Most people think of history as a series of stories—tales of one army unexpectedly defeating another, or a politician making a memorable speech, or an upstart overthrowing a sitting monarch.
Peter Turchin of the University of Connecticut sees things rather differently. Formally trained as a ecologist, he sees history as a series of equations. Specifically, he wants to bring the types of mathematical models used in fields such as wildlife ecology to explain population trends in a different species: humans.
In a paper published with colleagues today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he presents a mathematical model (shown on the left of the video above) that correlates well with historical data (shown on the right) on the development and spread of large-scale, complex societies (represented as red territories on the green area studied). The simulation runs from 1500 B.C.E. to 1500 C.E.—so it encompasses the growth of societies like Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt and the like—and replicates historical trends with 65 percent accuracy.
This might not sound like a perfect accounting of human history, but that’s not really the goal. Turchin simply wants to apply mathematical analysis to the field of history so that researchers can determine which factors are most influential in affecting the spread of human states and populations, just as ecologists have done when analyzing wildlife population dynamics. Essentially, he wants to answer a simple question: Why did complex societies develop and spread in some areas but not others?
In this study, Turchin’s team found that conflict between societies and the development of military technology as a result of war were the most important elements that predicted which states would develop and expand over the map—with those factors taken away, the model deteriorated, describing actual history with only 16 percent accuracy.
Turchin began thinking about applying math to history in general about 15 years ago. “I always enjoyed history, but I realized then that it was the last major discipline which was not mathematized,” he explains. “But mathematical approaches—modeling, statistics, etc.—are an inherent part of any real science.”
In bringing these sorts of tools into the arena of world history and developing a mathematical model, his team was inspired by a theory called cultural multilevel selection, which predicts that competition between different groups is the main driver of the evolution of large-scale, complex societies. To build that into the model, they divided all of Africa and Eurasia into gridded squares which were each categorized by a few environmental variables (the type of habitat, elevation, and whether it had agriculture in 1500 B.C.E.). They then “seeded” military technology in squares adjacent to the grasslands of central Asia, because the domestication of horses—the dominant military technology of the age—likely arose there initially.
This makes Five Continents, all of them surrounded by Water.
Significance sugar cane Juice etc is unclear.
Now look at the latest study and image of the earth as it was Millions of years ago.
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The paleo-tectonic maps of retired geologist Ronald Blakey are mesmerizing and impossible to forget once you’ve seen them. Catalogued on his website Colorado Plateau Geosystems, these maps show the world adrift, its landscapes breaking apart and reconnecting again in entirely new forms, where continents are as temporary as the island chains that regularly smash together to create them, on a timescale where even oceans that exist for tens of millions of years can disappear leaving only the subtlest of geological traces.
With a particular emphasis on North America and the U.S. southwest—where Blakey still lives, in Flagstaff, Arizona—these visually engaging reconstructions of the Earth’s distant past show how dynamic a planet we live on, and imply yet more, unrecognizable changes ahead.
These images come from Ron Blakey‘s maps of the paleotectonic evolution of North America. The first map shows the land 510 million years ago, progressing from there — reading left to right, top to bottom — through the accretion and dissolution of Pangaea into the most recent Ice Age and, in the final image, North America in its present-day configuration.
The next three sequences show the evolution of the Earth’s surface in reverse, from the present day to, at the very bottom, 600 million years ago, when nearly all of the planet’s landmasses were joined together in the Antarctic. The first sequence shows roughly 90 million years of backward evolution, the continents pulling apart from one another and beginning a slow drift south. They were mapped using the Mollweide projection, and, in all cases, are by Ron Blakey.
Some basic information and lesser known facts of The Mahabharata.
1.The Mahabharata was written by Sri Krishna Dwaipayaana, popularly know as Veda Vyasa.
Vyasa is the name given to Krishna Dwaipayayana after he compiled The Vedas.
The term means one who compose excellently.
Vyasa is considered to be an Avatar of Vishnu.
Vyasa is the Great Grand son on of sage Vasista, who fixed the auspicious date for Lord Rama‘s Coronation and who was instrumental in making Kausika as Viswamitra who gave the world the Gayathri mantra.
* Ramayana is reported to have happened in the Treta Yuga while the Mahabharata was in Dwapara Yuga.
Please read my posts on Time, a Non Linear Theory filed under Astrophysics to know more about Indian view of Time
Vyasa is the Grandson of Sakti and son of Parasara.
Vyaya is the father of Suka Mahrishi and the father of Dhrutarastra, Pandu and Vidura.
He dictated it to Lord Ganesh as it is being revealed to him by the Grace of Lord Brahma.
There is an interesting anecdote on this(Adi Parva, Anugramani Parva)
Vyasa , on being revealed the Mahabharata was aghast at the sheer numbers and incidents he had to narrate.
He prayed Lord Ganesh and requested Him to write as he dictates.
Lord Ganesh agreed on the condition that Vyasa should never pause while dictating.
Vyasa made a counter condition that Ganapahy must not write any thing without understanding the full import of what Vyasa dictates.
Ganesh agreed.
Such was the erudition of Vysa and the content of the Mahabharata ,Ganapati had to pause at places to understand the meaning and in the interregnum Vyasa had time to compose further mentally!
If the Mahabharata is a lie or imagination, it is not humanly possible to lie consistently in 100, 000 slokas.
That too you have at least five instances of the narration of the entire Mahabharata in the first Parva,Adi Parva itself when the story of Mahabharata has not begun.
Ask any writer, he will tell you how tough it is .
And the Mahabharata has innumerable sub-stories, which are individually authenticated elsewhere, other than the Mahabharata.
Time is considered Cyclic by the Hindus.
Put it simply the Mahabharata has happened before, in happening, and shall happen in future.
Hence one will find the references in the Mahabharata sub-stories , which were reported to have happened before the reference to the Mahabharata itself.
A separate post on this follows.
3. Vyasa wrote two versions, one is the Bharata Charitra and another is The Mahabharata which is popular.
4.Vyasa wrote The Mahabharata with sub-stoiries in 100, 000 slokas for Mankind,
He also wrote it in 24, 000 slokas without the substories.
He wrote again in a compact form containing 150 slokas,
This is called the Anugramanigathya and is in the First Parva.
4.Vyasa released further editions of the Mahabharata.
One for the Deva Loka with 300000 slokas.
Another for Pithr Loka with 150000.
With 1400000 for the Rakshasas and Yakshas and 100,00 for humanity,.
5.The term Bharata means the narration of the Dynasty of Bharata.
Maha means huge, big, heavy.
The Mahabharata was weighed on a scale against the Vedas.
The scale containing the Bharata was down and heavy.
Therefore the Bharata is called the Mahabharata.
It is also called the fifth Veda as it contains the practical application of the Truth of the Vedas and expands the concepts of the Vedas.
6. Mahabharta contains 18 Parvas or mega Chapters.
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