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User:PatrickJCollins

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Hey, I'm Patrick John Collins, and I live in Marseille, France.

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Things I like

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Things I want to learn

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A brief history of everything

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The universe began approximately 7.5 billion years ago It is unknown if there was anything before that moment The hydrogen atoms thrown forth by the big bang Coalesced through gravitational attraction Stars were born, and galaxies too Through atomic fusion, new elements were founded Oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, among many others Supernova explosions dispersed these heavier atoms across the cosmos The cycle turned again New stars were born This time with an accrecian disk The heavy elements fell together in solar orbits And thus our planet Earth amongst many others was formed Great pressure was exerted upon the core And the rising lava poured out onto the surface Volcanos spewed carbon dioxide thus forming an atmosphere Great comets of ice bombarded the Earth Pools of water became oceans And at this turbulent time, life arose No fossil record remains of those primordial organisms Gradually, through geogaphic isolation, mutations began to occur New species evolved, adapting to their environment through natural selection The continents glided across the viscous interior Plants absorbed the carbon dioxide and released oxygen Larger, more complex animals began to appear First, in the oceans and then on land Intelligence arose Reptiles were followed by birds and mammals The great tree of life was developing into an ever richer diversity Homo erectus, having developed the highest cognitive function spread out And colonised Africa, Europe, Asia and then North and South America Fire was discovered, which aided our early ancestors to cook and digest a greater variety of fauna and flora Primitive language permitted group hunting and coordination Agriculture arose through the gradual selection of edible plants Animal husbandry arose through the taming and selection of certain wild animals Irrigation and engineering ingenuity permitted man to live a sedentry life Villages were formed, some became towns and cities Freed from the burden of gathering food, men turned their attentions elsewhere Symbols were carved in stone, the first primitive steps towards writing Art flourished, sculpture, poetry and architecture Civilizations rose in the fertile crescent, the Nile delta and the Mediterranean basin Mesopotamia, Egypt, Phoenicia, Greece, Carthage, Rome, Persia Like stars they formed, drew energy, created knowledge and then fell Monotheism replaced the many early deities Judaism led to Christianity and later Islam In the East, the ideas of Buddhism spread, followed by Hinduism The centralization of power led to government and law Calendars were devised based upon celestial motions Precious metals were used to trade Barter was replaced by economics Many wars were fought The poor died like flies while the rich dined The Vikings spurred by internal population pressures spread out and colonized Northern Europe The Mongols tore across Eurasia and established one of largest empires in history The Islamic caliphate made many advances in the fields of astronomy and mathematics Navigation permitted Europeans to have direct contact with the East Vasco da Gama circled Africa, and Columbus crossed the Atlantic The Meso-American cultures were ruthlessly devastated by Spanish and Portuguese invasion Slavery reached a zenith, as entire tribes were shacked in Africa and transported to the New World England and France followed suit, and soon all but a few states had fallen under the control of the great powers The industrial revolution pulled millions from the farms and into booming and polluted cities Populations grew at unprecedented rates, from mere millions to many billions in the space of decades The First World War was followed by the Second, shattering Europe and it's colonial possessions Technological advances came at an ever increasing pace Electricity led to electronics which led to informatics The tentacles of communication spread to every corner of the globe First telegraphs, then telephones and then internet connections Information was shared at the speed of light and in great quantity It is the year 2009 What lies ahead? Shall we cross the great void of space, spreading the seeds of life to the inert planets of our system? Shall we ride across the cosmos to other stars and galaxies? Or will our civilization flounder like so many before? The greed of man is contributing to the progressive elimination of life on Earth. For we are spoiling the cradle. And we don't know how much the Earth can bare.

How I divide the world

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geographic region dominant religion ethnicities sects
europe, america & australasia (post)christian germanic / romantic / slavic catholic / orthodox / protestant
north africa, middle east & indonesia muslim arabic / turkic / persian sunni / shi'ah
india hindu hindi
china, indochina & japan buddhist / atheist chinese / korean / japanese / thai theravada / mahayana
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