Energy Flows in Social Evolution: Upward Sweeps and Collapses from the Pleistocene to the Present.

Evolution has been a non-linear process throughout the history of world-systems. Since the Pleistocene, systems of interacting societies have been marked by upward sweeps in size and complexity and also by sharp declines and collapses. An important, yet underdeveloped, part of the stories of world-systemic change is energy flow - its capture, transformation, and the processing of waste. In this research project, I aim to award energy flow the attention it deserves as a fundamental evolutionary process, particularly as a driver of rise and demise. I will do so by generating a theory of the role of energy flow in select upward sweeps and collapses in world-systems over the last 12,000 years, and testing that theory against case studies chosen as a representative of the dominant energy regime in the particular period. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]