Science, the Deep Past, and the Political

Evidence from the natural sciences substantiate a narrative of the cosmos, earth, life, and humanity. Great amounts of matter do not become more complex and there is a highly uneven process of increasing complexity only where there are increasing energy flows. The pace of emergent complexity in pockets increases with the development of self-consciousness and social organization. This account influences the framing of key political issues such as identity, race and ethnicity, gender, globalization, and environmentalism.