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The Transition to Global Society as a Singularity of Social Evolution

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The 21st Century Singularity and Global Futures

Part of the book series: World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures ((WSEGF))

Abstract

Dobrolyubov considers three phases of social evolution: Adaptive, Structural and Cognitive (in the past, present, and future, respectively). These phases are separated by two transitions (which can also be considered as two singularities)—the Neolithic and the Global transitions. Social evolution is based on the phases’ differing means of individual and societal competition. In the present Structural Phase, individual competition leads to inequality, whereas societal competition leads to greater uniformity of societal structure. The combination of societal expansion and evolutionary growth limits lead to lifecycles of societies. The size of interacting societies tends to increase throughout evolution towards inclusion of all humankind. This global society can be considered a final point (singularity) of the Structural evolution phase. Then society’s metamorphosis further continues in the Cognitive Phase, which might rely directly on individuals’ need for cognition and self-realization, and not on social institutions. A mathematical trend is developed for the timing of these transformations towards this global singularity. It estimates a transformation to a distinct, larger societal organization type every 2000 years starting with the early Neolithic settlements in 10,000 BCE and culminating in the Global singularity in about 4000 CE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Center for Education and Social and Humanitarian Studies, Moscow, Russia

    Sergey Dobrolyubov

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  1. Sergey Dobrolyubov
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Correspondence to Sergey Dobrolyubov .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Higher School of Economics, National Research University, Moscow, Russia

    Andrey V. Korotayev

  2. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA

    David J. LePoire

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Dobrolyubov, S. (2020). The Transition to Global Society as a Singularity of Social Evolution. In: Korotayev, A., LePoire, D. (eds) The 21st Century Singularity and Global Futures. World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33730-8_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33730-8_24

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