Conceptual Timelines
Home: Infinitism
Link: Timeline of Emergence
Epistemic / Knowledge-First Order
A reorganized timeline emphasizing how humans developed understanding, frameworks of knowledge, and ways of knowing. Single page links retained.
Consciousness and Self-Understanding
What it maps:
How humans understand their own mind.
Core arc:
- Instinctive awareness
- Mythic psyche
- Philosophical self
- Religious soul
- Psychological ego
- Neurobiological mind
- Altered states
- Meta-consciousness
Why it matters:
Anchors infinitism’s definition of consciousness and underlies all subsequent ways of knowing.
Religion and Meaning Systems
What it maps:
How humans explain existence, death, morality, and the unknown.
Core arc:
- Pre-mammalian pattern recognition
- Animism
- Shamanism
- Polytheism
- Pagan traditions
- Norse / Greek / Roman mythologies
- Eastern religions (Daoism, Buddhism, Hinduism)
- Abrahamic religions
- Institutionalized theology
- Secular spirituality / post-religion meaning systems
Why it matters:
Shows how humans construct meaning to explain reality and guide behavior.
Moral Systems
What it maps:
How “good” and “bad” are defined.
Core arc:
- Survival ethics
- Tribal loyalty
- Honor cultures
- Divine command
- Legal morality
- Human rights
- Ideological morality
- Performative ethics
Why it matters:
Codifies behavior, norms, and value systems once meaning exists.
Truth and Epistemology
What it maps:
How humans decide what is “true.”
Core arc:
- Direct experience
- Tribal consensus
- Mythic authority
- Religious doctrine
- Rationalism
- Empiricism
- Scientific method
- Media narratives
- Algorithmic truth
- Post-truth fragmentation
Why it matters:
Structures knowledge acquisition and justification; mediates perception vs. belief.
Identity Formation
What it maps:
How humans answer “Who am I?”
Core arc:
- Biological identity
- Kinship roles
- Tribal identity
- Religious identity
- National identity
- Class identity
- Ideological identity
- Digital identity
- Fragmented multi-identity
Why it matters:
Locates humans within social and symbolic systems; informs epistemic perspective.
Economic Abstraction
What it maps:
How value is created, stored, and controlled.
Core arc:
- Gift economies
- Barter
- Early currency
- Feudal obligation
- Mercantilism
- Capitalism
- Industrial labor abstraction
- Financialization
- Digital markets
- Attention and data economies
Why it matters:
Demonstrates how humans systematize value and abstract survival into exchangeable symbols.
Power and Authority Structures
What it maps:
Who gets to decide, enforce, punish, and legitimize.
Core arc:
- Tribal elders
- Land ownership after agriculture
- Feudalism
- Kings and monarchies
- Divine authority and church-state fusion
- Colonial empires
- Nation-states
- Corporations
- Financial institutions
- Technocapitalism / algorithmic power
Why it matters:
Shows how knowledge of rules and norms is enforced and codified socially.
Violence and Conflict
What it maps:
How harm is justified, organized, and scaled.
Core arc:
- Survival violence
- Tribal warfare
- Conquest
- Holy wars
- Imperial expansion
- Industrial warfare
- Nuclear deterrence
- Proxy wars
- Information warfare
Why it matters:
Reveals the abstraction of organized harm as social structures scale.
Technology and Mediation
What it maps:
How humans interface with reality.
Core arc:
- Tools
- Agriculture technology
- Writing
- Printing press
- Industrial machines
- Electricity
- Computing
- Internet
- AI mediation
Why it matters:
Externalizes human cognition and extends epistemic capacity.
Information and Representation
What it maps:
How reality is symbolized and transmitted.
Core arc:
- Oral tradition
- Writing
- Codices
- Printing
- Mass media
- Television
- Internet
- Social media
- Algorithmic feeds
Why it matters:
Captures knowledge externally; enables scalable communication and abstraction.