Big history allows you to zoom out and go, let's look at things from a much bigger perspective. And when you do that, you start to get a sense of like things take time. We can be damn sure the next hundred years is going to be pretty rough. But most people who think very seriously about the possibility of existential crises, total collapses, i think would agree that the possibility of a total collapse at the moment looks pretty limited.
What does the future hold? And how do we make sure we're making the best decisions for ourselves? In today's episode with David Christian, you will discover answers to these questions and much more!
"What are the skills involved in trying to think about the future? To construct future stories that are closer to the truth than other future stories? Because if we don't do that. We die." - David Christian
David Christian is a distinguished Professor of History at Macquarie University and Director of the school's Big History Institute. David co-founded the Big History Project with Bill Gates and has delivered keynotes at conferences around the world, including the Davos Economic Forum. His Ted Talk has been viewed millions of times and he is the author of many books and articles.
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Also From the Interview with David Christian...
- His book, Future Stories: What's Next
- The questions leading him to write about the future
- How we are always thinking about and telling ourselves stories about the future
- Thinking about the philosophy and science of time
- The two metaphors of time being like a river and a map
- How time is an important concept for complex entities
- Punctuated equilibrium refers to trends from the past to predict changes in the future
- How time is experienced in 3 ways: natural, psychological, and social time
- The best predictions of the future depend on finding the most powerful trends of the past
- The four possible scenarios for the future of humanity
David Christian links:
David's Website
Twitter
Ted Talk
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If you enjoyed this conversation with David Christian, check out these other episodes:
Big History of Everything with David Christian (2019)
What We Know But Don't Believe with Steve Hagen
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