From the birth of the universe to the emergence of artificial intelligence
The history of everything that exists is contained in one volume!

“How did the world begin, and where is it going?”
Humanity's oldest question,
The answer to the question of ‘the origin of all things’
Presented by the greatest authority on Big History!

As the title suggests, "The Origin of Being" is an epic that traces the origin of everything that exists, from the beginning of the universe to the future of humanity.
Professor Kim Seo-hyung, Asia's leading authority who collaborated with Professor David Christian, the founder of 'Big History', unravels 13.8 billion years of history, from the universe and the Earth to life and humanity, civilization, and future society, as a single flow.

This book goes beyond the narrow perspective of human history to provide a comprehensive view of the birth of the universe and life, the evolution of civilization, and the future direction of society.
In the process, it shows in three dimensions how all beings are connected, beyond race, including unknown life forms, plants and animals that have not yet been discovered, and even celestial bodies beyond Earth.
This book, which weaves fragmented histories into a single narrative through a convergence of knowledge that crosses the humanities and natural sciences, will serve as an excellent introduction to Big History for readers who wish to follow up on Cosmos, On the Origin of Species, Sapiens, and Guns, Germs, and Steel.
It is also recommended as the first integrated liberal arts textbook for young people experiencing an integrated liberal arts and science curriculum.

In this respect, 'Big History', which seeks to examine countless times and spaces on various scales from the Big Bang, the beginning of the universe 13.8 billion years ago, to the present and future, transcends the existing perspective that has only considered humans as the subject of analysis.
Humans are not the only ones living on Earth, in our solar system, and in the universe, a Goldilocks planet that is neither too hot nor too cold for life to exist.
In one way or another, we are connected to everything around us.
Big History demonstrates this very interconnectedness, a new attempt to clearly understand the origins of the world and, through this, pursue the "coexistence" of all beings.

--- From "Introductory Remarks"

The person who carried on Friedman's theory was the Belgian physicist and priest Georges Lemaitre.
He applied Einstein's general theory of relativity to cosmology, arguing that the universe began as a single point and then expanded as if it were exploding like a firework.
This theory later came to be known as the 'Big Bang Theory'.
Although Lemaître's theory was based on mathematical calculations, it initially aroused prejudice and controversy among scientists because it reminded them of the biblical phrase, "Let there be light."
--- From "Chapter 1: The Universe That Began with the Big Bang"

Stars born in this way have a life cycle just like humans.
The most important factor that determines the life of a star is its mass.
Low-mass stars live long lives because they use their fuel slowly.
Some stars can live for hundreds of billions of years.
However, massive stars burn their fuel quickly, so they live for only a few million years.
Mass also affects the appearance of a star and how it dies.
Massive stars produce heavy elements such as carbon, oxygen, and iron in their cores, making their structures complex and unstable.
And finally, it ends its life by exploding in a supernova, releasing new stars, planets, and the elements necessary for life.

--- From "Chapter 2: The Stars That Light Up and Warm the Universe"

The total number of elements officially confirmed so far is 118.
Of these, 92 exist in nature, and the rest have been artificially created in laboratories.
So what was the first element created? About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, hot, fast-moving protons and electrons cooled and combined to form a single atom.
The first element created this way was ‘hydrogen’.
Hydrogen has the simplest structure.
It consists of one proton and one electron.
So it was the first thing that came into existence in the universe and it occupies the largest amount.

--- From “Chapter 3: Elements, the Material of All Things”

In 1912, German meteorologist Alfred Wegener was looking at a world map when he noticed something interesting.
The fact is that the eastern coastline of South America and the western coastline of Africa fit together like a puzzle.
Based on this fact, he proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that all continents were once joined together and later split apart.
And they named the huge continent 'Pangaea'.
--- From Chapter 4, “The Earth and the Moon, Our Home”

About 475 million years ago, life forms living in water moved onto land.
It is a very big turning point in the history of life.
In water, they breathed with gills, but on land, they had to breathe air, so lungs began to develop.
Instead of fins, they developed arms and legs to crawl or walk on land.
A few years ago, a fossil was discovered that proved that fish gills evolved into human ears, a significant piece of evidence showing the evolution of life.
Although some creatures still live in the water, most creatures that once moved onto land never returned to the water, with the exception of whales.
Terrestrial life began to reproduce in diverse ways, either by laying eggs or giving birth directly, and as brains grew larger and more complex, a variety of life forms emerged.
--- From “Chapter 5: The First Life Forms and Evolution”

Many species of humans, including Homo sapiens, have evolved to adapt to their surroundings in order to survive, just like other animals.
Over time, various differences have emerged between the different species.
Some species live primarily in trees, coming down only when they need food.
Other species no longer live in trees and have developed eyes and hands to find more food on the ground.
Another species began making tools, using fire, and using language.
Although there were many different paths of evolution, the most important fact is that only the species that were well adapted to their environment survived.
The human species that responded flexibly to change was Homo sapiens.

--- From "Chapter 6: Modern Humans Surviving Through Group Learning"

Since the beginning of agriculture, the meaning of ancestral rites has grown even more.
This is because people began to believe that crops and life moved according to the forces of nature and even the will of God.
So they offered sacrifices not only to the dead but also to the gods who gave life.
Amidst these changes, beliefs about sacrifice and the afterlife began to develop into religion.

--- From "Chapter 7: The Oldest Way of Life, Hunting and Gathering"

In the hunter-gatherer era, it was an egalitarian society where people shared the food they hunted and the fruits they gathered, and the oldest and wisest person was respected by the community.
But as agriculture began and food began to surplus, special people emerged who had the power to share food and resources.
For the first time in human history, a person of power has emerged.
They did not share their farm tools, weapons, or food with others, and by managing their own resources, they gained more power and wealth.
As a result, an unequal social structure emerged, with differences in status, classes, rulers, etc.

--- From Chapter 8, “Agriculture that Tames Nature and Differentiates Society”

This glass vessel is not simply a decorative object, but evidence that Silla was already interacting with foreign countries.
Because the origins of glass making technology are Mesopotamia and Egypt.
The first places in human history to make glass were Mesopotamia and Egypt, around 4,000 BC.
Glass is made by melting silicon, calcium carbonate, sodium carbonate, etc. at high temperatures and then cooling them quickly.
In this way, the transparency, hardness, and versatility of glass can be expressed.
The fact that glassmaking technology, which originated in West Asia, spread along the Silk Road to Silla in the easternmost part of the country is a clear indication of how connected Korea was with various parts of the world at the time.
--- From "Chapter 9: The World Connected by Empires"

During the Little Ice Age, cold weather reduced crop yields and made life difficult for people.
This climate crisis has brought about great changes in human society.
New technologies and methods were needed to survive, and it was against this backdrop that the Industrial Revolution emerged in Britain, a new production method centered on machines and factories.

--- From Chapter 10, Industrialization that Created Modern Society

As we enter the Anthropocene, humans have become the greatest force changing the Earth's environment.
The Earth is a place where life exists, receiving energy from the sun, and we have reached an era where humans use more than half of that energy.
The natural environment, including air, water, and soil, has been rapidly polluted and changed since industrialization.
Furthermore, human-made nuclear weapons are no longer mere weapons of war; they have become powerful enough to destroy the entire planet.
In this way, humans have now gone beyond dominating or exploiting nature on Earth and have become beings who can determine the future of the Earth.

--- From "Chapter 11 Our Homework, the Anthropocene and Future Society"

Now is the time for us to recognize that we originated from the dust of space and to voluntarily assume responsibility for protecting our blue planet, Earth.
Technology, capital, politics, and culture must all be realigned under a single purpose.
The goal is to enable sustainable and dignified lives beyond mere survival.
The question of where we came from, where we are now, and where we are going leads back to the question, 'What kind of beings will we become?'

--- From "Outgoing Words"