About this Book

Though the need for safety was acknowledged as a basic human need by Abraham Maslow, how to understand the role of safety on civilization is still a virgin field for historians. Here out of a personal interest on horticulture (or more specifically fire culture), the driving force behind civilization is found to be climate pulsations and related natural disasters. From the rich phenological record in China, an empirical rule on climate pulsation is proposed first. From this rule, series of repeatable events were identified, where evidences of the ecological, technical and survival driving forces are clearly identified. All major events in history, either ecological, economical, political and technical, are societal responses toward climate pulsations. The solar Inex cycle provides the primary driving force behind climate pulsations, while untimely eruptions of volcanos provide the perturbations against the periodicity. Both causes work together to advance civilization. The more challenges it experienced, the more advanced state a society can achieve.

Including wars and competitions, the conflicts of civilizations also result from different response patterns against climate pulsations. From the periodic events in history, we can have a more deterministic view on the future. This is the primary goal of this book.