Applying a Big History Analogy to Facilitate Information Sharing

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Gustavo Lau

Abstract

Using analogies we generalize Tyler Volk’s combogenesis concept. A pedagogical application is a narrative that allows us to include some milestones of mathematics and physics in Big History courses. Applying the concept to books and book collections we suggest a philanthropic idea. This simple and potentially powerful application mixes low and high technology: using online bookstores, we propose the reproduction of personal book and video collections in public libraries. We give an example, at Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela, where this has already happened. We finish by proposing to use this idea to create a Big History book and video collection that could be donated to educational institutions around the world where a Big History course could be taught remotely.

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Author Biography

Gustavo Lau

Gustavo Lau was born in Lima, Peru in 1964 and immigrated to Caracas, Venezuela in 1976. Since 1994 he has worked in finance in London, UK where he is currently a principal of Episteme Capital. He holds a PhD in Computer Science (2019) from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain, an M.S. degree in Computer Science (1988) and two B.S. in Mathematics (1988) and Computer Science (1986) from the Simón Bolívar University, Venezuela. In his spare time, Mr Lau is a Mathematics Masterclasses lecturer for the Royal Institution of Great Britain and a Guest Professor at Simón Bolívar University, Venezuela. In January 2022 he founded the Big History Club of Simón Bolívar University. Since then he has been teaching informally the Big History course of the OER Project in that club.