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Hope

David E Rodriguez

David.Rodriguez@students.dominican.edu

25 November 2015

Dr. Cynthia Taylor

Big History, FYE 1001, section 2

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Hope

This essay will cover my chosen topic of my daughter. This topic interested me

because it is subject matter I am already very familiar with. Creating connections to her

with history was difficult at the beginning but materialized later with the emergence of

life. The Paleolithic era is where the early history of my topic begins and was the most

interesting history time period to study. Through the use of the threshold metaphor for

time periods; this paper will explore the topic of a Homo sapiens named Esperanza.

David Christian and Cynthia Stokes Brown argue that history begins with the Big

Bang Theory, a scientifically important event. The Big Bang is the earliest point in time

that science can go back to in our universe’s timeline. (Christian 19) In contrast to the

Old Testaments origin stating, “When God began to create heaven and earth; the earth

being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from

God sweeping over the water. God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”

(Society 3) The first threshold of the Big Bang is what lays the path to everything that

exists today. Through careful observation of our surroundings we have learned of

cosmic background radiation, a uniform radiation everywhere. With the help of a device

called a spectroscope, humans found that heavenly bodies appear to be moving away

from a center point, this is known as a red-shift in the spectrum. (Christian 17) This is

the beginning of what would be come to be known as life. During this event there was a

rapid inflation of everything that is. This is much like the growth of a child, which also

produces a lot of motion and generates heat. Conceptually from a center point to

expand, everything has a beginning.

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Thresholds two and three have to do with the stars and the appearance of more

complex elements. Humans have studied the stars for a long time and now know they

are “born” and have a measurable lifespan. (Christian 29) They are made up of the

simplest of elements. Some stars become large enough and they get hot enough to

supernova and create immensely more complex elements. (Christian 28) These

elements then get scattered throughout the universe. Our sun is the closest star it is of

average size, and is only halfway through its projected 9 billion year lifespan. (Taylor 5)

My daughter was traditionally born and will hopefully enjoy a long life as well. The

elements that are spread around after a star goes supernova is known as stardust. My

daughter is made up of that very stardust. Another very important element created

during this time, which is essential to my subject is oxygen.

The fourth threshold begins with the appearance of our star the Sun, our solar

system, and the Earth. The pieces needed for these new creations were conveniently

made not too long ago. David Christian and Cynthia Stokes Brown argue that new

chemical elements and compounds orbiting around stars created new astronomical

objects that were physically and chemically more complex, with the potential to provoke

even greater chemical complexity. The process by which these new objects were

assembled is called accretion; this is how our Earth was made. (Christian 39) Without

the just perfectly right conditions present for the planet Earth to be created my daughter

would not exist. Organisms created energy from the Sun through a process called

photosynthesis (Christian 45) Forming the increasing complexity of physical and

chemical elements needed to be able to form the base for my daughter’s physical form

of existence. Without the creation of the atmosphere around the Earth, harmful radiation
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waves could come through and damage my daughter. Chemistry is the domain of

threshold two through four and is used to account for all the chemical makeup of both all

organic and inorganic objects.

The fifth threshold is all about the emergence of life. How to define life is of great

debate that boils down to one basic characteristic that differs between living and non-

living matter. According to David Christian and Cynthia Stokes Brown, the scientific

community agrees that living matter is not chemically in equilibrium as opposed to non-

living matter; any other category separating life and nonlife is more or less vague. Many

scientist agree that life emerged from in or around water, from the simplest living single-

celled organism called prokaryote to later eukaryotes that would introduce metabolism,

reproduction, and adaptation. A scientist named Darwin coined the term natural

selection, which describes a part of life that dictates what organisms live and which die

off through competition of selective breeding. (Christian 59) My daughter is a living

organism of the most complex design. She started out as a single cell and then

multiplied exponentially. Janet MacGregor states, “Inherited potential is decided at

conception as the genes from both father and mother combine to form the new

individual.” This is how my subject came into existence and joined the circle of life. She

is not alone as her body is a host to millions of other living organisms that sprouted into

a different tree of life labeled bacteria. Through natural selection she was brought forth

into life.

Threshold six is compromised of the Paleolithic era, or the “old stone” age, this is

the era in which archeologist believe that Homo sapiens appear to have developed.

There are two schools of thoughts on the emergence of our species; one being the
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multiregional hypothesis and the out of Africa hypothesis. (Christian 90-91) David

Christian and Cynthia Stokes Brown define the beginning separation into current Homo

sapiens as the ability to continually adapt to the changing surroundings and control of

resources; along with the propensity for the use of symbolic language and collective

learning. My daughter is a part of species known as Homo sapiens, which are thought

to have emerged in threshold six. She is currently eight years old and is able to express

herself with symbolic language both through speech and writing. She will be able to

harness the collective learning of the entire human race through the use of the internet.

She is able to use many tools available to us today; she will grow up in a rapidly

technologically advanced world that is growing exponentially. (Messenger 71)

The seventh threshold primarily has to do with the manipulation of the

environment and human growth as a whole. During this time hunter gather societies

seemed to wane, more sedentary societies became the norm. Due to this shift people

had to change the environment to support their new way of life. Agriculture and later

irrigation are developed to help support larger groups. (Christian 104-115) After a long

period of time these larger groups gathered and became towns with permanent

settlements. They expanded and thrived to become cities, which led the way to the

notion of power. (Christian 120-121) Natural resources varied by location and this fueled

war over control of the resources or eventually trade between the civilizations.

Beginning with what is known as the first silk roads. (Christian 179-180) This led to the

global spread of man, now all over the world. This is where the Anthropocene era, a

new epoch signaled by man, begins. My daughter lives in a house that has regulated

water and electricity supplied by the city. These resources are produced elsewhere and
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then distributed through a network and is a concept that came from agrarian civilizations

over two thousand years ago, such as the sewer system. The environment around her

has already been dominated and controlled through many decades of careful land use

planning. She does have a garden where she helps her mother grow fruits, herbs, and

spices; learning how to tend the land is an important skill. However she does not have

to help hunt and gather and instead deals with trade of money for goods. Reading is

one of her passions and exemplifies collective learning and knowledge.

Recent history is the domain of threshold eight; it is where there is much more

concentrated information. It begins with the industrial age and continues into our current

digital age. How the world is shaped now is of direct consequences of events over the

last century. According to British historian Eric Hobsbawm, The most striking change

the post-industrial age saw was the end of the peasant class, the largest social

economic class since the beginning of time. (Christian 281) Which led to a huge amount

of growth in the population increasing consumption greatly. People are enjoying

material wealth like never before. Power has become more refined and classified with

different names, such as socialism, fascism, Marxism, communism, and lastly

capitalism. (Christian 268) There are several wars fought over these ideologies with two

significant wars involving all major world powers. Over the last century many strides

have been made in quality of life as well as equality. Furthermore during this time

humans have had a huge negative impact on the environment as biodiversity dwindles

down to make room for human growth. My daughter is left in a world where there is still

much to be improved on. She will know a world that enjoys great personal material

wealth. She is growing in a world striving to be a more conscience, equal, and

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environmentally friendly. There is not a time she will have not known about recycling

and environmental protection or gender oppression. She will not know of a time where

global communication and the collective information of all of humanity were not

accessible at all times. She is growing in a world that is being well documented thanks

in part to the invention of modern communication technology. (Messenger 191)

Unfortunately she has also not known a world without war.

What is left to discuss is the unknown, a future threshold without a clear idea of

when it will begin. Many examine current global problems from today and their projected

growth to form a bleak future. The list of problems seem to grow, from problems with

rising population and dwindling natural resources to overconsumption and the

production of harmful matter. (Christian 291-296) This has grown into a multifaceted

problem that requires radical change in many areas. Luckily, in no small part thanks to

collective learning, the awareness of many of these issues has grown. There are

positive changes already happening from as small as communities to corporation

endorsements to restore ecosystems. (Christian 297-298) For example amid attacks in

Paris, a global meeting arranged to discuss the world climate and its future will still be

held there. (Lister) The decisions made at this meeting will impact the future greatly.

The future is full of hope for my subject. With the help of a shift of focus from

consumption to conservation she can be involved in the much needed change to

promote the health of the world.

Studying the myriad of very specific events that have led up to this point in time

where we are now, is fascinating to say the least. Right now I feel like our collective

knowledge and research is exponentially growing in every field. I also see the many
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damaging harming effects that we’ve had in the last century alone. My daughter will

have to live with the mistakes of the past ignorance. But I hope to guide her towards a

brighter future and hope she can do the same. I see the future as exciting because of all

the technological advancements. She will continue to grow old in age and wise in

knowledge and according to new studies might live to be 150 or more.

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Works Cited

Christian, David, and Cynthia Stokes Brown. Big History: Between Nothing And

Everything. 1st ed. McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. Print.

Lister, Tim. "COP21: Tight Security Measures Ahead of Climate Summit - CNN.com."

CNN. Cable News Network, 28 Nov. 2015. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

MacGregor, Janet. Introduction To The Anatomy And Physiology Of Children. London:

Routledge, 2000. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

Messenger Davies, Mfire. Children, Media and Culture. Maidenhead, GBR: Open

University Press, 2010. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 28 November 2015.

Society, Jewish Publication. Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures: The Holy Scriptures: The

New JPS Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text. Philadelphia:

Jewish Publication Society, 1985. Print.

Taylor, Cynthia. “Our Sun Star.” FYE 1001.2, Big History. Dominican University pf

California, San Rafel, CA. September 2015. Lecture.