What happened in the Cognitive Revolution?
New Ability | Wider Consequences |
The ability to transmit larger quantities of information about the world surrounding Homo sapiens | Planning and carrying out complex actions, such as avoiding lions and hunting bison |
The ability to transmit larger quantities of information about Sapiens social relationships | Larger and more cohesive groups, numbering up to 150 individuals |
The ability to transmit information about things that do not really exist, such as tribal spirits, nations, limited liability companies, and human rights | a. Cooperation between very large numbers of strangers b. Rapid innovation of social behavior |
The Imperial Cycle
Stage | Rome | Islam | European imperialism |
A small group establishes a big empire | The Romans establish the Roman Empire | The Arabs establish the Arab caliphate | The Europeans establish the European empires |
An imperial culture is forged | Graeco-Roman culture | Arab-Muslim culture | Western culture |
The imperial culture is adopted by the subject peoples | The subject peoples adopt Latin, Roman law, Roman political ideas, etc. | The subject peoples adopt Arabic, Islam, etc. | The subject peoples adopt English and French, socialism, nationalism, human rights, etc. |
The subject peoples demand equal status in the name of common imperial values | Illyrains, Gauls and Punics demand equal status with the Romans in the name of common Roman values | Egyptians, Iranians and Berbers demand equal status with the Arabs in the name of common Muslim values | Indians, Chinese and Africans demand equal status with Europeans in the name of common Western values such as nationalism, socialism and human rights |
The empire's founders lose their dominance | Romans cease to exist as a unique ethnic group. Control of the empire passes to a new multi-ethnic elite | Arabs lose control of the Muslim world, in favor of a multi-ethnic Muslim elite | Europeans lose control of the global world, in favor of a multi-ethnic elite largely committed to Western values and ways of thinking |
The imperial culture continues to flourish and develop | The Illyrians, Gauls and Punics continue to develop their adopted Roman culture | The Egyptians, Iranians and Berbers continue to develop their adopted Muslim culture | The Indians, Chinese, and Africans continue to develop their adopted Western culture |
Notes
想象现实发展出行为模式，并成为文化的主要成分。等到文化出现，出现的那些无法阻挡的变化就成了历史。