Human-Earth System Dynamics

207 Pages·2019·3.45 MB·English

by  Rongxing Guo

Rongxing Guo
Human-
Earth System
Dynamics
Implications to Civilizations
Human-Earth System Dynamics
Rongxing Guo
Human-Earth System
Dynamics
Implications to Civilizations
123
RongxingGuo
Capital University of Economics
andBusiness
Beijing
China
2018 High Talent Program of Beijing Municipal Government Capital University of
EconomicsandBusiness, Information School, Beijing,China.
ISBN978-981-13-0546-7 ISBN978-981-13-0547-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0547-4
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018941225
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To my new colleagues at the Capital
University of Economics and Business,
Beijing
Acknowledgements
This book is part of a larger research project supported by the National Science
Foundation of China (NSFC) entitled “A Study of China’s Industrial
Agglomeration: Evolution and the Cultivation of New Driving Forces”
(No. 71733001).
Manyorganizationsandindividualshaveprovidedgeneroushelpwhilethebook
was prepared. Specifically, the 2018 High Talent Program of Beijing Municipal
Government has enabled me to conduct this research without too many loads of
teaching and other academic commitments. I particularly thank Professor Eui-Gak
Hwang (Seoul), Professor Xinjian Li (Tokyo), Dr. Francis Lankester (Durham),
Dr. Xiaoxuan Lu (Hong Kong), Dr. Matthew Piscitelli (Chicago), Professor Vicky
Xiubao Yu (Shanghai), Professor Kaizhong Yang (Beijing), and Professor Zhang
Yongze (Beijing)—without their generous assistance and advice, this book would
not have been finished, at least not in the present appearance. I must mention my
son—hisdisputingandquarrelingwithmeabouteverythinginhis20shasinspired
me with an in-depth, genetic inquiry into the nonlinear behaviors of humans and
civilizations.
IamespeciallygratefultoPalgraveMacmillan(nowpartofSpringerNature)for
their kind permission of my reuse of the material of my book “An Economic
InquiryintotheNonlinearBehaviorsofNations”(Ihavemadetheusualcitationsin
the text). The content included in the beginning of Chap. 4 is based on a story
whoseauthorshipisunknown.TheimageinFig.6.1iscreatedbyRobertA.Rohde
—thanksgototheGlobalWarmingArtforitspermissionsformyuseofthisimage
inthisbook.Inaddition,IhavealsoadoptedtheimagesavailableattheWikimedia
Commons—anonlinerepositoryoffree-useimages(License:CC-BY-SA 3.0)—in
Figs. 2.3, 4.1c,4.2, and7.1. Whileevery efforthas beenmade toensure copyright
compliance, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, I will be pleased to
make the necessary arrangements at the earliest opportunity.
I have also benefited from many other well-received scholars and authors
throughouttheworld,whoseviewpointsonhumans,civilizations,andnationshave
been adopted or cited (all being for review purposes) throughout this book.
vii
viii Acknowledgements
TheyincludeRobertL.Carneiro,NapoleonAlphonseauChagnon,JaredDiamond,
Yuval Noah Harari, Stephen Lansing, and Charles C. Mann. In addition, the first
nourishment for themindinthis bookdraws on,though mycriticism alsogoesto,
the works of the following experts:
(cid:129) PhilipJ.Adler(ProfessorEmeritusatEastCarolinaUniversity,Greenville,NC);
(cid:129) Henry Thomas Buckle (1821–1862), an English historian who is remembered
for his treating history as an exact science;
(cid:129) Brian M. Fagan (Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of
California, Santa Barbara, CA);
(cid:129) Marvin Perry (Professor at Baruch College, City University of New York);
(cid:129) Randall L. Pouwels (Professor of African and Middle Eastern History at the
University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AK);
(cid:129) Chris Scarre (formerly Deputy Director of the McDonald Institute for
Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, now Professor of
Archaeology at Durham University, UK); and
(cid:129) Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889–1975), British historian, philosopher of history,
and author of the 12-volume book entitled A Study of History.
Lastbutnotleast,theefficienteffortsmadebySpringerNature,especiallythose
of its Beijing Editorial Office (including Lydia Wang, Li, Leana, and Fiona Wu),
havemadethepublicationofthisbookfollowamuchsmoothprocess.Andthanks
are also due to various anonymous reviewers whose useful comments have sub-
stantiallycontributedtothefinalappearanceofthisbook.Ofcourse,allviews and
remaining errors in this book are only my own.
Changping and Huairou, Beijing Rongxing Guo
2018
Contents
1 Win-Stay, Lose-Shift: A Survival Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 A Last Tree Climber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Where Is the Land of Promise?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Winners Stay, Losers Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4 Losers Become Wadiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.5 Exercise: How to Win at Rock–Paper–Scissors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 Human Thermodynamics and Culture (I). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1 From Lamarck to Darwin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 Who Have the Last Laugh?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3 Strong Man, Weak Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.4 Spatial Variation of Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3 Human Thermodynamics and Culture (II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.1 Why Humans Cry?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2 Law of Language Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.3 Religion Is Created by and for the Weak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.4 Lucretius, Poggio, and Sima Qian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.5 Case Study: The Cherokee and Vai Writing Systems . . . . . . . . . . 73
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4 Environment Matters, But Not the Way You Think (I) . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.1 “That’s What I’m Doing Right Now!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.2 Good Environment, Bad Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.3 Old World, New World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.4 New World, Old Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
ix
x Contents
5 Environment Matters, But Not the Way You Think (II) . . . . . . . . . 105
5.1 A Review of the Theories of Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.2 Why North America Had No Civilization?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.3 External Threats as (Dis)incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.4 A Model of Long-Run Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
6 Civilization as Responses to Cyclical Challenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.1 What Do the Myths Say? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.2 Rivers and Cyclical Floods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.3 Cyclical Challenges and Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.4 Let Floods Come More Violent! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.5 Method: Calculating the Probability of Floods in X-potamia. . . . . 143
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
7 Studying Civilizations: Retrospect and Prospect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7.1 In Search of Civilizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7.2 Spatial and Intercultural Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
7.3 Civilizations Come from Earth’s Axial Tilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
7.4 In Cycles Civilizations Only Exist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
7.5 Model: Mathematical Description of a Civilization. . . . . . . . . . . . 170
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Epilogue.. .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 175
Annex.... .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 181
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 A map of the spreading of Homo sapiens throughout the world.... 10
Fig. 2.1 The Neanderthals were replaced by the Cro-Magnons .. ..... .. 35
Fig. 2.2 Tswana (a South African people) hunting the lion. .... ..... .. 37
Fig. 2.3 Gudea (reign c. 2144–c. 2124 BC), Sumerian ruler
of the Second Dynasty of Lagash.. .... .... .... .... ..... .. 40
Fig. 2.4 Human thermodynamic law: mental output versus physical
output.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 41
Fig. 2.5 The Old World: IQ increases with respect to the distance
from Ethiopia.... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 47
Fig. 3.1 Civilizations came from Wa: Linguistic evidence.. .... ..... .. 65
Fig. 4.1 Bali’s rice terrace: Life is easy with the Subak irrigation
system . .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 84
Fig. 4.2 Loess Plateau: Life is never easy along the Yellow River .... .. 86
Fig. 4.3 Sacred Valley: Life falls short of the best, but still better than
the worst.... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 87
Fig. 4.4 The Sumerian cuneiforms, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese
characters ... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 93
Fig. 4.5 Average female height and indigenous populations,
the Americas. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 98
Fig. 4.6 Body mass index (BMI) and indigenous populations,
the Americas. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 101
Fig. 6.1 Sea level changes after the last glacial maximum.. .... ..... .. 130
Fig. 7.1 Earth’s orbit and the seasons for the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 159
Fig. 7.2 Earth: Axial tilt, rotation axis, and celestial equator
and ecliptic.. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 160
Fig. 7.3 Tikal (Guatemala) and Zhengzhou (China): Average monthly
temperatures. .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .. 162
xi