Big History – Horse Power Revolution

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the second episode of the History Channel’s documentary series “Big History” that presents History on a grand epic scale. 

“Big History” is an American television documentary series narrated by Bryan Cranston, which originally aired on the History Channel in 2013. Each episode covers a single topic from history and shows connections between that topic and various fields of science and social science. Sixteen half-hour episodes aired in the first season, followed by a two-hour finale drawing connections between the sixteen topics.

The series has been criticized for its factual inaccuracies but, despite these mistakes and shortcomings the series brings to the attention of the general public an emerging academic discipline known as “Big History.

Big History explores history on an epic scale “from the Big Bang to the present".

It examines long time frames using a multidisciplinary approach based on combining numerous disciplines from science and the humanities and explores human existence in the context of this bigger picture.

Big History integrates studies of the cosmos, Earth, life and humanity using empirical evidence to explore cause-and-effect relations, and is taught at universities and secondary schools often using web-based interactive presentations.”

This multidisciplinary academic movement was spearheaded by historian David Christian of Australia's Macquarie University, who coined the term Big History.

While some academic historians are skeptical about its value or originality, this twenty year old discipline appears to be poised for further growth.

An effort to make the discipline available worldwide is being funded by philanthropist Bill Gates. David Christian has named this effort the Big History Project.

The second instalment of Big History is titled “Horse Power Revolution”.

The horse has been a revolutionary animal in unexpected ways. It has changed how we speak, what we wear, and sets the hidden limit for the size of our most massive empires. It's a story that spans the cosmos, from the Big Bang, to the Sun, to a changing planet that turned the horse into man's best friend in the animal kingdom.

This episode of Big History is available through Amazon Instant Video.

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