The Great Decline.

According to the laws of thermodynamics entropy is being maximized in our universe as we approach a heat death of maximum disorder. It remains problematic to note that while the universe is a clock winding down, life remains a clock winding up. As life increases in complexity, along with it comes a new development seen only in the sentient creatures produced by the unfolding of life and that is technological developent. Technology also increases in complexity. With technology has arisen a third development, an "information revolution" in which information has taken over and "eaten up" all previous knowledge. However, information by itself is not true knowledge and is fundamentally related to entropy. The more information available the less likely rational decisions become possible and the greater the disorder. Thus, information remains a third component increasing in complexity but at the same time creating more disorder.

We can witness these facts as they unfold in human history. In prehistoric times, man lived a primitive hunter-gatherer existence in harmony with the natural world. We may consider such times as the earliest of human ages before the rise of civilization. However, human life during such periods was painful and short. Alternatively, the humans existing during such times were far stronger and more hardy (but also much smaller in stature) than modern man. With the advance of technology two distinct phenomena emerged. The first of these was agriculture and the taming of the wild. The second was the arrival of civilization. Ancient civilizations were a caste based system in which a class of slaves performed the duties of maintaining a class of rulers. Along with this occurred the development of relgion, which emerged from the primitive omnipotent being of the earliest humans to the civilized deity of ancient man. With the arrival of more and newer technological developments, made possible with the discovery of mathematics, industry developed within society. Further we were to witness a society that became ever more materialistic and acquisitive (initially reflected in the mad pursuit of gold by monarchs, the heirs to the ancient castes).