Keywords: complexity, collective learning, demographic cycles, … About: My name is … Decorative patterns painted or glazed on the various items – including Buddhist, Iranian, and Islamic motifs – show the specific market the goods were intended for. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Until this moment the Buddha had never been depicted in human form, but had instead been represented by symbols including an umbrella or footprints in the sand. In Africa, there is strong evidence of new technologies from 100,000 years ago or even earlier. ), Toronto Studies in Central and Inner Asia (pp. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 6.2 ACTIVITY 2. Silk Roads Studies Series. The Kushans in World History. Half a century after the Han began to engage with their western neighbors, Augustus came to power in Rome following a century of civil war. The development of the Silk Roads is also an example of another key theme in Big History – evolving complexity at all scales. 2013: 174–175). The Big History Project Tuesday, 25 October 2016. BIG HISTORY PROJECT / LESSON 8.3 COLLECTIVE LEARNING & WORLD TRAVELERS to grow the collective learning of the time. All rights reserved, Kirova street 143, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. October 31, 2017 November 30, 2017 Big History Project BHP and ELA, BHP General. The comingling of so many goods, ideas, and diseases around a geographical hub located deep in central Eurasia was the catalyst for an extraordinary increase in the complexity of human relationships and collective learning, a complexity that helped drive our species inexorably along a path towards the modern revolution. Volleyball is a great example of collective learning, and also is very relevant to the idea of change over time. As noted above, long before the Tang came to power, many foreign religions had made their way into East Asia. Activity 6.2.1 Review Course Glossary Activity 6.2.2 Objectives Reading: Early evidence of collective learning Activity 6.2.2 Review Course Glossary Activity … 19–45). Turnhout: Brepols. Big History and Collective Learning. Collective learning is the increase in complexity over time as ideas and knowledge are preserved, spread and built up upon among communities. Whether by land or by sea, however, no traders we are aware of ever made their way along the entire length of the Silk Roads during the first era of its operation. By the middle of the last century BCE, conditions in Afro-Eurasia were ripe for levels of material and cultural exchange – and collective learning – hitherto unknown (Benjamin 2009: 30–32). Collective learning is the key to the success of our species. The demise of the Western Roman, Parthian, Kushan and Han Chinese empires resulted in several centuries of less regular contact, but the second ‘Silk Roads Era’ subsequently operated for several centuries between c. 600 and 1000 CE, connecting China, India, Southeast Asia, the Dar al-Islam, and the Byzantines into another vast web based on overland and maritime trade. An example of collective learning can be seen when a … 261–305). Passage One “It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of black … This raises the … What Big History can do is show us the nature of our complexity and fragility and the dangers that face us, but it can also show us our power, with collective learning." Collective learning to a certain degree distinguishes us as Hungry for Han Goods? 8.1 Exploration and Interconnection Exploration required crossing dangerous deserts and deep ocean waters. Intelligence gained through collective learning often leads to power. in collective learning. Bentley, J., and Zeigler, H. 2010. It is a continuous chain of ideas about the universe. Next lesson. With its promise of salvation, Buddhism seriously challenged Daoism and Confucianism for the hearts and minds of many Chinese, and in the end the syncretic faith of Chan Buddhism (Zen Buddhism in Japan) emerged as a popular compromise (Christian et al. The trans-civilizational contacts that occurred through this exchange resulted in the most significant collective learning so far experienced by the human species. The Chinese merchants active in the silk trade became attracted to the faith, too, and returned home to spread the Buddhist message. Our ancestors have passed on their knowledge to us, and as time passed on, we began to develop and expand our knowledge. The physical contexts that made the Silk Roads possible were the product of billions of years of geological change and biological evolution. Christianity eventually spread further to the east along the Silk Roads, through Mesopotamia and Iran, into India, and eventually into China. Benjamin, C. 1998. The Kushan monarchs were not only effective political and military rulers; they also demonstrated a remarkable appreciation of art and were patrons of innovative sculpture workshops within their empire. … Their almost factory-like manufacture demonstrates the existence of a well-organized commercial infrastructure. ‘Made in China’. The Silk Roads are the quintessential example of the interconnectedness of civilizations during the Era of Agrarian Civilizations, and the exchanges that occurred along them resulted in the most significant collective learning so far experienced by the human species. Collective learning is the ability to share information so efficiently that the ideas of individuals can be stored within the collective memory of communities and can accumulate through generations. 2013: 181). Video: The Common Man. (eds. Plagues and People. To survive the harsh winters, the camel grows a long, shaggy coat, which it sheds extremely rapidly as the season warms up. (eds. This restored peace and stability to much of Western Afro-Eurasia, leading to a sharp increase in the demand for luxury goods in Rome, particularly for spices and exotic textiles like silk (Benjamin 2009: 30–32). McNeil, W. H. 1998. 8.2 Commerce and Collective Learning ( Log Out / The appearance of a species capable of collective learning marks a tipping point in the history of the biosphere, after which the very rules of change begin to change. In return for their high value-exports, the Chinese imported a range of agricultural products (including grapes), Roman glassware, art objects from India and Egypt, and horses from the steppes. The more they did this, however, the more nomadic they had to be, so that they could graze their animals over large areas. It is important to look at how collective learning ties into the broader Big History themes developed by Eric Chaisson and Fred Spier: the rise of complexity in the Universe and energy flows. BIg History project (Elements) - Ajay Pursram Tuesday, 6 December 2016. What is collective learning and how have humans used it? The Silk Roads also illustrate another key theme in Big History – evolving complexity at all scales. Their use of collective learning made them an important force for change in Little Big History. : 30–32). Ultimately it was the role of pastoralists as facilitators and protectors of trade and exchange that allowed the Silk Roads and other networks to flourish (Christian et al. Collective learning is sharing information from an individual to another as well as passing it down from generation to generation. One of the distinctive ideas of big history is that of collective learning.David Christian describes collective learning in this way in his Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History:. Benjamin, C. 2009. Between 600–1000 CE, thousands of Buddhist stupas and temples were constructed in China. Collective learning Scale What is Big History? The Han iron was prized in Rome for its exceptional hardness. The primary function of the Silk Roads was to facilitate trade, but the intellectual, social, and artistic exchanges that resulted had an even greater impact on collective learning. Collective learning worked differently in the world zones. The borders of agrarian civilizations were more often vague regions within which the control of rulers fluctuated or was contested by the claims of neighbors or local rulers. Traditions and Encounters. By the middle of the first millennium BCE, a number of large pastoral nomadic communities had emerged with the military skills and technologies, and the endurance and mobility, to dominate their sedentary agrarian neighbors. Humans are cable of doing this because of our powerful brains and language. The Central Asian religion of Manichaeism also benefitted from the silk routes after it emerged in Mesopotamia in the third century CE. Let’s look at one particular type: those based on improve- ments in the way information is exchanged, stored, and circulated within networks — in essence, innovations having to … Silk Roads Studies Series (pp. Once such communities emerged, they facilitated the linking up of all the different lifeways and communities. From the very beginning of human history the exchange of information and ideas between diverse peoples and cultures has been a prime mover in promoting change through this process of collective learning. 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Of another key theme in Big History Project / LESSON 8.3 collective learning, and also is very relevant the! Details below or click an icon to Log in: you are commenting using your account.
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