History Dynamics

INTRODUCTION

History Dynamics, also known as Physical History and Economics (PHE), strives to develop a unified science of history and society by attempting to analyze societies in terms of physical constraints and the response of societies to those constraints. After a long search, the most fundamental, universal constraint upon societies was found the be the Principle of Fast Entropy.

The Principle of Fast Entropy strengthens the Second Law of Thermodynamics by assuming that systems tend to configure themselves in a manner to maximize their RATE of entropy production. By doing so, Fast Entropy can be used to better understand how long processes take as well as how systems become configured. Since societies are systems, models of societies can be constrained and analyzed using Fast Entropy.

Although Fast Entropy provides a driving tendency, it is literally only half of the picture. There are numerous other tendencies such as from the psychological nature of humans or from other physical factors. Such a science must account for the effects of all of the major tendencies.

It is possible to create simulations that represent the changing power of societies overtime, as well as other traits, factors and effects. Such simulations can help illustrate historical ideas and make works visually more interesting. Although such simulations are often only crude approximations, they can help indentify underlying causes, and can be used to compare social structures.

History Dynamics attempts to analyze societies in terms of physical constraints and the response of societies to those constraints.

Motivation

The motivation for this research is to develop a deeper, more sophisticated understanding of society in order to develop tools and techniques to better meet the unprecedented challenges faced by human society. In equally ambiguous alternative wording, the motivation is to increase long-term human happiness.

RESEARCH AREAS:

• Human History
• Resource Bubbles
• Economic Bubbles
• Product Bubbles
• Exoplanet Societies

PUBLICATIONS:

• PHE Case Study #1 (pdf)—Colorado San Juans mining region Modeled Via a Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution (1997); this is also found in PHE, 2nd Ed., above.
• PHE Case Study #2 (pdf)—Rise and Fall of Spain's Golden World, an expanded case study concerning Spain and its New World territories.
• Physical History and Economics, Second Edition — Physical History and Economics, 2nd Edition, a mini-treatise (2009)
• Promotional Sheet and Outline (pdf)

OTHER:

• History + Physics = Sustainability —an introduction of the relavance of physical history to sustainability and how this can open up new opportunities for the field of history for research andin the classroom.