§1.1.1.6. The techno-humanitarian balance and the sixth vector of evolution: Virtualization……………………………………………102
§1.1.3.2. Evolutionary dynamics: The Law of requisite variety & the Law of hierarchical compensations……………………………..247
Section 1.2. From the Big Bang to the Olduvai…………………………………….265
Ch.1.2.1. Mega-evolution: Planetary & cosmic contexts of human history…………………………………………………......265
§1.2.1.1. The constructs of World, Global & Universal (Big) history………..265
§1.2.1.2. Versions of Universal history……………………………………….271
§1.2.1.3. Universal history, cybernetics & synergetics……………………….277
Ch.1.2.2. Continuity of the evolutionary mechanisms………………………..283
§1.2.2.1. Collisions of sustainable non-equilibrium in the biosphere………...283
§1.2.2.2. Expansion of evolutionary hyperbole, and – again on the counterfactuals……………………………………………………...290
§1.2.2.3. The cosmological arrow of time…………………………………….295
Part II. Humanitarian determinants of the future………………………………...301
Section 2.1. The midst of the 21st century: The Singularity Puzzle……………....301
Ch.2.1.1. “The laws of nature” & creative mind……………………………..301
§2.1.1.1. The Snooks-Panov Vertical. Mind as an agent of universal evolution…302
§2.1.1.2. The two key questions for strategic forecasting……………………306
Ch.2.1.2. The challenges of the 21st century…………………………………..320
§2.1.2.1. What is meant by “Global crisis”? …………………………………320
§2.1.2.2. Humanist culture and human biology………………………………322
§2.1.2.3. “Knowledge-enabled destruction”………………………………….325
§2.1.2.4. Attractors & scenarios………………………………………………329
Section 2.2. The world-vision paradigm for survival……………………………...344
Ch.2.2.1. Ideology vs. civilization? …………………………………………….344
§2.2.1.1. The concept of ideology. Ideology, religion and quasi-religions in the New Époque………………………………………………….344
§2.2.1.2. Delayed Dysfunction: Group consciousness becomes a global menace………………………………………………………………348
§2.2.1.3. A test for maturity and the “silence of the Cosmos”. Are we taking part in a universal natural selection of planetary civilizations? ………………………………………….357
Ch.2.2.2. Life’s meaning – the pivotal global problem of modernity………..366
§2.2.2.1. The “value gap” in meaning formation……………………………..366
§2.2.2.2. Meanings of life and images of death: their historical scanning……369
§2.2.2.3. Meaning-forming implications of Mega-history……………………383
§2.2.2.4. Drives and emotions………………………………………………...387
§2.2.2.5. The immortality problem: Semantic drifts & language turbulence…………………………………………………………...392
§2.2.2.6. …And what about theology? ……………………………………….402
Note…………………………………………………………………………………...409