This website is dedicated to my life-long efforts of seeking to improve our knowledge about our common past, present, and future as inhabitants of the beautiful but limited planet Earth, our one and only home in the otherwise inhospitable cosmos.

 

In the menus, information about me, my work, and my publications can be accessed. At first sight, they may look disconnected. But all of them came as a result of my research into our common human past, the first roots of which began to take shape in January of 1969. Everything that subsequently followed is described under Career Description.

 

My research into this theme has, so far, consisted of three phases:

 

1982-1997: Religion, Politics, and Ecology in Andean Peru
This research has led to the publication of two books:Religious Regimes in Peru (1994): a long-term historical study of this theme focusing on the village of Zurite, and San Nicolás de Zurite (1995): a collection of case studies that I witnessed myself.

 

1993- Present: Big History
This research has led to two books as well as many articles about various aspects of big history. These books are The Structure of Big History (1996) in which a general structure for big history is proposed, and Big History and the Future of Humanity (2010, 2015), in which underlying patterns are outlined that help to explain big history.

 

2017-Present: The Biosphere
A series of chance discoveries starting in 2017 allowed me to discern general principles in our biosphere’s history that had been overlooked so far. This led to my most recent book How the Biosphere Works (2022), in which this theme is explained by using those general principles, including a novel history of the biosphere. The book also contains a few considerations about the future.

 

After having done all of that, I feel to have completed the research project that I embarked upon in 1982. Now, as far as I can see I have reached the point where I have contributed all I can to improve our general understanding of humanity’s history as part of Earth history. But surprises may still await me around the next corner.

 

Whatever may happen in the future, this knowledge as a result of my life-long efforts is intended for helping to make the best possible choices for assuring humanity’s best possible survival and prosperity in the foreseeable future.

 

To be sure, a great many questions remain to be solved. Building on the studies of a great many illustrious scholars, I see my work hopefully, to some extent, as a fresh beginning.  Any serious feedback will be greatly appreciated.