Abstract
Complex systems throughout Nature display structures and functions that are built and maintained, at least in part, by optimal energies flowing through them--not specific, ideal values, rather ranges in energy rate density below which systems are starved and above which systems are destroyed. Cosmic evolution, as a physical cosmology that notably includes life, is rich in empirical findings about many varied systems that can potentially help assess global problems facing us here on Earth. Despite its grand and ambitious objective to unify theoretical understanding of all known complex systems from big bang to humankind, cosmic evolution does have useful, practical applications from which humanity could benefit. Cosmic evolution's emphasis on quantitative data analyses might well inform our attitudes toward several serious issues now challenging 21st-century society, including global warming, smart machines, world economics, and cancer research. This paper comprises one physicist's conjectures about each of these applied topics, suggesting how energy-flow modeling can guide our search for viable solutions to real-world predicaments confronting civilization today.
Highlights
How wonderful it would be if cosmic-evolutionary research prompted novel insights and practical applications for some of humankind’s foremost challenges today
How humankind might continue meeting those high energy demands was discussed in Section 2; here we explore how such large urban energy flows impact economics both locally and globally
Some researchers do recognize that urban energy metabolism is an economic issue and not merely an environmental one, but their premise, much in accord with currently fashionable equilibrium economics, urges cities to become more efficient by conserving energy [72]
Summary
How wonderful it would be if cosmic-evolutionary research prompted novel insights and practical applications for some of humankind’s foremost challenges today. Nor do I regard evolutionary events to be accurately predictable, even in principle, given that an element of chance always accompanies necessity in the process of natural selection; evolution is unceasing, uncaring, and unpredictable, all the while non-randomly eliminating over time the far majority of complex systems unable to adapt to changing environmental conditions [1] Even so, it seems inevitable, quite ordinary, that new forms of complexity are destined to emerge—some of them perhaps eventually supplanting humanity and its tools as the most complex systems known—just as surely as people took precedence over plants and reptiles, and in turn even earlier life on Earth complexified beyond that of galaxies, stars, and planets that made life possible. I examine not specific predictions, as much as four general trends that might affect humans in the near future: anthropogenic heat warming us, smart machines challenging us, world economics puzzling us, and medical disease afflicting us
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