WRITINGS

Books

I'm currently writing a book called Policy and Politics.

I've also started work on several other books.

  • Happiness, on how to experience health, beauty, love, joy, mindfulness, pride, peace, meditation and other forms of luck.
  • Design and redesign: 101 ideas, a collection of ideas for the design and redesign of products, cultural practices and services, from consumer products to sports to education systems
  • Humans, a novel telling the story of humanity through historical figures and prehistoric characters
  • Abecedary, a thriller novel involving romance and organised crime that is also a dictionary of useful words, with each difficult word used in alphabetical order
  • The Story of Everything: A Literary History of the World, an idiosyncratic history of the world that will contain my own translations of excerpts of world literature and my own commentary on the history of the world and of world literature.

To donate, please e-mail me here. Donors get a free copy of a new chapter from a book for every two that I write.

Excerpts from some of these books can be found below.


Policy and Politics

I'm planning to run for election to the South Australian parliament in 2026 and create a new political party.

To learn about my policies or the new party, or to donate, please e-mail me here.

Here is an extract from my upcoming book Policy and Politics.

Solving any country's problems, much faster than we currently do, would be quite easy with an adequate government. In fact, politicians and political parties only need to implement one policy if they implement it well, and the rest of the policy would take care of itself. That policy is to provide adequate staff, resources, guidelines, oversight and optimisation for two core governmental departments:

  • A department of democratic policy development
  • A department of fair payment

As a solution to all of the world's political problems, that might sound quite underwhelming, or unbelievable, or both, especially the second point, so let me elaborate on the latter department first.

Fair payment requires much more than just the fair payment of wage workers by their employers. This is the type of underpayment that labour parties and unions have been focused on since the time of the industrial revolution, and it is still an issue for many workers, but it is no longer the main way that citizens are underpaid. And although it is a project of the left to address this kind of underpayment, the exclusive focus on this comes from a failure to overcome a deep-rooted pro-market fallacy: that prices or exchange values are a good measure of the value of labour.

There are at least four main forms of underpayment:

  • Low wages, relative to profits, the type of underpayment that the left has focused on since at least the time of Karl Marx
  • Underpayment of taxes, especially by the rich and large corporations, which the left has also given considerable attention to in recent times
  • Non-payment (including by the government) for volunteer employee work, a good example of the fallacy of the market valuation of labour at play
  • Underpayment, including non-payment, for other unpaid services to the country and the world, and future services, including non-employee work, such as non-payment or underpayment for the work of being a good mother, and non-payment by government for beneficial independent policy development work.

The latter of these are the ones where underpayment is the most drastic, yet they are the least discussed. Let me illustrate the last form of underpayment with an egregious hypothetical example.

Imagine someone, just hypothetically, spends decades developing skills and knowledge that are relevant to good policy development, without being paid to develop these skills. This is not considered work since it has not yet obviously benefited anyone else. But imagine that she now uses those skills to think deeply about policy, develop some good policies, and spend time promoting these policies, again without pay, since no one is willing to pay her for this work. At this point, it has still not obviously benefited anyone else. Now imagine that as a result of her work, a governing political party adopts these ideas and implements them, and they benefit millions of people around the country, by a very large amount. It's entirely possible that her work, even a single good policy, could provide more benefit to people around the country than the work of 1000 doctors over their entire lifetimes, in terms of both reduction in national or international suffering or extension of national or international life expectancy. I choose doctors as an example because their work is extremely important and the work of a 1000 good doctors will greatly increase the life expectancy and quality of life of Australians, but also because they are the best-paid employee profession in Australia. Collectively, 1000 doctors will earn more than 100 million dollars in a single year, and more than 3 billion dollars in a 30-year career. Yet how much will this person be paid for their policy, even assuming it has provided an even greater benefit to the country than the doctors have? Literally zero dollars.

Of course, it's possible to get paid for policy development, but only if you are lucky enough to find one of the very few paid jobs working on policy development as an employee. You get paid for getting through an interview, and having the requisite qualifications, but if you do the same work without being employed to do so, regardless of the quality of the work and the benefit it provides to others, you have no right to payment, which disincentivises people from doing the most important types of work when they cannot find employment to do that work.

The ideas I'm presenting here are radical ones, but also very basic rights that would benefit everyone in society if respected.

  • You should not need to have an employer that can afford to pay you fairly, or pass an interview to be directly employed under management by the government, in order to get paid fairly by the government for legal work that has clearly benefited your country.
  • You should also receive financial support when doing necessary preparatory work that is likely to eventually have a benefit.
  • Your pay should also be affected by how well you are likely to spend the money.

This means that volunteers should also be paid, by the government, when their employers cannot afford to pay them commensurate to the benefit of their work to the country's interests.

The role for the department of fair payment is to ensure that everyone in the country is paid the right amount, not only by employers, and corporations, but also by the government, according to the benefit of their work to the country, the benefit of what the payments will facilitate, and therefore the benefit of the government payments themselves, and also that employers and employees pay the right amount in taxes.

This would be a big department with a big and difficult job, but the benefits to every country in the world would easily make up for the cost. It would also facilitate running some other departments, like the department for democratic policy development, with much of the work being done by contributors who don't have to go through an official employment process to get paid if the department judges their contributions beneficial.

The nature of the department for democratic policy development will be discussed in the next chapter.

Note: In Australia we have an organisation called the Fair Work Commission, which attempts the work of fairly regulating employment to ensure adequate payment of employees by their employers. For example, they increase the minimum wage in line with increases in the CPI, the central bank's estimate of inflation in consumer prices. This is important work but it is not adequate for fair payment for the reasons discussed above.

The Story of Everything



Dante

My translation of the first few lines of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Hover or tap on the hidden paragraphs to see:

  • the original Italian;
  • a literal word-for-word translation.

If you would like to comment on this translation or ask any questions you can contact me here.

Hell (Inferno)

Song One

Midway along the wild path of life,
I stumbled through the darkness of a wood,
in which the straight track had been lost from sight.

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.

In-the middle of-the path of our life
me I-found for a forest dark,
of-which the straight way was lost.

How hard it is to say what that thing was,
this forest, savage and fierce that drowns with power,
that just to think of it renews my fear.

Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura!

Ay how to say what it-was is thing hard
this forest savage and harsh and strong
that in-the thought renews the fear!

It is so harsh that death is not much worse,
but to portray the good that I found there,
I will recount of other things I saw.

Tant’è amara che poco è più morte;
ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai,
dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ ho scorte.

So-much it-is bitter that little is more death;
but to portray of-the good that I there found,
I-will-tell of the other things that I there have seen.

I can't explain how I had ended there,
so tired had I fallen by that point,
that I abandoned every careful way.

Io non so ben ridir com’i’ v’intrai,
tant’ero pien di sonno a quel punto
che la verace via abbandonai.

I not know well to-recount how I there entered,
so-much I-was full of sleep at that point
that the true way I-abandoned.

But when I reached the foot of that kind hill
at which that freezing valley came to rise
that pierced my heart with fear until that point,
I looked above and saw its shoulders clothed
already with the warmest rays of sun,
the light that leads us all on every path.

Ma poi ch’i’ fui al piè d’un colle giunto,
là dove terminava quella valle
che m’avea di paura il cor compunto,
guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle
vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta
che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle.

But then when I was to-the foot of a hill reached,
there where ended that valley
that to-me had of fear the heart pierced,
I-looked to high and saw the its shoulders
clothed already with-the rays of-the planet
that leads straight others through every path.

Then was the fear a little quieted,
which'd lasted like a black lake on my heart
that night which I'd just passed with so much sorrow.

Allor fu la paura un poco queta,
che nel lago del cor m’era durata
la notte ch’i’ passai con tanta pieta.

Then was the fear a little quieted,
that in-the lake of-the heart to-me had lasted
the night that I passed with so-much sorrow.

And like one soaked and gasping out of breath
who has come out of the ocean to the shore
turns and looks upon the crashing waves,
so the spirit mine that still was fleeing,
turned behind to gaze along the path
that never yet left anyone alive.

E come quei che con lena affannata,
uscito fuor del pelago a la riva,
si volge a l’acqua perigliosa e guata,
così l’animo mio, ch’ancor fuggiva,
si volse a retro a rimirar lo passo
che non lasciò già mai persona viva.

And like one who with breath laboured,
having come out of-the sea to-the shore,
turns to-the water perilous and looks,
just-so the spirit mine, that still was-fleeing,
itself it-turned to behind to gaze the path
that never left yet any person alive.


Dante

Hover or tap on the hidden paragraphs to see two translations:

  • a literal word-for-word translation;
  • a semi-literal translation in mostly-iambic verse.

If you would like to comment on this translation or ask any questions you can contact me here.

Inferno

Canto Uno

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.

In-the middle of-the path of our life
me I-found for a forest dark,
of-which the straight way was lost.

Midway along the wild path of life,
I stumbled through the darkness of a wood,
in which the straight track had been lost from sight.

Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura!

Ay how to say what it-was is thing hard
this forest savage and harsh and strong
that in-the thought renews the fear!

How hard it is to say what that thing was,
this forest, savage and fierce that drowns with power,
that just to think of it renews my fear.

Tant’è amara che poco è più morte;
ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai,
dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ ho scorte.

So-much it-is bitter that little is more death;
but to portray of-the good that I there found,
I-will-tell of the other things that I there have seen.

It is so harsh that death is not much worse,
but to portray the good that I found there,
I'll tell of other things therein I saw.

Io non so ben ridir com’i’ v’intrai,
tant’ero pien di sonno a quel punto
che la verace via abbandonai.

I not know well to-recount how I there entered,
so-much I-was full of sleep at that point
that the true way I-abandoned.

I can't explain how I had ended there,
so tired had I fallen by that point,
that I abandoned every careful way.

Ma poi ch’i’ fui al piè d’un colle giunto,
là dove terminava quella valle
che m’avea di paura il cor compunto,
guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle
vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta
che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle.

But then when I was to-the foot of a hill reached,
there where ended that valley
that to-me had of fear the heart pierced,
I-looked to high and saw the its shoulders
clothed already with-the rays of-the planet
that leads straight others through every path.

But when I reached the foot of that kind hill
at which that freezing valley came to rise
that pierced my heart with fear until that point,
I looked above and saw its shoulders clothed
already with the warmest rays of sun,
the light that leads us all on every path.

Allor fu la paura un poco queta,
che nel lago del cor m’era durata
la notte ch’i’ passai con tanta pieta.

Then was the fear a little quieted,
that in-the lake of-the heart to-me had lasted
the night that I passed with so-much sorrow.

Then was the fear a little quieted,
which'd lasted like a black lake on my heart
that night which I'd just passed with so much sorrow.

E come quei che con lena affannata,
uscito fuor del pelago a la riva,
si volge a l’acqua perigliosa e guata,
così l’animo mio, ch’ancor fuggiva,
si volse a retro a rimirar lo passo
che non lasciò già mai persona viva.

And like one who with breath laboured,
having come out of-the sea to-the shore,
turns to-the water perilous and looks,
just-so the spirit mine, that still was-fleeing,
itself it-turned to behind to gaze the path
that never left yet any person alive.

And like one soaked and gasping out of breath
who's come out of the ocean to the shore
turns and looks upon the crashing waves,
so the spirit mine that still was fleeing,
turned behind to gaze along the path
that never yet left anyone alive.

The Abecedary

Note: The goal of this novel is to cover all useful words from the Shorter Oxford Dictionary (which is much larger than the Concise Oxford), and generally that means a word that is still in use, in the standard use. However, occasionally an old word that is rarely used anymore can be made more useful if we change the sense, for example, using a noun or adverb as a verb.

For example, "aback" as an adverb is quite useless outside of sailing and the idiomatic phrase "taken aback", since in other contexts we just use the standard "backwards", but if we use it as a verb to mean "go backwards" and "move back" it becomes more useful, as we do not have a general verb for this in English.

For another example, the word "abaying" appears nowhere in our dictionaries. Its root "abay" appears in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary only as a noun, which is strange since it comes from the French verb "abayer", a variant of "aboyer", related to the Italian verb "abbaiare". Given its verbal origins in French, I have treated it as a verb and conjugated it to become "abaying", which is more useful than the corresponding noun.

These are exceptions to the general rule though, that I will stick to words in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary within the implied uses.

Here is the first page or so of the novel:

The abaying of the hounds

Abacking our automobile with abandon,
my hand abases my partner's thigh.
Abashed but absolutely pleased, she says "I love..."
but is abbreviated by the hounds
abaying us as they approach.
Accelerating as I turn the car about,
our lust abated,
I play on her abbreviature: "I love too".
The abbot having abduced
that I was abdicating from the family,
my wife and I were abducting one another.
One of their dark cars pulled abeam our own.
Our hearts abeat, our four eyes mirror
four beams of light in the snow.

Amore ab initio

Admiring her abearance of my abdication,
I reminisce first spotting her,
abeigh the Aberdeen abbey,
chatting to one of her Apostolic Sisters,
marching two abreast along the cobbles towards me,
mentally agape by the Old Town House.
Her friend, Abigail,
noticing my future wife aberr on catching my eye,
happily scurried off,
abetting her sister's aberrance.

The abhorrence

I had come to abhor the family:
the arrogance of their cruelty;
the stupidity of their evil.

Ab intra the abeyance

We abide the cold stone cottage,
an abeyance from my grand aunt's death,
until a plan hatches from the fire -- abiogenesis
from the abiotic volcanic wasteland of the young Earth.

A history of the human species in 90 seconds

About 2 million years ago, approaching the peak of an ice age, at least one species of ape evolved a lack of fur and the ability to run long distances, developed technology including stone tools & the use of fire, and spread out across Asia from Africa.

Scientists refer to these running hairless apes as humans. These early people still had a brain not much larger than the brain of a chimpanzee, but around the same time their brains started rapidly evolving an increase in size.

About 1 million years ago global temperatures dropped to an average of about 9 degrees, one of the coldest eras in the last 500 million years, and the total population of people on the planet dropped from perhaps around 100 000 individuals to perhaps just over one thousand individuals.

By 300 000 years ago, after the planet had started to warm up a little, the brain in some groups of humans was now about 3-4 times larger than a chimp brain, including the group that left behind the oldest Homo sapiens fossils that we have in Morocco.

By 200 000 years ago, Homo sapiens like us had taken over Africa,

Part One: Flight From Africa

Orogk, Tora, Oao, Aoa

Orogk collapsed in a show of fatigue by the second fire his sister had built, laying his forearm across his face. Then he looked up at her, clearly still draining emotion, but surprisingly calm. She had overheard the beginning of his argument with the elders, as the drunk older men were yelling, and worried he might get in a fight again, but this time Orogk had managed to keep his own voice calm and everything had settled down to a haunting murmur, so she couldn't make out their final discussion. His eyes looked heartbroken, resigned, yet that twinkle that everyone saw was as strong as ever; still grieving for what they were about to leave behind but shining with hope and determination. As was the custom, he waited for his elder sister to speak first.

"We're leaving?"

He nodded, then remembered the others, and said "Yes, tomorrow morning".

They had finished building the last boat earlier that day. Four canoes, four paddles, four spears and all of their meagre possessions were waiting for them on shore.

The hunger of Orogk's tribe

Orogk loved setting out across the channel, the stress of society shrinking into the distance behind him, as the spacious expanse of the ocean opened before him.

They didn't have enough food. Prey animals were scarce. The women blamed the men for hunting too much and gathering too little. The men blamed the drought, which they blamed on the women. In one of their earlier arguments, Orogk had pointed out that things hadn't been great even before the drought. No one had seen the larger game in the area since their grandparents were young. When the men came back empty handed from a hunt, most of them refused to do what they called "women's work", and got drunk instead. Some got violent.

But even if the men turned to gathering, it would help only a little. There was only limited supply of seeds, fruits and edible tubers in the area. They were filling up on wild greens, but this barely took the edge off the hunger, and did not halt the emaciation. They used to store enough honey for long enough that some would turn into mead, but both had run out months ago. One tuber that grew in the area was plentiful, but it was too fibrous and bitter, not edible. It could only be fermented to make beer. The tribe were getting too skinny and too drunk.

There was also a limited supply of fish. Even here, most of the men were only interested in spear-fishing, which was considered hunting, and therefore men's work. Net fishing was considered gathering, and therefore women's work, and in this case the women didn't want the men's help anyway. The job of net fishing had traditionally been restricted to a small number of women due to the limited supply of fish in the area.

Orogk hated to admit it, but the men did have one horrifying but valid reason for sticking to hunting despite the lack of game. Not only was there a limit to what could be gathered, but everyone felt the men needed to be trained for war. If a neighbouring tribe got desperate enough for food, which became more likely in a drought, their clan might invade, hoping to take what little food remains, or worse.

Or if we get desperate enough, we might become the invaders, Orogk thought.

He waited for the swell of foreboding to pass and his attention drifted back to the ocean beneath his canoe.

Orogk goes fishing

Some months ago, Orogk had asked the women permission to take a small spare fishing net and travel across to fish on the island now called Perim that his people called Snake Poison Island due to its location below the "fangs" (Ras Menheli in Yemen) of the great "serpent" (The Red Sea). He knew they would beat him over the head with their scrubs and call him a fool, but he was also confident that he could persuade them. They knew how competent he was in a canoe, and they were starving. He knew the men would laugh, and would laugh again if he came back with very little. And he knew coming back with little was likely, since he didn't have much time to fish while he was there. The journey back, with the net dragging behind him to keep the fish alive and fresh, would be even longer than the journey there. As it turned out, those who had laughed were partly right. Although the island was uninhabited and the fish were more plentiful there, so that the fishing itself only took a short time, it took almost half a day to get there, and half a day and half a night to get back. The amount of fish he was able to drag back wasn't enough to justify the dangers and the late return long after dark.

Part Two: Marcion and Jesus

Port Ostia

All ships part the water, but no ship parted the sea like Moses.
From the prow, Marcion of Sinope soaked in the vista,
sky, sea, land, Rome.
The cold wind was defeated by the fierce sun in blue heaven and Marcion's excitement.
From a distance, the harbour always seemed still.
But as any son of man came closer, as the image of the wooden jungle grew in a man's soul,
a boy's vision would start to sparkle.
And sparkle more.
A boy's ears would begin to hum.
And hum louder.
A mortal's nose would begin to make his mouth water and his stomach churn with simultaneous hunger and disgust
as a human was surrounded by the chaotic sights, raucous noises and breathing smells of Ostia:
cooked fish upon steel;
timber and more steel and raw fish upon lumber;
and parchment.

That smell Marcion had brought with him. But now he could smell more, and he breathed it in. He'd bought one of Paul's letters here a year ago, and had since completed his collection, but the man he bought it from had promised him something far greater. Stories and sayings of Jesus himself, that he claims were written down by Mark, interpreter to Peter. This would be expensive. Marcion was one of few who could afford the asking price. For that kind of money, there were men who would forge anything. Marcion suspected that even a few of his "Paul" letters may have been forged. But they were worth the price. And this gospel of Mark promised to be worth a lot more than any man could pay.


Timeline of the known world

according to scientists, historians and legends


If you would like to comment on this timeline or ask any questions you can contact me here.

  • bya = billion years ago
  • mya = million years ago
  • kya = thousand years ago
  • BCE (before common era) = BC (before Christ)
  • CE (common era) = AD (anno domini)

Scholars believe:

More than 13 billion years ago (bya)

Estimated beginning of the Big Bang. Within a second neutrons, protons (hydrogen nuclei) and electrons formed. Within a few minutes, helium nuclei formed. But it took about 400 000 years for the temperature to drop low enough for electrons to begin to orbit these nuclei and create atoms, which coincided with the creation of the first photons, the first light.

~13.6-15.3 bya

About 200 million years later, the first stars had formed,1 probably including the Methuselah star in our own galaxy, the oldest star our scientists have measured, just 190 light-years away.

~13.4-15.1 bya

Another 200 million years or so later, the first galaxies had formed, including our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

More than 12 bya

Within one billion years of the formation of atoms, the first planets formed.

~10 bya

Andromeda probably formed around this time, the closest galaxy to our own.

~4.6 bya

The Sun formed, surrounded by a disc of solid materials, starting as dust, later coalescing to become asteroids and planets.

~4.5 bya

Around 100 million years later, the Earth and the Moon had formed, likely from a collision between two early planets. Immediately following the collision Earth was still molten lava even at the surface, over 1000 degrees, and too hot to sustain life.

~4.3-4.1 bya

The Earth cooled to an average temperature at sea level of 100 degrees Celsius, cool enough for liquid water on the surface, eventually covering the planet in one large ocean. The first self-replicating organisms appeared, possibly RNA-based proto-cells similar to virus cells.

~4.0-3.8 bya

The first self-replicating DNA-based organisms evolved, also single-celled, like bacteria.

~3.5 bya

Cyanobacteria started to create oxygen.

~2.9-2.4 bya

For the first time, the average temperature dropped to the same temperature as today and then much lower as the first ice age began. Ice covered the south pole for the first time.

~2.5-2.2 bya

First oxygen-using organisms evolved.

~2.4 bya

The abundance of oxygen broke down methane leading to the Huronian Glaciation, one of the coldest periods in Earth's history, and water was frozen across the whole planet.

~1.8 bya

Through the shifting of tectonic plates below the surface of the ocean, the largest continent yet begins to form.

~520 mya

After more than two billion years of evolution, the first fish evolved. They were the first vertebrates, meaning the first animals to have spines.

~470 million years ago (mya)

The first land plants evolved from algae.

~500 mya

Average temperature reaches about 30 degrees, the hottest in billions of years.

~400 mya

First plants with roots and first insects.

~375-350 mya

The first amphibians evolved, though not yet members of the clade "Amphibia".

~350-330 mya

The first reptiles evolved.

~350-170 mya

The first amniotes, dinosaurs and mammals evolved.

~335 mya

The supercontinent Pangea forms, the largest continent yet. ("History of the Earth" video)

~300 mya

Another ice age occurs. Average temperature drops briefly to about 12 degrees.

~300 mya

Average temperature spikes to 35 degrees, again the hottest in billions of years.

~150 mya

The first birds evolved.

~150 mya

The first flowers evolved.

~110 mya

The continent that is now Africa split from the continent that is now South America. They drift apart due to the splitting of the tectonic plates beneath them. The land mass that is now India and Madagascar split from the landmass of Antarctica and Australia and started drifting towards what will become Asia.

~90 mya

The first bees evolved. Argentinosaurus also, perhaps the largest land animal ever, also existed around this time. The continent that is now Australia split from the continent that is Antarctica. The landmass of India split from Madagascar and continues North.

~90-66 mya

The first primates had evolved by this time.

~66 mya

The Chicxulub asteroid struck the water just off the coast of what is now Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. All dinosaurs except for birds became extinct. This is the same Peninsula that would later be the home of the Mayan civilisation.

~50 mya

Global temperatures reach a peak of 27 degrees before beginning a steady decline.

~50 mya

India collided with Asia and formed the Himalayas. Europe, North America and other continents were now quite a similar shape to their current forms.

~35-20 mya

The first apes had evolved.

~20-2 mya

UY Scuti, now the largest star observed by volume, may have formed around this time. It is about 5 billion times larger than our Sun by volume but much less dense than our Sun with about 30 times more mass.

~10 mya

North America and South America conjoined.

~10-5 mya

The ancestors of humans in Africa began to evolve separately from the ancestors of chimpanzees and bonobos. Initially some species may have had as few as 10-20 individuals in the species. Other species may have had as many as 500 individuals. Archaeologists have found fossils that have been dated to this period in Africa, Bulgaria and Greece. ("Seven Million Years of Human Evolution" video)(List of human evolution fossils)

~4 mya

Our ancestors the Australopithecus had evolved feet that are exclusively for walking and running and could no longer grasp branches or other objects with their feet. The total population of Australopithecus anamensis may have been as much as 1000 individuals.

~5.6-1.9 mya

All human fossils from this period are African.

~3.5-2 mya

Some of our ancestors, including Homo Habilis, began to make stone tools. Their population may have grown as large as 10 000.

~2.3 mya

Homo Habilis may have learnt to control and use fire at this time or later.

~2-1 mya

Homo erectus successfully migrated out of Africa and spread out across Asia and Europe. Homo Erectus were capable runners with larger brains and greater dexterity than Homo Habilis, and their stone tools were more sophisticated. They may have had language too. Again, the species would have started as a small group of 10-20 individuals, but there may have been 500 or more individuals by the time some of them left Africa. Archaeologists have found fossils outside Africa dated to as early as 1.8 mya in Georgia, 1.7 mya in China and 1.4 mya in Spain and Indonesia. The population of Homo erectus in Europe alone may have grown to about 2000 by that time.

~1.2 mya

The total population of humans on the planet grew to around 100 000 to 300 000 individuals.

~1 mya

R136a1, the heaviest star observed by current estimates, probably formed around this time. It is about 250-300 times heavier than our Sun and about 80 000 times larger by volume.

~950 to 850 thousand years ago (kya)

A group of humans, four small humans and one large adult, leave footprints that are still visible as fossils today on what is now the coast of England. This is the starting point for "The World" by Simon Sebag Montefiore (book).

~930-813 kya

Global temperatures have been dropping for a long time and have suddenly dropped even further to an average of about 10 degrees. The total population of humans including homo erectus on the planet drops to around 1000 individuals.

~900-40 kya

Boats were invented.

~600 kya

Average temperatures drop to about 9 degrees, perhaps the lowest in 500 million years.

~500 kya

The oldest fossil classified as Neanderthal is Spanish and dated to this period.

~500-83 kya

Some humans started wearing clothes by this time.

~400-300 kya

Spears were invented, including in Germany. Trade had developed, along with the long-distance transport of resources. The population of Homo erectus in Asia may have grown to as much as 10 000 by this time.

~300-100 kya

The oldest fossil confidently identified as Homo sapiens is Moroccan and dated to this period. Some fossils suggest that within 200 000 years or so they had spread to Greece, Ethiopia, Israel-Palestine, Tanzania, South Africa and China. By the end of this period, some humans have added grains to their diets, along with the other seeds, roots, fruit, leaves, insects and other meat they were already eating.

~75-74 kya

The Toba supervolcano eruption occurred. Following this the total human population may have dropped to around 1000 to 20 000 individuals. It is not clear what the population was prior to this.

~50-40 kya

Arrows and flutes had been invented by this time, and probably shoes too. The fossil record suggests that by this time Homo sapiens were living in Laos and Australia and not long after in the UK, Japan, Russia and Europe.

~50-1 kya

Giant animals called "megafauna" that were hunted by humans begin to go extinct, including Diprotodons, Mastodons and Mammoths. (Quaternary extinction event)

~28-14 kya

Humans invented rope, ceramics, fishing hooks, pottery and bread, and domesticate the dog. Some were also eating legumes by this time.

~15 000 BCE

By this time, it appears humans had reached North America, presumably crossing from Siberia to Alaska before heading south, and spreading to South America by 9000 BCE. Now all major landmasses except for Antarctica were inhabited by humans. However, Fiji was not inhabited until around 3,500 years ago, and Polynesia and Aotearoa (New Zealand) until around 1000 years ago.

~12 000 BCE

This point defines the beginning of the current period called the "Holocene". The human population at this time has been estimated as more than one million. By this time both large and small animals were going extinct, generally species that were hunted by humans or otherwise affected by human activity. (Timeline of extinctions in the Holocene)

~11 000 - 9000 BCE

Agriculture and the domestication of sheep began in the Middle East.

~9000-8000 BCE

The oldest surviving buildings are about this old, also in the Middle East. Large settlements like Çatalhöyük in Turkey start to form.

~9000-6000 BCE

Rice agriculture began in China.

~7000 BCE

Alcohol fermentation to make mead from honey has begun by this time in China, but was probably used much earlier, since it happens naturally with long-term storage of raw, unpreserved honey.

~6000-3000 BCE

Sumerians, Egyptians and others invented early forms of writing, starting as proto-writing. Metalworking has also begun by this time.

~5500 BCE

Sailing boats were in normal use by this time.

~4000–3500 BCE

The wheel had been invented. Horses were domesticated around this time. This led to the spread of the Indo-European language family by horse-riding cultures. By around this time, the proto-Afro-Asiatic language has split into Egyptian and Semitic branches, the latter of which eventually became Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic and Arabic. (Evolution of the Indo-European Languages)

~3000 BCE

Cities of over 30 000 people like Uruk had formed in the Middle East. (The history of Indo-European migration with the percentage of ancestry)

~3000-2200 BCE

Egypt was the largest empire in history at this time. They started making paper (papyrus) by this time.

~2300 BCE

The Pyramid Texts, some of the oldest literature in the world, were written.

~2300 BCE

A dictionary was written in Mesopotamia.

~1800-1600 BCE

According to Abrahamic religious tradition, this was the time of Abram of Israel, later called Abraham, whose descendants became slaves in Egypt by the time of Moses.

~1600 BCE

The Epic of Gilgamesh was written in Babylonia.

~1550 BCE

The Shang Dynasty began in China.

~1500-1000 BCE

The Sanskrit Vedas, early texts of Hinduism, were written in India.

~1400-1200 BCE

The Bible would later tell a story of an exodus of Israelites from captivity in Egypt that religious tradition places at this time. Archeology tells us that Egpyt was occupying Canaan at this time, so it is possible some were taken to the capital as slaves, but it is also likely that the ancestors of the Hebrews were freed by from the explusion of Egytian rule from Canaan that happened around 1200BC rather than by an exodus from the area that is now Egpyt. (Film: Exodus: God's and Kings)

~1300-1180 BCE

Troy was destroyed (Level 6 and level 7a). This may have inspired the events of Homer's Iliad, which inspired other works like Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. According to legend, Aeneas travelled from Troy to Italy and his descendant Romulus founded Rome in 753. (Book: Iliad) (Play: Troilus and Cressida) (Film: Troy) (Show: Troy: Fall of a City)

~1122 BCE

The Shang Dynasty in China overtook Egypt to become the largest empire to date in history by land area.

~1200 BCE

By this time Indo-European languages and culture have taken over Greece, Turkey, Eastern Europe, and the areas North of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea in Russia. The Italic language, which had split from Celtic and would become Latin, arrived in northeast Italy from the central Europe.

~1040 BCE

The Zhou Dynasty began in China.

~1000-900 BCE

Athens was united. A Greek alphabet was created from Semitic and Phoenician characters, adding vowels. The Italic language had taken over most of the Italian peninsula, but the Etruscans and some Greek colonies remain. The first versions of the books of the Torah, the oldest parts of the Old Testament, were written including parts of Genesis. According to legend, King David then King Solomon reigned in this period, and Israel was split by civil war into Israel and Judah.

~1020 BCE

United Israel was founded. Thebes in Egypt grew to a population of over 100 000 people.

~900-700 BCE

Greece began to colonise the shores of the Mediterranean. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and other great works of Greek literature were written. In Hebrew, the Book of Job was written.

~900-500 BCE

Early forms of writing developed independently in Central America.

~800-400 BCE

The Book of Songs was written in China and the Upanishads were written in India. The presumably fictional "Leir of Britain", the basis for King Lear, lived around this time according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistorical History of the Kings of Britain.

~722-586 BCE

Assyrians conquered Israel. Judea, the nation of Jerusalem and the Hebrew language, remained independent for over a century before being conquered by Babylonia. After this, Aramaic began to replace Hebrew as the primary language of Jerusalem. By this time much if not all of the Hebrew Bible (known by Jews as Tanakh and by Christians as the Old Testament) had been written.

~597-538 BCE

After Judea was conquered, some Hebrews, especially wealthier Hebrews, were exiled from their homeland and moved to other parts of the Babylonian empire. Eventually, Cryus the Great allowed their return. The Hebrew Bible may have influenced Cyrus' decision to allow the return of the Jews to Judea. By around this time, monotheistic Judaism had become the religion of Jerusalem and Judea.

~551-479 BCE

The life of Confucius. The Dao De Jing was also written around this time.

~546-510 BCE

The Persian Achaemenid Empire conquers Lydia (now Turkey) and became the largest Empire to date in world history, by population and land area.

~509 BCE

Rome, or members of the Roman elite, overthrew their monarchy and became a "Republic", but the wealthy Patrician class comes to have most of the power in the new constitution.

~493-490 BCE

Shakespeare's play Coriolanus is based on Roman general of that name and events that supposedly happened at this time.

~490-449 BCE

Persia tries to conquer Greece in the Greco-Persian wars. (Book: Herodotus, Histories) (Films: 300: Rise of Empire, 300)

~480-474 BCE

The Greeks and the Carthaginians fight in the First Sicilian War. Carthage had been the only major power in Sicily until the Greeks arrived.

~472-431 BCE

Discourses of the Buddha was written. In this period between the middle of the Greco-Persian wars and the middle of the Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta, the great plays of Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes were written, widely considered the greatest pre-Shakespearean plays.

~431-404 BCE

The Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides claims that he began writing his book on the war immediately when the war broke out. Timon of Athens, who Shakespeare wrote a play about, supposedly lived at this time. In 429 BC, the Athenian leader Pericles died. (Shakespeare's play "Pericles" is fictional and does not relate to the historical events of his life.) (Book: Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War.) (Game: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey)

~430-400BCE

By this time the Indo-European languages had taken over almost all of Europe including Britain and Ireland, but large parts of Spain still spoke pre-Indo-European-languages, along with the Etruscans in Italy. (The History of the European languages 4000 BC - 2021 AD)

~411-404 BCE

A coup established a ruling council known as The Four Hundred. This lasted only a few months before its collapse and the eventual restoration of democracy. Later, another coup by the rich men of Athens, some of whom were reportedly students of Socrates, establishes a new dictatorship called The Thirty, but again it does not last long.

~405-396 BCE

Rome's expansion by conquest into an Empire had begun. The Romans besieged the Etruscan city of Veii, reportedly for about 9 years, eventually conquering it around 396 BCE. At the time it was normal to enslave survivors and plunder cities after conquering them, and even greater wealth would have come from the control of the surrounding land.

~404 BCE

Sparta defeated Athens.

~475-221 BCE

The Warring States Period began in China.

~399 BCE

The reported date of the execution of Socrates. Differing events of his trial were reported by Aristophanes and two students of Socrates: Xenophon and Plato.

~390 BCE

Rome was sacked by the Gauls under their leader Brennus. This event is famously associated with the phrase "Vae victis," meaning "woe to the vanquished." This may have motivated further expansion of Rome's empire & the strengthening of Rome's defences. It was the last time Rome would be sacked until the famous Sack of Rome by the Visigoths led by Alaric around 800 years later.

~384-322 BCE

The life of Aristotle. He became a student of Plato around 367 BCE. Plato died around 347 BCE.

~359 BCE

The father of Alexander the Great, Philip II, became King of Macedon and leads Macedon's expansion.

~342 BCE

Alexander became a student of Aristotle.

~338 BCE

King Philip II of Macedon defeated Athens. The Macedonian empire now controls all of what is now modern Greece except for Sparta, and most of what is now Bulgaria and Albania.

~336-323 BCE

Alexander became king. His army defeated Persia, conquers Egypt, founds the city of Alexandria and invades Northern India, and establishes the Macedonian Empire, the largest Empire to date in world history by population and the second largest by land area. When Alexander died, probably of a disease such as malaria, the Empire was quickly divided into smaller states by civil war.

~300-200 BCE

The earliest Mayan writing in Central America is dated to this period.

~270 BCE

After conquering most Calabria and Puglia, some of which had been controlled by the Greeks, Rome has now incorporated most of the Italian peninsula and begin to expand into Sicily, which was shared between the Greeks and the Carthaginians.

~264-241 BCE

The Roman Republic went to war with the city-state of Carthage in the First Punic War over the control of Sicily, previously controlled by Greece.

~250 BCE

The Maurya Empire in India became the largest empire to date in history by population.

~221 BCE

The Qin Dynasty unified China and began the construction of the Great Wall.

~221-202 BCE

After Carthage had expanded its territory in Spain, Hannibal's father and brother-in-law both died, and Hannibal took charge. He crossed the Italian Alps, a great mountain range, with his army and his elephants and defeated the Roman armies in several battles in Italy, but he did not conquer Rome itself. After Rome launched counter attacks, the Romans eventually defeated Hannibal in North Africa and won the war, forcing crippling terms on Carthage.

~220 BCE

The Qin Dynasty in China became the largest empire to date in history by population.

~220-130 BCE

Rome invaded the Balkans, eventually defeating Macedonia and taking over Greece and most of Spain.

~176 BCE

The Xiongnu Empire based in Mongolia became the largest empire to date in history by land area.

~149-146 BCE

Although the Carthaginians were no longer a threat to Rome, the Romans started the Third Punic War. They eventually conquered Carthage, destroyed the city and committed genocide.

~70-10 BCE

Prior to this time, much of the great literature read by educated Romans and Jews was written in Greek, and educated Romans and Jews themselves often wrote in Greek for this reason. Around this time Lucretius wrote his work in Latin and Virgil wrote The Aeneid, which started the tradition of great Latin literature that outlasted the Roman empire, just as the tradition of ancient Greek literature outlasted the ancient Macedonian Empire and the classical city states of Greece.

~63 BCE

Palestine became Roman territory.

~58-50 BCE

Julius Caesar led a Roman legion to conquer Gaul (now France) over a series of military campaigns known as the Gallic Wars.

~44BCE

Caesar was assassinated by his fellow Roman Senators. Caesar had grown in power through successful military campaigns, populist measures and enrichment of the army, and was largely hated and resented by the conservative Optimates. Caesar was a member of the Populares who generally sought popularity with the plebian class, while the Optimates, some of whom participated in the assassination, believed the Senate should primarily serve the wealthy aristocratic patrician class.

~42-27 BCE

War broke out between the forces of the assassins and the forces of Caesar's allies. The latter forces were led by a Triumvirate including Mark Antony and Caesar's own grandnephew and adopted son, Octavian. After Antony and Octavian were successful, they split the Roman Empire between each other and later went to war with each other. Octavian's forces won and he soon became Augustus, emperor of Rome. This marked the end of the Roman "Republic" and the beginning of the Roman Empire.

~1 CE

The Western Han Dynasty in China became the largest empire to date in history by population.

30-180 CE

Paul the Apostle wrote letters in Ancient Greek promoting Christianity. The canonical Gospels of Jesus were written, also in Ancient Greek, as were the great works of Palestinian historians (Jewish and Christian) and Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. The authors of the Coptic Gospels and the Gospel of Marcion may have begun writing around this time. Extant gospels were likely finished long after Jesus' death. Scholars are not certain which if any quotations in them date to Jesus' reported lifetime.

180 CE

The Pax Romana ended with the death of Marcus Aurelius, marking the start of Rome’s decline.

235-284 CE

The Crisis of the Third Century in the Roman Empire: frequent changes of emperors, political and economic instability and invasions.

250-900 CE

The classic period of the Mayan civilisation in Central America. The Mayans constructed elaborate monuments and buildings including pyramids.

260 CE

The Gallic Empire was formed by Postumus, encompassing Gaul, Britannia, and parts of Hispania, effectively splitting the Roman Empire temporarily.

313 CE

The Edict of Milan was proclaimed by Constantine I, granting religious freedom and favouring Christianity.

330 CE

Constantine I founded Constantinople, shifting the empire’s capital from Rome to the east.

376 CE

Large groups of Goths were allowed to cross the Danube into Roman territory, seeking refuge from the Huns.

378 CE

The Romans suffered a devastating defeat against the Goths in the Battle of Adrianople, resulting in the death of Emperor Valens.

395 CE

The Roman Empire was permanently divided into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) following the death of Theodosius I.

410 CE

The Sack of Rome by the Visigoths led by Alaric I marked the first time Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy in nearly 800 years.

455 CE

The city was sacked again by the Vandals under King Genseric, further weakening the Western Roman Empire.

476 CE

Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, traditionally marking the end of the Western Roman Empire. This is often regarded as the beginning of Europe's Middle Ages.

610 CE

Muhammad began reciting what became the Quran and founded Islam.

622 CE

Muhammad migrated to Medina, starting the Islamic calendar.

~720 CE

The Islamic Umayyad Caliphate became the largest empire to date in history by land area.

800 CE

Charlemagne, King of France, which had grown to include Germany and Lombardy, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III.

1066

William the Conqueror became King of England following the Norman Conquest.

~1100

The Song Dynasty in China became the largest empire to date in history by population.

~1227-1309

The Mongol Empire became the largest empire to date in history by land area.

1347-1351

The Black Death had already begun to ravage by this time. In 1347 it reached Europe, drastically reducing the population.

1428-1519

The Aztec empire began to grow near the remains of the Mayan civilisation in Central America, but soon the Spanish colonists arrived and conquered the region.

1428-1532

Cuzco began to expand and became the Inca Empire on the west coast of South America. The Inca Empire was the largest empire in the historical record prior to the arrival of the European colonists, who began to conquer the Inca Empire around 1523-1532.

1453

Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, ending the Byzantine Empire.

1492

Christopher Columbus reached the Americas, starting European exploration and colonization. The Columbian Exchange begins, and New World plants revolutionise cooking in the Old World. Europeans import and start using tomatoes, potatoes, cacao (used to make chocolate), pumpkins, capsicums including chili peppers, corn, avocado, peanuts, pineapples, cotton and tobacco.

1517

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses initiated the Protestant Reformation of the Christian church.

1588

The English Navy defeated the Spanish Armada, marking England’s naval ascendancy.

1607

Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, was established in North America.

1644

The Ming Dynasty ended and the Qing Dynasty began in China.

1680-1775

Some preachers including an Anglican and several Quakers began to speak out against slavery, followed by secular scholars and philosophers. The Quakers made petitions to parliament. In 1772, Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, ruled that slavery was unsupported by existing law in England, effectively leading to the release of James Somerset, an enslaved African man.

1765-1783

Major protests against the British began in the United States leading to the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4th 1776, formally declaring the colonies' separation from Britain. The British surrender at Yorktown in 1781 effectively ended major military operations.

1789

The French Revolution began, leading to Napoleon Bonaparte becoming emperor in 1804, followed by a series of European wars.

~1800

The Qing Dynasty in China became the largest empire to date by population.

1815

The Seventh Coalition of Prussian and British Armies defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. He was sent into exile on the Isle of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. European leaders at the Congress of Vienna redrew national boundaries and restored monarchies.

1837-1901

The Victorian Era in Britain, characterized by the industrial revolution and colonialism.

1861-1865

The southern states of what had been the United States, who still practiced slavery and wished to expand it, seceded from the Union and became the Confederacy, leading to the American Civil War. The Union led by Abraham Lincoln defeated the Confederates and abolished slavery.

~1880-1920

The British Empire became the largest empire ever by land area.

1914-1918

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary escalated into World War I, involving key powers like Germany, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, which led to the collapse of several empires and the redrawing of national boundaries.

1919-1934

The Great Depression and the Nazis. In 1919, Adolf Hitler joined the Nazi Party and became its leader the next year. In 1923, he led the Beer Hall Putsch, hoping to overthrow the German government. The coup failed, and a German court sentenced Adolf Hitler to five years in gaol. While in jail from 1923 to 1924, he wrote "Mein Kampf." Working class parties like the Social Democratic Party (SPD) were becoming increasingly popular. Businessmen like Fritz Thyssen and Emil Kirdorf began to provide financial backing to the Nazis, but in the 1928 German elections, the Nazi Party only won 12 seats. In 1929, the Great Depression hit, severely impacting the global economy. The Nazi Party's support grew. They won 107 seats in 1930, but this was still less than the Social Democratic Party. In 1931, the Nazi Party's terrorism against political opponents increased. Due to technological developments and ongoing financial support from his backers, Hitler was able to afford to fly airplanes for his political campaigns. In the 1932 Presidential Elections, Paul von Hindenburg defeated Hitler with 53% of the vote to Hitler's 37%, but early the next year he appointed Hitler as chancellor, effectively handing power over to Hitler. In the federal elections in late 1932, and again in early 1933, the votes on the left were split between the communist KPD and the social democratic SPD and the Nazi Party's share grew to 44% of the vote and 288 seats and the Nazis began to consolidate a dictatorship. After President Paul von Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler became Germany's sole leader.

1931-1945

Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and made further expansions into Chinese and Mongolian territory in 1933 and 1936. In 1937, the second Sino-Japanese war between Japan and China officially began. Two years later in 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, leading to subsequent declarations of war by Britain and France. In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Later that year, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, USA, the United States declared war on Japan, and Germany declared war on the United States. The coalition of powers fighting against Germany, Italy and Japan were known as the Allies. In 1945 the allies defeated Italy and the Nazi regime, and later that year the United States and their allies, having effectively won the war against Japan, dropped nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan subsequently surrendered. Subsequently national boundaries were redrawn including the creation of East and West Germany, and the United Nations was established.

1947

India gained independence from Britain, starting the decolonization of Africa and Asia.

1949

Mao Zedong and his Marxist Communist party established the People’s Republic of China.

1950-1953

North Korea, supported by China, and South Korea, supported by the United States fought in the Korean War.

1957

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, marking the start of the space age.

1961

East Germany constructed the Berlin Wall, dividing East and West Berlin. It became a symbol of the Cold War.

1963

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22nd.

1969

Apollo 11 landed on the Moon; Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on its surface, followed by Buzz Aldrin.

1989

The Berlin Wall fell.

1991

The Soviet Union was officially dismantled on December 26th, splitting into 15 republics.

2001

The September 11 terrorist attacks occurred in the United States, leading to the War on Terror.

2008

The global financial crisis began, considered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

2019-2020

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a global health crisis and significant social and economic disruptions.

2021

Scientists have concluded that the global climate is now hotter than any time in the last 100 000 years. ("Is it really hotter now than any time in 100 000 years?")

2024

Total solar eclipse visible in North America on April 8.
Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
29th United Nations Conference of Parties addressing Climate Change (COP29) in Azerbaijan.

2025

30th United Nations Conference of Parties addressing Climate Change (COP30) in Brazil.

2026

31st United Nations Conference of Parties addressing Climate Change (COP31), possibly in Australia or Turkey.

FIFA World Cup shared by Canada, Mexico and the USA.

2028

Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, USA.

2030s

NASA’s Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon, with plans for sustainable lunar exploration this decade.

2032

Summer Olympics in Brisbane, Australia.

~2030-2050

If the trajectory of the last 50 years continues, average temperatures will have risen by more than 1.5 degrees relative to pre-industrial average, and may have risen to become the hottest global climate in 2-5 million years. ("66 Million Years of Earth’s Climate History Uncovered")

2061

Halley’s Comet is to return to the inner solar system, visible from Earth.

~2100

Sea levels are projected to rise by up to 1 meter (3 feet), impacting coastal cities globally.

~Within 100 000 years

The red supergiant Betelgeuse may explode into a supernova, becoming visible from Earth even in daylight for several months.