This scientific story is addressed to the young people who will shape the future of humanity. “From the formation of the current cosmic world to the birth of the earth, the birth and evolution of life, and the journey of humanity to the present,” in other words, it is a great achievement that has been revealed after a lot of struggle mainly by scientists, and I hope that you will understand and reaffirm it, and use it as a foundation for thinking about the path we should take in the future.
At the outset, it should be noted that the individual parts of this narrative draw extensively on the original works and translated editions listed in the bibliography. The originality of the scientific accounts belongs primarily to the authors of those works. My own focus has been to reconstruct their different themes in an accessible way, connect them along a common timeline, and weave them into a single “story.” I hope that this approach makes the world in which we live a little easier to understand. If this narrative has an original contribution, I believe it lies chiefly in that organization and connection of ideas.
The story begins with “Part I : The Birth of the Universe and Its Composition.” The Big Bang model describes the evolution of the universe from an extremely hot, dense early state. What, if anything, preceded this early state remains unknown. Here, the astonishing “Inflationary Cosmology” is presented, which states that about 13.8 billion years ago, the spacetime of the universe we live in has expanded to 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times during the period of about 0.00000000000000000000000000000001sec (31 zeros after the decimal place) immediately after its birth, and then the composition of the universe that was created is discussed. The matter we know (or perceive) is only about 5% of the entire universe, such as stars, planets, and all objects on their surfaces, 27% is “dark matter” which is something unknown, and the remaining 68% is “dark energy” whose properties are largely unknown. It is this dark energy that is thought to be driving the expansion of the universe.
This is followed by Part II, “The Birth and Early Evolution of the Earth,” which first considers “The Birth of the Solar System and Its Structure” and then “The Birth and Early Evolution of the Earth.” Earth has abundant liquid water, with oceans covering about 70% of its surface. Plate tectonics—the movement of large, relatively rigid plates of the outer Earth—provides a framework for understanding earthquakes, volcanic activity, and other surface phenomena. Water alters oceanic crust and is carried into Earth’s interior at subduction zones, where it can promote partial melting and the production of magmas, including andesitic magmas. These interactions among water, rock, and energy helped create chemical environments that may have contributed to the emergence of life. The connection between these geological processes and the origin of life remains an active area of research.
Next, in “Part III: The Birth of Life,” it is becoming clear that the birth of life is not a discontinuous manifestation, but is realized from the integral accumulation of continuous phenomena in a specific environment. It is revealed that life is deeply related to the flow of energy. In other words, “energy is central to the evolution of life,” and the characteristics of life evolution can be understood only when energy is brought into the equation. Moreover, it is not only evolution, but this relationship between energy and life goes back to the beginning of life. The fundamental nature of “life” is that it inevitably emerges from the imbalances that arise on the planets that are constantly active (the “dissipative structure”). Life was born through the flow of energy, and the “proton gradient” was the key to the emergence of cells.
Part IV, ‘The Evolution of Life,’ examines the mechanisms that sustain life and the major events that have shaped its history. The accumulation of oxygen produced by photosynthetic microorganisms, including cyanobacteria, transformed Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. The emergence of eukaryotic cells and multicellular organisms opened new evolutionary possibilities. Episodes of exceptionally extensive glaciation, often discussed under the Snowball Earth hypothesis, may also have influenced biological evolution. During the Cambrian Period, beginning about 539 million years ago, many major animal lineages diversified and became prominent in the fossil record. This event is known as the Cambrian explosion. The possible roles of oxygen availability, ecological interactions, and changes in Earth’s environment—including proposed episodes of true polar wander—remain subjects of investigation.
Animals subsequently expanded into terrestrial environments, and arthropods became especially successful. Evolution was repeatedly interrupted by mass extinctions. The end-Permian extinction, about 252 million years ago, was the most severe known, and hypotheses about its causes include widespread environmental disruption, ocean deoxygenation, and toxic conditions. The Triassic Period that followed witnessed important ecological recovery and evolutionary diversification. Changes in atmospheric oxygen have been proposed as one factor shaping the respiratory adaptations of animals, but the causal relationships remain debated. The ancestors of mammals and dinosaurs evolved along distinct branches of the amniote tree; neither group directly replaced the other.
The evolution of upright posture and bipedal locomotion in some dinosaur lineages may have affected the relationship between movement and breathing, although low oxygen alone cannot explain the origin of dinosaurs. Mesozoic seas supported abundant marine organisms, including ammonites and large bivalves such as inoceramids. About 66 million years ago, an asteroid struck the region now occupied by the Yucatán Peninsula, forming the Chicxulub crater. The impact contributed to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, in which non-avian dinosaurs disappeared while birds, a surviving dinosaur lineage, persisted. These events provide the background for the subsequent diversification of mammals and the eventual emergence of human beings.
Finally, we examine the branching evolutionary history of the human lineage. The ancestors of modern humans and chimpanzees diverged several million years ago, although the precise timing and sequence remain uncertain. Numerous hominin species have since been identified. *Homo habilis*, associated with early stone-tool traditions, is among the early species commonly placed in the genus *Homo*. *Homo erectus* appeared later and became widespread beyond Africa. The evolutionary relationships among *H. erectus*, other archaic human populations, and *Homo sapiens* are complex and cannot be reduced to a simple linear sequence. Our species emerged in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago. Neanderthals evolved along a related lineage and shared common ancestors with modern humans; genetic evidence also shows that the two lineages interbred. Human populations subsequently dispersed across Africa and beyond, adapting to diverse environments and interacting with other human groups. The fossil and genetic evidence continues to refine this history.
In Parts III and IV, we have examined how life originated and evolved. When we consider the complexity and diversity of life across time and space, it can sometimes appear fundamentally different from the nonliving physical world. Nonliving systems may seem to follow relatively simple principles, while life appears to have evolved beyond them; in reality, nonliving systems too can be complex and difficult to predict. At every level of biological organization, however, the laws of physics constrain the structures and processes that are possible. These laws do not uniquely determine every evolutionary outcome. The results may be diverse and not always predictable, but the range of possibilities is not unlimited. From particles and molecules to cells, organisms, and populations, living systems remain subject to physical principles.
Therefore, I would like to take a short detour and touch on “Part V: The Physical Laws of Life Evolution”. The accumulation of evidence from the outstanding work of a number of researchers can show the extent to which physical principles limit the scope of evolution at each level of the structure of life. This view is based on a simple thought: “evolution is the act of the environment acting as a filter to select the components of an organism, in which the complex laws of physics are optimized to enable successful reproduction”. The “environment” here includes everything that can interfere with reproduction, from storms to predators’ appetites. In short, “evolution” is nothing but astonishing and interesting interactions brought about by physical principles that are encoded as genetic material.
And the limited number of physical laws expressed in mathematical formulas means that the results of evolution are also finite and universal at the same time. Furthermore, if there is a close relationship between physics and biology, if we assume that extraterrestrial life exists, they may be strikingly similar to life on Earth, and terrestrial life may be a template for most of life in the entire universe rather than a singular entity born in a single experiment in evolution. Also, at least in our world, it is an unavoidable point of view that “having a ‘cell’ is one of the characteristics of living organisms.” This is because having cells not only created a cohesive mechanism, but also made it possible to select and eliminate a wide variety of cells in the evolutionary process. In this sense, “cells” and “evolution” are deeply connected.
Therefore, if we take a closer look at the membrane of each cell and its surroundings, we find that all life forms on Earth that are capable of self-replication have a “membrane” that acts as a “bag” that envelops everything inside. This membrane is not just a sheet-like compound, but has a structure like a microscopic bag, and the molecules that form the membrane have amazing properties and simple beauty. Contained inside the membrane are “molecules with heads and tails”, and while the tail is a long chain of carbon atoms connected to each other and has “hydrophobicity”, the head is “hydrophilic” and easily soluble in water. In other words, a molecule has two extreme properties: hydrophobic at one end and hydrophilic at the other. When this molecule is added to the water, the tails of the different molecules are positioned so that they face each other and the head is facing the water.
The “two-layer structure” formed by these molecules is formed spontaneously, with the tail avoiding water based on its hydrophobicity, while the head facing water exhibits its hydrophilicity. This lipid membrane has other surprising features. Rather than forming an infinite sheet floating in the water, the membrane naturally becomes spherical without external stimuli and traps the liquid inside, as if to minimize energy, that is,”surface tension”. Due to this, one compartment of the cell appears. Behind the arrangement of lipids and the characteristic that lipids tend to form spheres are the physical principle of “ionic interaction” that works between molecules, and the tendency to “minimize energy”, which leads a long chain of molecules to “cell bags”. This is another typical example of how the laws of physics offer specific solutions to life.
So far, we have looked at the essence of the changes on Earth over the past billions of years and the evolution of life on Earth. In the next part, “Part VI: The Emergence and Evolution of Mankind,” we will discuss “the process by which humans evolved from the ancestors of apes in the past 5 million years” and “How humans have increased their potential and spread throughout the world in the past 100,000 years,” and in “Part VII: Synopsis and Achievements of the Civilization Built by Mankind,” ” Civilizations that have emerged one after another in the last 10,000 years”, “New trends of commercialization, industrialization, and globalization that have occurred in the last 1,000 years”, and “In the past century, How humanity has come to understand this epic origin story.”
As for the origin of mankind, there is a branch of the tree of evolution called “hominins”. They form part of a broader fauna group of primates, and the closest living species is the “chimpanzee”, suggesting that the divergence between humans and chimpanzees began about 13 million years ago and interbreeding continued until perhaps 7 million years ago. Eventually, however, the evolutionary histories of both sides diverged, with the emergence of the current “chimpanzees” and “bonobos” on the one hand, and several different species of hominins on the other. Our own species, “Homo sapiens”, is just one branch of it. So, how did the “evolution of hominin” develop? It is worth noting that all the major steps of its evolution took place in “East Africa”.
During this period, the results of tectonic processes: “mountain-building in the Himalayas”, “blockade of the Indonesian sea route”, and especially “the uplift of the high ridges of the ‘East African Rift Valley'”, dried up East Africa. The emergence of the “rift valley” altered not only the climate but also the terrain, transforming the ecosystem of the region. East Africa has transformed from flat land covered with tropical forests to rugged mountainous terrain with plateaus and deep valleys, and vegetation has diversified from cloud forests to savannas and desert scrublands. Prolonged aridity in East Africa, fragmentation of forest habitats, and replacement of savannas have resulted in a divergence from arboreal primates to hominins. However, this was not the only factor.
The Great Rift Valley has been greatly complicated by tectonic movements, and a variety of topography has formed adjacent transition zones. These include forests and grasslands, ridges, steep cliffs, hills, plateaus and plains, valleys, and deep freshwater lakes formed in the valley floor of the Great Rift Valley. The area was called the mosaic environment, and it provided the hominin with a variety of food sources, livelihoods, and opportunities. About 4 million years ago, “Australopithecus (the ape of the south)” appeared, and it began to have traits common to modern humans, such as a tall and delicate body shape. This was despite the fact that the skull was still in its primitive shape, and it had also become adept at bipedal walking. “Australopithecus afarensis (Afar ape-man)” is well known from extant fossils.
Among them is the astonishingly complete skeleton of a woman who lived in the Awash River valley about 3.2 million years ago, known as “Lucy.” About 2 million years ago, all the hominin species of Australopithecus became extinct, and our own genus, the “genus Homo”, appeared. The “Homo habilis” retained a delicate figure similar to that of the previous ape-man, but only its brain was slightly larger. It wasn’t until Homo erectus appeared about 2 million years ago that the size of the body and brain increased significantly, and the way of life changed significantly. Homo erectus was very similar anatomically to modern humans in body structure below the skull, and had a shoulder structure that was adapted to run long distances and had the ability to throw objects.
It is said that they also had something in common with other humans, such as slow growth, a long childhood, and advanced social behavior. Homo erectus is presumed to have been the first hominin of the genus Homons of the genus Homons to lead a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and to be able to handle fire. Fire may have been used for warmth and food preparation. Some early dispersals may have involved water crossings, although the means of travel remain uncertain.
On the other hand, the Earth, the land where hominin is active, entered the current “Ice Age Epoch” about 2.6 million years ago. During this period, the Earth’s orbit and the tilt of its axis of rotation, known as the “Milankovitch cycle”, have changed regularly, alternating glacial and interglacial periods. East Africa was too far from the North and South poles to come face-to-face with the advancing ice sheet itself, but it was still greatly affected by this cosmic cycle. In particular, the “eccentricity cycle”, in which the Earth’s orbit around the Sun periodically extends in an elliptical shape, has brought about an era of great change in the climate of East Africa. In each of these phases, the pulse of the earth’s axis also accelerated, and the climate oscillated between very dry and humid conditions.
As mentioned earlier, East Africa was uplifted by mantle plumes rising from the ground, which resulted in the stretching of the earth’s crust and eventual cracks and faults. The resulting topography of the Great Rift Valley is characterized by a flat valley floor with a large amount of crust subducted and ridges towering on either side. Especially from 3 million years ago, a number of large isolated basins were formed at the valley floor, and when the humidity was sufficient, these became lakes. These deep lakes are important. This is because it provided a stable source of water for hominin even during the dry season. However, many lakes are temporary, and as the climate has changed, lakes have appeared and disappeared over time. The terrain with the rifts creates distinctly different climatic conditions at high altitudes and valley floors.
Rain falls near the high cliffs and volcanic peaks, and then flows into lakes scattered across the valley floor, which are much hotter and have a higher evaporation rate. This means that lakes in the Great Rift Valley are highly dependent on the balance of precipitation and evaporation, and even the slightest climate change can cause significant and rapid changes in their water levels. Compared to lakes around the world and other parts of Africa, the range of variability is significant. These lakes are called “Amp Lakes” because the slightest change in the local climate can raise and lower the water level of these bodies of water, which are essential for life, so much. This is because it acts like a high-fidelity amplifier that amplifies weak signals.
And these special “amp lakes” are an important link between the long-term tectonic trends that create the rift valley and the rapid changes in the global climate and the habitable environment that have had a direct and dramatic impact on human evolution. Over the past few million years, the environment in East Africa has been generally very dry, but even this general condition has been subject to periods of extreme change, with periods of great humidity and periods of severe dryness again. These climate changes occur in cycles of about 800,000 years, during which Amp Lake flickers and disappears like a loose light bulb. With this change, the situation of water sources, vegetation, and food also fluctuated greatly, which had a profound impact on our ancestors.
The rapidly changing circumstances made the multi-talented and adaptable hominin more viable, and thus evolved a larger brain and more intelligence. The three most recent periods of extreme climate change occurred between 2.7 million and 2.5 million years ago, 1.9 million to 1.7 million years ago, and 1 million to 900,000 years ago. Scientists who have examined the fossil record have found that new species of hominin (genus Homo) tend to coincide with the times of their appearance and extinction in times of these wet and dry fluctuations, often associated with increased brain capacity. For example, one of the most important events in human evolution occurred during a period of change, from 1.9 million years ago to 1.7 million years ago. The seven major lake basins in the Rift Valley (the part of the lake that was filled with water) were repeatedly filled with water and dried up.
Various species of hominin reached their peak, and Homo erectus, with its greatly increased brain capacity, also emerged during this period. In conclusion, 12 of the 15 known species of the genus Homo first appeared during these three periods of change. In addition, the development and diffusion of stone tool technology at each stage – Oldoin, Ashur and Moustier – also corresponded to periods of eccentricity when climate change became extreme. It is believed that the period of change not only influenced human evolution, but also drove several species of the genus Homoa to leave their birthplace and “migrate to the Eurasian continent”. About 1.8 million years ago, Homo erectus spread throughout Africa, and then, after several waves of migration, it left the continent and spread throughout Eurasia. This species existed for about 2 million years.
Homo erectus gave birth to “Homo heidelbergensis (Heidelbergian)” about 800,000 years ago, followed by “Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals)” in Europe and “Denisovan” in Asia 250,000 years ago. Experts disagree on whether these archaic humans are a separate species from humans. Anatomically, “Homo sapiens”, defined as modern humans, emerged in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago. Thus, only about one-tenth of the time that Homo erectus existed since the birth of our species as “modern humans”.
About 100,000 years ago, the Earth’s orbit was aligned in a specific position. Due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis, the Northern Hemisphere summer began to coincide with the period when the Earth was farthest from the Sun in an elliptical orbit, which meant that the northern summer would be cooler. The snow that fell in winter did not melt, and the snow cover continued to increase. As the Earth entered the next glacial period, the northern ice sheet increased and expanded southward. Thus, this most recent glacial period, and the resulting decline in the world’s sea level, provided a decisive opportunity for humanity to spread around the world. On the other hand, the most surprising result of global genetic research is the fact that “the human species is extremely homogeneous”. Although there are regional differences in hair, skin color, and skull shape, genetic diversity among the 7.5 billion humans currently living in the world is very scarce. Moreover, since human genetic diversity is the richest in Africa, it is clear that all human beings began in Africa and spread from the place of their birth. We are all “children of Africa,” but none of us stayed in our birthplace. About 60,000 years ago, our ancestors began to disperse from Africa to other parts of the country. Furthermore, genetic studies suggest that humans now distributed around the world are shaped by multiple movements and interactions, including “descended from a major dispersals out of Africa, whose early migrants were probably only a few thousand.”
Modern humans, Homo sapiens, are thought to have first entered the region when the climate was humid and the Arabian Peninsula was green. It is not clear whether they traversed the Sinai Peninsula northward or crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait by raft. As it began to spread into Eurasia, our ancestors may have come into contact with other species of the genus Homo that had left Africa early. Modern humans interbred with “Neanderthals” in the Middle East, to some extent, and inherited traces of their DNA, which they carried with them as they migrated to other parts of the world. It is also believed that when they passed through Central Asia, they interbred with a mysterious species of the genus Homo, which is extinct, called the “Denisovans”. “Homo erectus”, an older species of the genus Homo, left Africa about 2 million years ago and reached China and Indonesia.
However, it was already extinct by the time humans spread throughout Asia. The spread of humans from the Arabian Peninsula along the southern coast of Eurasia in China was progressing at a rate of less than 500 meters per year. Yet, in the end, humanity occupied the earth. Neanderthals and Denisovans, who are close relatives of the genus Homo, became extinct. It is more likely that they simply lost the competition to humans than that they became extinct by hunting or killing. Or it could not have withstood the harsh environment that occurred at the peak of the Ice Age. The Neanderthals disappeared as a distinct population around 40,000 years ago, leaving us as the only surviving genus of humans on Earth. Within 50,000 years of their migration from Africa, humans settled on every continent except Antarctica, making them the most widespread animal species on Earth.
Skills such as the use of fire, the making of clothing, and the manufacture of tools have allowed us to live in all climatic zones, from the tropics to the tundra, from the savannah apes. The fact that its global expansion occurred in the midst of the frigid climate of the last glacial period may come as a surprise to many. In reality, however, it was this Ice Age environment that made the large-scale spread of humanity possible. This is because the expanding ice sheet in the north has taken in large amounts of water from the ocean, which has lowered sea levels and exposed much of the continental shelf. It was precisely because of this ice age that people were able to walk overland to Indonesia, across narrow straits to Australia, and most importantly along the Bering Land Bridge to the Americas.
Anatomically modern humans emerged roughly 300,000 years ago, but the behavior of our ancestors became modern between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. At that time, humans had the same language and cognitive abilities as we do today, forming social groups, making tools, and mastering the art of using fire. They began to carefully bury the dead, make clothing, and create expressive works of art, depicting themselves and the natural world around them in cave paintings, as well as bone and stone carvings. They were skilled hunters, catching fish, collecting edible plants extensively, and even milling grain into millstones. As mentioned above, modern humans started in Africa about 60,000 years ago and spread to all corners of the planet. However, the first lasting steps towards agriculture and sedentary life were taken about 11,000 years ago, a process known as the “Neolithic Revolution”.
The North American ice sheet was shrinking rapidly, but by the time the first crops were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, and soon after in the Yellow River basin in northern China, more than half of Canada was still covered in ice. Over the next few thousand years, our ancestors began the same process in other parts of the world, and agriculture appeared in the Sahel region on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in North Africa, Mesoamerica, the Andean and Amazonian region of South America, the forests of eastern North America, and New Guinea. After surviving the last ice age for 100,000 years of hunter-gatherer life, as the earth warmed, people in different parts of the world began to follow the path of “agriculture and civilization”, which permanently changed humanity. The birth of civilization did not depend solely on the “cultivation of plants”.
The “domestication of wild animals” also played an important role. Once domesticated, other products and labor can be obtained continuously, but this use is something that cannot be done with wild animals, and livestock farming provides a whole new resource. This is called the “secondary product revolution.” The domestication of large animals also provided another important resource that was not available to hunter-gatherer societies. It is muscle strength as a “working animal for transportation and traction”. By harnessing the traction of livestock, farmers were able to shift from manual farming, which used small agricultural tools such as hoes and digging sticks, to the use of animal-drawn plows. Moreover, horse-drawn chariots revolutionized war in Eurasia in the second millennium BC.
Later, when larger, more powerful horses were bred and could be mounted, mounted soldiers became the most efficient weapon of war. The use of animal muscle power has greatly expanded the potential of human society. Long-distance trade and travel across different environments were made possible by horses, mules, and camels. Animals such as oxen and buffaloes, which were strong but slow-footed, were also used as traction to pull four-wheeled carts and plows. Then, in the 5th century, when the “horse collar” was invented in China, horses could also be used for traction. This was an advance that greatly increased agricultural productivity in the Middle Ages on the heavy lands of northern Europe. The domestication of these animals to supplement human strength was the first step in human exploitation of energy sources on a large scale.
For more than 6,000 years, animal power was a major driving force in civilization until the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of fossil fuels. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, coal-fired steam engines began to power trains and ships, and later internal combustion engines, which used liquid fuel refined from crude oil as a driving force to travel vast distances at incredible speeds.
Up to this point, we have surveyed the cosmic, astronomical, geological, and biological evolution that forms the foundation of our existence as humans: the “birth of the universe and its composition,” the “formation and structure of the solar system,” the “primordial evolution of the Earth,” followed by the “origin of life,” and the “evolution of life — the mechanisms and history that nurtured life, the emergence of oxygen, the appearance of eukaryotes, the rise of multicellular organisms, the birth and evolution of animals, the diversification of animals and the role of oxygen concentration, the colonization of land by animals, mass extinctions and the Triassic explosion, the dominance of dinosaurs in a low-oxygen world, the extinction of dinosaurs, the age of mammals, and the age of birds.” We have also touched upon the “emergence and evolution of humankind.” Finally, in “Part VII : A Synopsis and the Achievements of Human Civilization,” let us summarize our current position as human beings from the perspective of civilization.
In the larger framework of human history, many fundamental human experiences have persisted over the past 5,000 years. Like people 5,000 years ago, we have families, schools, governments, religions, wars, and peace. Celebrations of births and mourning for deaths continue unchanged. Sports, weddings, dances, jewelry, tattoos, fashion, gossip, social class, and even fear, love, joy, happiness, and delight are all universally found in all cultures and will be with us forever. If you think about it this way, humanity has not changed much in principle. Surprisingly, we are very similar to our ancestors. Even though the background of the times has changed, we have changed only slightly. On the contrary, it is safe to assume that real change has occurred only three times in human history. All of these changes have been brought about by technology. It is not one particular technology, but a series of interrelated technologies that have fundamentally, sustainedly, and biologically changed us. These three major changes are all of them, and based on them, a fourth change, “AI”, is emerging.
First of all, a long time ago, one of the greatest epochs in human history, and the first major turning point, came. That is the “invention of language”. So, let’s go back to this epoch and think about its significance. “Fire” was “the first multifunctional technology in history.” Fire provided light, warmth, and some protection from dangerous animals. In addition, the fire was portable and could be moved to cold areas while keeping warm. However, the greatest achievement of fire was that it made it possible to “cook food”. This achievement was most important because it greatly increased the number of calories that could be consumed. In other words, fire has paved the way for us to “outsource” some of the digestive processes that take place in our bodies. Even if raw food is ingested, cooking can improve the digestibility of many foods.
Therefore, it is difficult for modern humans to cover the calories necessary for survival with raw foods alone. So what did our ancestors use these massive calories for? The answer is the “brain”. They put this energy into it to evolve a brain of unparalleled complexity. As a result, humans have acquired three times as many neurons as gorillas and chimpanzees in a short period of time, and a luxurious 20% of total caloric consumption is used solely to support this sophisticated brain. From a survival standpoint, this was a pretty bold gamble, but it paid off, and we created another new technology : “language”.
Language is indeed a giant leap forward, and according to historian Will Durant, “Language has made us human.” Thus, “fire” was the starting point of the long, long story that we and “technology” are still weaving together, and the even more powerful technology that was born from it, “language,” made it possible for us to “exchange information.” In addition, “language” has made it possible to cooperate, which can be said to be one of the special abilities of human beings. A dozen non-linguistic humans are no match for a single mammoth, but if they can cooperate with each other using language, they will become powerful. Our cerebrum produces language, and thinking through language creates a virtuous cycle in which the cerebrum develops further. This is because there are certain thought patterns that cannot be achieved without the use of words.
Words are basically symbols that represent thoughts, and without the art of speaking, it is unclear how to process complex combinations and changes in thought. Language has given us yet another great gift. It is a “story”. “Story” gives shape to the “imagination” that we needed in the first place to progress, and it is the most important element for human beings.
Our ancestors lived as hunters and gatherers, engaging in conversation for about 100,000 years (the “First Age”), before undergoing a dramatic transformation: they invented “agriculture”. This has radically changed humanity itself and society as a whole. This “Second Age” began about 10,000 years ago. Agriculture was as much a technology as language and, like language, facilitated many other advances. One of them is the birth of the “city”. In order to carry out agriculture, it was necessary to settle in one place, so cities developed. This was a completely new endeavor. The second technological advance that has come along with agriculture is the “division of labor”. Its significance may be difficult to understand intuitively, but the division of labor has become one of the most important milestones in human history.
The division of labor made it possible for one person to specialize in a specific task without having to do all the work necessary for one’s own survival. This led to efficiency and laid the foundation for explosive economic growth. The “division of labor”, along with “trade” and “technological progress”, was one of the three means by which the labor could be increased without increasing the amount of labor in order to increase the wealth of the whole. Agriculture did not directly cause the division of labor. Agriculture encouraged the growth of settlements, and urbanization supported increasingly complex divisions of labor, although specialization also existed earlier. Another important technology that cities have created is the “weapon” used in organized warfare. Weapons are a technology that emerged from the need to defend cities where wealth was concentrated.
Early cities were protected by walls, the construction of which required a great deal of labor and cost. This indicates that there was a sufficient risk that the city would be the target of the attack. With the development of agriculture and the emergence of cities, for the first time in history, humans “own land.” Since humans are inherently territorial species, there is no doubt that there were areas that claimed ownership of the land. However, archaeological evidence, in which territorial boundaries were clearly set, appears only in the early second period.
.The philosopher Jean = Jacques Rousseau saw this as the beginning of modernity, stating: “The moment when one person claims a particular piece of land as his own, and others accept it, is the moment of the true founding of a political society.” With the development of agriculture and the increase in individual land ownership, the economic equality seen in the First Era came to an end. Natural inequalities in ability, birth, and luck have led to an “unequal accumulation of wealth”. This would have been unthinkable in hunter-gatherer societies, but the combination of cities and agriculture created a means for those in power to maintain control by giving them food. Under these circumstances, people began to be divided into “rulers” and “ruled.” The emergence of nobility and royalty is also characteristic of this second period.
We said that the first requirement for human progress was “imagination.” And the second thing that was needed was brought about by agriculture. The invention of agriculture was also a major expansion of systematic planning for the future, because planting, growing, and harvesting grain required a “planning ability” that had nothing to do with it during the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. This was the second necessary condition for the progress of mankind. The “Third Age” began only 5,000 years ago with the invention of “writing” by the “Sumerians”, who lived in what is now southern Iraq. Writing was invented independently in Egypt and China at the same time, and later in present-day Mexico. The advent of writing revolutionized humanity. It has become possible to preserve the knowledge acquired by a person during his or her lifetime even after he or she dies.
Knowledge was completely copied and transported around the world. As a result, ideas were able to survive outside the human mind. Writing was a major turning point in human history. The first and second epochs are prehistoric, and “history began in the third era, 5,000 years ago.” As with the important technologies discussed so far, behind the emergence of writing was a new technology that created it and made it possible to make more effective use of it. One of them is the “wheel”, which was also invented around 5,000 years ago. Wheels and letters go well together, like peanut butter and jam. The combination of the two led to the development of commerce, the distribution of information, and the realization of people’s travel. The advent of writing made it possible for rulers to create a “code of laws,” and it was the wheel that made it possible to spread the code widely.
It was also in the third era that “money” appeared. Although the emergence of modern minted coins can only be seen through more time, coins in the form of gold, silver, shells, and salt have existed all over the world since the early days of the Third Age. The metal was generally recognized for its value, divisible, durable, and portable, so it was considered an ideal currency. Metallurgical technology began as early as the Third Age, and people quickly learned that when copper and tin were mixed, “bronze” was produced with superior properties to each. With the simultaneous appearance of “letters, wheels, and money” in the world, the basic materials for creating a “nation and empire” were prepared. Here, for the first time, large-scale civilizations flourished simultaneously all over the world.
Powerful, rich and cohesive states emerged in China, the Indus, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Central America. It is still unclear why these civilizations emerged at about the same time and so far from each other. The same applies to the appearance of letters. No one knows why writing, wheels, and agriculture didn’t develop anywhere in the world 50,000 or 20,000 years ago. In any case, our ancestors had acquired “language”, “imagination”, “division of labor”, “city” and “sense of the future” at this point. There were also “letters”, “legal codes”, “wheels”, “contracts” and “money”. All of this allowed us to rapidly develop our technology over the next few thousand years. Our world was in its third age until recently.
In the meantime, there have been many revolutionary advances, such as the “development of the steam engine”, the “use of electricity”, and the “development of movable type”, but they have not fundamentally changed the way humans live in the same way as language, agriculture, and writing. It can be said that the main innovations that occurred in the third era were not revolutionary, but evolutionary. In order for us to truly believe that we have entered a new era, “something has to happen that will drastically and forever change our existence and our lives”, and “we need something that will change the course of our journey and evolution as a species”. Thus the story that advances us into the “Fourth Age” begins in the last centuries of the Third Age.
In 1620, Francis Bacon published Novum Organum (The New Organon), a major contribution to the development of modern scientific methods. Bacon emphasized investigating nature directly, observing carefully, recording evidence, and drawing conclusions through disciplined reasoning. Although his approach was not identical to present-day scientific methods, he helped systematize the acquisition of knowledge through observation and inquiry. This was an important change in how people could develop and share knowledge. Earlier progress was sometimes intermittent, and discoveries could be made independently in different places. The familiar expression “reinventing the wheel” illustrates the inefficiency of repeatedly solving problems without access to earlier knowledge, although claims about independent inventions of the wheel require historical qualification.
Systematic inquiry allows one researcher’s observations and conclusions to be examined, challenged, and developed by others. Scientific knowledge can therefore accumulate and, in some fields and periods, advance very rapidly. Modern science combines ways of acquiring evidence with practices for communicating methods and findings so that others can assess and test them. Observation, measurement, experiments, and reasoning all matter; not every scientific observation is strictly numerical. The possibility of independent verification, including attempts at reproduction, is particularly important. Science existed long before inexpensive printing, but reliable and increasingly affordable printing greatly expanded the circulation of ideas and results. Scholars could build on previous work and improve it step by step.
Newton famously described this cumulative process as “standing on the shoulders of giants.” The spread of printing also contributed to literacy and the wider exchange of information, helping to create conditions for the development of modern science in the seventeenth century.
As the scientific method accelerated technological development, rapid rates of improvement in some technologies became apparent. “The performance of technology continues to double repeatedly at regular intervals over a period of time.” It was only half a century ago that this profound and mysterious nature of technology was discovered. Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, noticed an interesting fact that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles about every two years. He noted that this phenomenon had continued consistently, and predicted that this trend would continue for at least the next decade. This conjecture became known as “Moore’s Law”. That’s where Ray Kurzweil came in and found something surprising. It is a fact that computers have been doubling their performance at the same pace since long before the invention of the transistor.
Beginning with a simple electromechanical device used in the U.S. Census in 1890, a graph of the processing power of computers reveals that from the beginning, regardless of the underlying technology, the processing power has doubled approximately every two years. This is a truly bizarre phenomenon. Despite the transition of fundamental computer technologies from mechanical to relay-based, vacuum tubes, and then to integrated circuits, there has never been a moment when Moore’s Law was broken. Why? As a matter of fact, no one knows the answer. Why does the processing power that determines the speed of a computer obey this strict law? At the moment, no one knows the truth, and there are almost no hypotheses. However, it is conceivable that this may be some kind of cosmic law.
A certain amount of technology is required to reach a specific goal, and after that technology is obtained, the technology may be used to further double the technology. But here’s where it really gets interesting. A surprising fact is that “almost all technology, not just computers, obeys Moore’s Law”. While the performance of some technologies does not necessarily double every two years, it can be said that some of the elements that support technology do indeed double every certain years. The phenomenon of “technological doubling (powers of two)” is far more significant than it might initially seem. The combination of the scientific method and Moore’s mysterious law has led to the explosive development of new technologies that have become essential to our daily lives.
Advances in robotics, nanotechnology, gene editing technology, spaceflight, nuclear power, and many other advanced technologies are staggering. In fact, technology is advancing so fast that we no longer realize its wonders. The speed at which new technologies are arriving is so fast that it seems like a matter of course.
Among the technologies that emerged toward the end of the Third Age, the computer has had an especially profound influence. It is not merely a practical tool but also a device of philosophical significance. Computers perform calculations and process information according to defined rules, enabling them to model and simulate many phenomena in the physical world. Some thinkers have proposed that computation may be fundamental to understanding nature, the brain, or even consciousness. Stephen Wolfram explored such possibilities in *A New Kind of Science* (2002). Mathematical models describe aspects of hurricanes, DNA, snowflakes, and sand dunes, although no model captures every detail of reality. The Apollo 11 mission demonstrated the power of mathematics and computation in predicting and controlling complex physical processes. This success raises deeper questions: To what extent can life and intelligence be described mathematically? Can the human mind be understood as a computational system? Marshall McLuhan’s view of technologies as extensions of human capabilities offers one way of appreciating the computer’s wider significance. Four pioneers illustrate important foundations of computing. Charles Babbage designed mechanical calculating machines and proposed the programmable Analytical Engine. Alan Turing established a theoretical framework for universal computation. John von Neumann contributed to the development of stored-program computer architecture, alongside many other researchers. Claude Shannon connected Boolean algebra with switching circuits and developed the mathematical theory of information. Their distinct achievements helped make modern computing possible.
We may now be approaching the beginning of a Fourth Age as the long Third Age gives way to new forms of technology. Throughout history, human beings have ‘outsourced’ aspects of their physical and mental activities. Cooking assists food processing; writing extends memory; and wheels reduce the physical burden of transportation. Computers, sometimes described metaphorically as mechanical brains, extend our ability to process information. Artificial intelligence and robotics may extend this process to perception, reasoning, decision-making, and physical action. Such possibilities raise difficult questions. Can machines think? Can they possess consciousness? Could all human abilities eventually be reproduced by machines? And in what sense, if any, are we ourselves machines? The pace of technological change makes these questions urgent. Roughly five millennia separate the earliest wheeled vehicles from the first human landing on the Moon, yet the Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1903 preceded Apollo 11 by only 66 years. The first widely recognized supersonic flight in 1947 preceded the Moon landing by about 22 years. These comparisons illustrate acceleration in particular technological capabilities; they do not establish that every technology will continue to advance at the same rate. The changes ahead may be extraordinarily rapid, but they may also bring disruption and uncertainty.
What, then, is artificial intelligence? A useful distinction is that between narrow AI and artificial general intelligence (AGI). Narrow AI refers to systems developed for particular tasks or domains, although some contemporary systems can perform a wide range of tasks. AGI refers to the idea of artificial intelligence with broadly applicable cognitive capabilities comparable to those of human beings. The terms ‘weak AI’ and ‘strong AI’ sometimes appear in related discussions, but their philosophical meanings do not always coincide precisely with narrow AI and AGI. There is no universally accepted definition or test for determining whether AGI has been achieved, and no consensus on how it might be created. Historically, AI has been developed through explicit models, knowledge and rules supplied by experts, and machine learning from data. These approaches can be combined, and their suitability depends on the problem being addressed. Whether AGI will require fundamentally new methods remains uncertain. One important direction is the integration of AI with robotics. Sensors, actuators, improved materials, batteries, and control systems enable robots to interact with the physical environment. Some researchers argue that learning through bodily interaction may contribute to more general intelligence; whether physical embodiment is essential for AGI remains an open question. AI-powered robots may increasingly assist people with dangerous or repetitive work, healthcare, and disaster response. At the same time, advances in AI raise questions about employment, the concentration of wealth and power, human relationships, and the responsible governance of increasingly autonomous systems.
On Earth, a tiny world amid the vast darkness of the universe, we are the only surviving human species, having evolved within a single planetary system that is both fragile and resilient. Over time, we have built our own civilization. We may now be entering an era shaped by robots and artificial intelligence, in which the technologies supporting civilization are advancing rapidly. Researchers are exploring artificial general intelligence and increasingly autonomous systems that could affect human life and even the future of our species. Whether and when such capabilities will emerge remains uncertain. Nevertheless, we may be approaching one of the most important turning points in human history.
Bibliography
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A Guide to the Unknown Universe
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Jorge Cham is a cartoonist and creator of Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics), a comic strip about academic life. At the time of the cited account, he had drawn it for more than 18 years; the website had attracted more than 50 million views since 2008 and around seven million readers annually. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Scientific American. He earned a Ph.D. in robotics from Stanford University and has held an academic appointment at the California Institute of Technology.
Daniel Whiteson is an experimental particle physicist at the University of California, Irvine, following work at the University of Pennsylvania. His research has involved proton–antiproton collider experiments at Fermilab and work associated with CERN, which operates the Large Hadron Collider, an accelerator about 27 kilometers in circumference. At the time of the cited account, he and Cham collaborated on PBS science comics and videos in January 2016, receiving more than one million page views and recognition for their science communication.
Publisher: Riverhead Books, U.S.
Published: May, 2018
Iwanami Shinsho (New Red Series), No. 543 — History of Life and the Earth
Authors: Shigenori Maruyama and Yukio Isozaki
Shigenori Maruyama was born in Tokushima Prefecture in 1949, and graduated from Tokushima University in 1972
Position reported in the cited biographical account: Professor, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Research fields: geology and tectonics
Other books: What Has the Earth Done During Its 4.6-Billion-Year History? (Iwanami Shoten; translated title). New Earth History (co-authored; publisher listed as Yurindo; translated title).
Yukio Isozaki was born in Shiga Prefecture in 1955, and graduated from Osaka City University in 1978
Position reported in the cited biographical account: Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo.
Research fields: geology and the history of life.
Publisher: Iwanami Shoten Co., Ltd.
Edition information: 21st printing, April 24, 2012 .
The Vital Question: Why Is Life the Way It Is?
Author: Nick Lane
Nick Lane is associated with University College London, including its Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment and Origins of Life programme. His research focuses on evolutionary biochemistry and the origin of life. The account reports a Biochemical Society award in 2015. His other books include Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution (Profile Books / W. W. Norton, 2009), winner of the 2010 Royal Society Science Book Prize; Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (Oxford University Press, 2005); and Oxygen: The Molecule That Made the World (Oxford University Press, 2002). He also co-authored Life in the Frozen State (CRC Press, 2004).
Publisher: Profile Books, London
Published: 2015
A New History of Life
The Radical New Discoveries About the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth
Authors: Peter Ward, Ph.D. and Joseph Kirschvink, Ph.D.
Peter Ward is a scientist and author associated with the University of Washington in Seattle. His research encompasses biology, paleontology, and Earth and space sciences. He has appeared in numerous documentaries and, according to the source manuscript, participated in the 2009 eight-hour television series Animal Armageddon.
Joseph Kirschvink received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and has held the Nico and Marilyn Van Wingen Memorial Professorship of Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. He contributed to the development of the Snowball Earth hypothesis concerning episodes of extremely extensive glaciation. His research has also addressed paleomagnetism, major changes in Earth’s orientation, and magnetic minerals in living organisms, including their possible roles in animal navigation.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Press
Published: 2015
The Equations of Life
The Hidden Rules Shaping Evolution
Author: Charles Cockell
Charles Cockell is an astrobiologist associated with the University of Edinburgh and the UK Centre for Astrobiology, including a leadership role. He studied biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Bristol and obtained a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics from the University of Oxford. His interests include extremophiles, extraterrestrial life, space exploration, and space settlement. He has worked at NASA Ames Research Center, the British Antarctic Survey, and the Open University. The source manuscript credits him with more than 300 scientific papers and books including An Inconvenient Life.
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: June 28, 2018
Origins
How the Earth Made Us
Author: Lewis Dartnell
Lewis Dartnell is a British astrobiologist and science writer. The biographical account describes research connections with the University of Leicester and the UK Space Agency, including work relevant to the search for life on Mars. He has written for The Guardian, The Times, and New Scientist and appeared on Horizon, Wonders of the Universe, Stargazing Live, The Sky at Night, and Sky News. His 2014 book The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch became an international bestseller.
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The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity
Author: Byron Reese
Byron Reese is a technology entrepreneur and author who explores technology and human history. The biographical account identifies him as CEO of Gigaom and founder of several high-technology companies. His inventions and patent applications cover crowdsourcing, content creation, and psychographics. His website covers technology, business, science, and history. The account reports an audience of more than one billion, a figure requiring verification.
Audiobook publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published: 2018
Le Mythe de la singularité
Author: Jean-Gabriel Ganascia
Jean-Gabriel Ganascia is a French philosopher and computer scientist. The biographical account identifies him as a professor at the University of Paris VI and, for more than twenty years, leader of ACASA, a team studying artificial intelligence, cognitive models, and machine learning. According to the manuscript, he became chair of the Ethics Committee of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in September 2016. His research interests include ethics in the information society, political philosophy, and digital humanities.
Publisher: Éditions du Seuil
Published: February 2, 2017
