Welcome to the world of David Christian, a renowned historian whose insights have illuminated the vast expanse of human history like never before. David Christian is not just an academic; he is a visionary who has redefined our understanding of the past through his groundbreaking work on Big History. As the co-founder of the Big History Project and author of the critically acclaimed book Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History, Christian has pioneered a multidisciplinary approach that spans billions of years, from the Big Bang to the present day.
Through his captivating storytelling and interdisciplinary perspective, David Christian invites us to embark on a journey that transcends traditional historical boundaries. By integrating insights from cosmology, biology, anthropology, and more, he unveils the interconnectedness of all things and offers profound insights into the human experience. Christian’s work reminds us that we are part of a larger cosmic narrative, shaped by countless forces and phenomena over immense stretches of time. His passion for knowledge and boundless curiosity inspire us to contemplate our place in the universe and the significance of our collective journey through time.
I have this fantasy that in future negotiations over climate change – instead of going into that room and saying, ‘I’m defending Chinese interests,’ or ‘I’m defending Australian interests’ – there will also be an identity inside of each of the negotiators thinking, ‘I’m also defending human interests.’ David Christian
If, in schools, we keep teaching that history is divided into American history and Chinese history and Russian history and Australian history, we’re teaching kids that they are divided into tribes. And we’re failing to teach them that we also, as human beings, share problems that we need to work together with. David Christian
I believe human beings mark a threshold in the development of the planet, of course, but it is only part of the picture. 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. David Christian
Every kid goes to school full of questions about meaning. You know, ‘What’s my place in the universe? What does it mean to be a human being? What are human beings?’ Existing courses cannot help you answer those questions. They can’t even help you ask them. David Christian
If historians don’t tell stories at the scales of creation myths, someone else will. David Christian
Unfortunately, historians have become so absorbed in detailed research that they have tended to neglect the job of building larger-scale maps of the past. David Christian
All religions, all indigenous traditions, all origin stories provide a large map of where you are. David Christian
In literature classes, you don’t learn about genes; in physics classes you don’t learn about human evolution. So you get a fragmented view of the world. That makes it hard to find meaning in education. David Christian
Gravity is more powerful where there’s more stuff. David Christian
I had this feeling that, somehow, we ought to be teaching not just the history of particular nations or particular regions, but the history of humanity. David Christian
We inhabit an obscure planet, in an obscure galaxy, around an obscure sun, but on the other hand, modern human society represents one of the most complex things we know. David Christian
Living organisms are created by chemistry. We are huge packages of chemicals. David Christian
Humans are remarkable: the first species in almost four billion years of life on earth that dominates the biosphere. This gives us the power, in principle, to build societies in which everyone flourishes. But it also creates great dangers because it is not clear that we really understand how to use our potentially devastating powers. David Christian
When very large stars die, they create temperatures so high that protons begin to fuse in all sorts of exotic combinations, to form all the elements of the periodic table. If, like me, you’re wearing a gold ring, it was forged in a supernova explosion. David Christian
Big History’s not going to replace existing educational courses. It’s not an attack on specialisation. It is simply the argument that specialisation needs to be complemented with an overview, which I think is scientific commonsense. David Christian
Learning to domesticate the horse was a sort of energy revolution. David Christian
We, as extremely complex creatures, desperately need to know this story of how the universe creates complexity and why complexity means vulnerability and fragility. David Christian
Big History studies the history of everything, offering a way of making sense of our world and our role within it. David Christian
I think what I was after was a unifying story that could bring everything together, that could give me a sense of the whole of history. David Christian
I remember very vividly, as a child growing up in England, living through the Cuban Missile Crisis. For a few days, the entire biosphere seemed to be on the verge of destruction. And the same weapons are still here, and they’re still armed. If we avoid that trap, others are waiting for us. David Christian
Our goal is to see Big History become a normal part of high school curricula. I’d love to see it being taught in lots of languages. A global course. David Christian
Modern scientific knowledge appeared piecemeal. Historians wrote about human history; physicists tackled the material world; and biologists studied the world of living organisms. But there were few links between these disciplines, as researchers focused on getting the details right. David Christian
What we normally define as history doesn’t interest me. It’s a constraint. David Christian