cones joined at their bases representing the Big Bang expansion and the acceleration of complexity development on earth through life evolution, human evolution, and civilization development. This indicates points of rapid change at both ends corresponding to at the Big Bang and our current technological and demographic change. However, this depiction oversimplifies complexity growth, specifically at where the transitions from the Universe’s decelerating physical complexity development and Earths accelerating complex adaptive systems. This transition is important in both organization and energy flow. In this paper, the build-up of potential variety in elements and chemicals to later build planets and life is the focus. These are mostly derived from stellar formation through the conversion of gravitational and nuclear potential energy into elements through nuclear fusion. Other’s models have been employed to explore the dynamics of this bujildup from the first Population I stars, which were large and shortlived, through the Population II stars of galactic spherical bulges and haloes, to the formation of smaller, long-lived stars with a high amount of non-Hydrogen and Helium atoms, called “metals”. The rates of these dynamics during the transition from cosmic development to terrestrial evolution on Earth are explored here.

Keywords: evolution, civilization, demographic changes