Glossary
big history: The attempt to construct a uni¿ ed account of the past at all scales
from those of human history to those of cosmology; the modern, scienti¿ c
equivalent of traditional creation stories; what this course is about!big men: Anthropological term for powerful leaders in non-state
societies, whose power rests mainly on their ability to accumulate and
redistribute resources.biosphere: The network of living organisms found near the surface
of the Earth; the region of the Earth in which living organisms can be found
(see Gaia).bipedalism: Walking on two legs.black holes: Regions in space of such high density that their gravitational
pull does not even allow light to escape. Black holes can be formed by the
collapse of large objects such as supernovae.BP: Before present.business cycle: A characteristic rhythm of expansion and contraction in
capitalist societies, driven by overproduction and lack of markets.Cambrian era: From c. 570–510 million years ago, the era in which the ¿ rst
large fossils appear; long thought to be the era in which life ¿ rst appeared
on Earth, though it is now known that single-celled organisms existed for
several billion years before this.capitalism: A type of society characterized by elite groups who generate
incomes from entrepreneurial activity; a majority that generates income from
wage-earning activity and exchanges on competitive markets; in Marxist
thought, capitalism, though exploitative, generated higher rates of innovation
than earlier social forms such as tribute-taking societies.C.E.: Common Era; the equivalent of “A.D.”