This free anthropology textbook is being offered by the folks at NASA. Cosmos & Culture, Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context contains 15 chapters written by different scholars and educators from around the world (short bios of each are included) and was edited by Steven J. Dick and Mark L. Lupisella, both of whom also contributed chapters.
This textbook looks at cosmic evolution which is the study of the universe and its constituent parts and how they are constantly evolving. The authors represent a variety of fields in science, history, and anthropology and discuss culture in the context of the universe.
From the Preface the text is described as containing four general themes, “1) Long-term cosmic perspectives can be theoretically and practically illuminat- ing for reflecting on culture; 2) cosmology deeply affects and informs culture; 3) culture may have surprising significance in overall cosmic evolution; and 4) expansion into the wider universe is an important, perhaps critical, endeavor. It is our firm belief that these are themes that can and should be more deeply investigated as our terrestrial culture learns more about the cosmos around us.”
Table of Contents on this Cosmic Evolution Textbook
- Part 1: The Cosmic Context
- Chapter 1: Cosmic Evolution – State of the Science
- Chapter 2: Cosmic Evolution – History, Culture, and Human Destiny
- Part 2: Cultural Evolution
- Chapter 3: Social Evolution – State of the Field
- Chapter 4: The Evolution of Culture
- Chapter 5: The Big Burp and the Multiplanetary Mandate
- Chapter 6: Evo Devo Universe? – A Framework for Speculations on Cosmic Culture
- Dangerous Memes; or, What the Pandorans Let Loose
- Part 3: Cosmos and Culture
- Chapter 8: Cosmocultural Evolution – The Coevolution of Culture and Cosmos and the Creation of Cosmic Value
- Chapter 9: The Intelligent Universe
- Chapter 10: Life, Mind, and Culture as Fundamental Properties of the Universe
- Chapter 11: The Value of “L” and the Cosmic Bottleneck
- Chapter 12: Encoding Our Origins – Communicating the Evolutionary Epic in Interstellar Messages
- Chapter 13: History and Science after the Chronometric Revolution
- Chapter 14: Bringing Culture to Cosmos – The Postbiological Universe
- Chapter 15: Brining Cosmos to Culture – Harlow Shapley and the Uses of Cosmic Evolution
- Contributors
- NASA History Series
Multiple Versions
This free online textbook is offered in several formats including Kindle Readers and all other ebook readers.
View this Free Online Material at the source:
Cosmos & Culture
