Abstract
“Big History” refers to the teaching of human history at very large scales, including evolutionary history and cosmology. If Minimal English attempts to find a common language for humanity, Big History attempts to find a common historical story, a modern origin story shared by all humans. To what extent, then, can a modern science-based origin story be expressed in Minimal English? In dialogue with Wierzbicka’s Chap. 8, this chapter asks what aspects of a modern origin story will prove most challenging to the Minimal English project.
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Notes
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- 2.
On the current nuclear arsenal, see “Status of World Nuclear Forces”, accessed June 16 2014 from http://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/.
- 3.
Newton later tried to retract the idea of the universe as God’s “sensorium”, but preserved the notion, as a friend put it after conversations with him in 1705, that God was “omnipresent in the literal sense”, and “present in space where there is no body [and] present in space where a body is also present” (Westfall 1993: 259).
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My first major publication on big history was Christian (1991), in the journal of the World History Association.
- 5.
International Big History Association newsletter, “Origins”, 2016, VI.08: 7.
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Appendix: A Partial History of the World and the Rise of Humanity, Told in Minimal English (Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard, September 2016)
Appendix: A Partial History of the World and the Rise of Humanity, Told in Minimal English (Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard, September 2016)
THE “BIG BANG”
A very very long time ago, before there was anything anywhere, something happened. It was not like anything else. Before it happened, there was nothing anywhere, nothing was happening anywhere. After it happened, it was not like this anymore. There were many places. Many things were happening in these places.
THE EARTH
A very very long time after, there was a place not like other places. This place was the Earth. For a very very long time, the Earth was not as it is now. There were no places of any kinds on Earth as there are now. There were no things of any kinds anywhere on Earth as there are now. There was no water anywhere on Earth as there is now.
During this time, many things were happening to the Earth. After this, there were places of many kinds on Earth as there are now, there were things of many kinds in some places on Earth as there are now, there was a lot of water in some places on Earth as there is now.
LIFE ON EARTH
For a very long time, there was nothing living on Earth. At that time there were no living creatures of any kind, there were no things growing in the ground. During this time, many things were happening on Earth. After this, there were living things in many places on Earth, these living things were very very small. For a very long time, they could not feel anything. At the same time, they could know not anything about anything. During this time, many more things were happening on Earth.
A long time after this, there were living creatures of many kinds on Earth. These living creatures could feel something, they could know something about the place where they were, they were very small. At that time there were things of many kinds growing in the ground in many places on Earth.
For a very long time, no living creatures had bodies like people have bodies. During this time, many things were happening to living creatures of some kinds. After this, living creatures of some kinds had bodies, like people have bodies. Some of them lived in the water, some of them lived not in the water.
For a very long time, the bodies of living creatures didn’t have parts like parts of people’s bodies. During this time, many things were happening to living creatures of some kinds. After this, the bodies of living creatures of some kinds had some parts like parts of people’s bodies. During this time there were many living creatures of many kinds not like there are now. Some of them were very big. Some of them lived on the ground, some of them lived in the water, some of them lived above the ground.
For a very long time, no living creatures could think anything about anything. During this time, many more things were happening to living creatures of some kinds. After this, living creatures of some kinds could think some things about some things.
For a very long time, no living creatures of any kind could say anything to any other living creatures. During this time, many more things were happening to living creatures of some kinds. After some time, living creatures of some kinds could say some things to other living creatures of the same kind. They could say these things with their bodies, not with words.
THE RISE OF HUMANITY
For a very long time, there were no people on Earth. During this time, many more things were happening to living creatures of some kinds. After this, the brain of living creatures of some kinds was not like it was before, it was big. After this, there were people on Earth.
PEOPLE’S BODIES
People had bodies, like living creatures of many other kinds had bodies. At the same time, these bodies were not like the bodies of other living creatures. Because of this, people could move not like other living creatures moved. At the same time, people could do many things with some parts of their bodies.
People’s bodies were like this:
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One part of the body was above all the other parts. This part was the head. When people were moving for some time, this part was not near the ground.
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Two long parts of the body were below all the other parts. These two long parts were the legs. When people were moving for some time, these parts were touching the ground, no other parts of their bodies were touching the ground.
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Two other long parts of the body were on both sides of the body. Two parts of these two long parts were not like any other parts. These two parts were the hands. People could move the hands in many ways, as they wanted. Because of this, they could do many things to many things with the hands, as they wanted.
PEOPLE’S BRAIN
People’s brains were not like the brains of other living creatures, people’s brains were very big. Many things, of many kinds, were always happening in people’s brains. Because of this, people could think many things about many things. At the same time, people could say many things about many things.
SAYING THINGS WITH WORDS
People could say many things with words. Because of this, when someone knew something about something, this someone could say it to someone else. After this, this other someone could say it to some other people. At many times, people could say it to children. When these children were not children anymore, they could say it to other children. Because of this, after some time, many people in a place could know many things about many things.
THINKING WITH WORDS
People could say many things with words to other people. At the same time, people could think about many things with words. Because of this, people could think about many things, as they wanted. They could think about many things for a long time.
WHAT PEOPLE COULD THINK
People could think things like this: “I did something a long time before”, “I will do something a long time after”. They could think things like this: “All people die, I live now, after some time, I will die”. They could think things like this: “People can do good things, people can do bad things; I can do good things, I can do bad things”. No other living creatures could think things like this.
HOW PEOPLE LIVED
People lived not like any other living creatures on Earth lived, they lived like this:
They lived with many other people. They said many things of many kinds to many other people. They did many things with many other people. Because of this, many people could do many things as they wanted. After some time, they could do something to many things with fire, as they wanted.
WHAT PEOPLE WANTED TO DO
People wanted to do many things to many places. They wanted to do many things to things of many kinds in many places. They wanted to do many things to living creatures of many kinds in many places.
WHAT PEOPLE WANTED TO KNOW
People wanted to know many things about many things. They wanted to know many things about people. They wanted to know why there are people on Earth. They wanted to know what happens to people after they die. They wanted to know how people can live well.
People knew that it is like this: they can see some things, they can’t see some other things. They wanted to know something about all these things. They wanted to know what happened a very very long time before. They wanted to know what will happen a very very long time after.
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Christian, D. (2018). Big History Meets Minimal English. In: Goddard, C. (eds) Minimal English for a Global World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62512-6_9
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