Civilization Dynamics
The Big Picture
TR
All four layers, one frame

The Big Picture

Cross-sections that place the four layers side by side, and the syntheses that come out of them.

How Much It Grows

A single dot, the same size everywhere, = one trillion dollars (shared by GDP, wealth and market flow). Drag the year: at this scale GDP's 118 dots barely fill a corner, market flow's 9.735 dots cover the whole square. The difference is exactly this picture.

Four acts

10,000 BCE - 1 CE
1. Below one dot
At this scale all six columns are empty. 12,000 years, a stray dot here and there.
1 CE - 1800
2. First dots
The population and haul-distance cells slowly fill; the money columns are still nearly empty.
1800 - 1950
3. Break-off
Industry. The GDP and wealth cells start to darken; market flow lays its first dots in 1900.
1950 - today
4. A mass of ink
The market-flow cell reaches 9,735 dots - an uncountable, solid square. Next to it population is still 81 countable dots.
Drag the year: how the same frame fills up

One frame, 100 × 100 = 10,000 cells; one cell = that magnitude's unit (one trillion dollars for money). Drag the slider: the market-flow corner starts as a speck and swallows the frame after 2000; population, materials and GDP are still small squares today.

The counts are on today's scale: at 10,000 BCE all six magnitudes fall below a single dot, the value is written but there are no dots. The explosion is in the last five rows.

Market flowAccumulated wealthHaul distanceWorld GDPMaterialsPopulation
10000 BCE
Population4,4 milyon
Materials0,0031 Gton
Haul distance10 km
World GDP178 milyon $
Accumulated wealth- (not yet)
Market flow- (not yet)
1• = 100 million people1• = 1 Gton1• = 10 km1• = $1 trillion1• = $1 trillion1• = $1 trillion
1900 to today: how the same frame filled up

Five snapshots. Each frame is 100 × 100 = 10,000 cells; one cell = that column's unit (for money, $1 trillion). Market flow 2025 fills 9,735 cells, 265 empty - the grid makes the gap visible. Each magnitude sits in its own corner: population top-left, materials top-centre, haul distance top-right (non-monetary on top); market flow bottom-left, wealth bottom-centre, GDP bottom-right (monetary below). Population, materials and GDP are still small squares today; market flow swallows the frame after 2000.

1900 CE
5 / 10.000 (9.995 boş)
1950 CE
20 / 10.000 (9.980 boş)
1970 CE
50 / 10.000 (9.950 boş)
2000 CE
1.500 / 10.000 (8.500 boş)
2025 CE
9.735 / 10.000 (265 boş)
PopulationMaterialsWorld GDPHaul distanceAccumulated wealthMarket flow
1• = 100 million people1• = 1 Gton1• = $1 trillion1• = 10 km1• = $1 trillion1• = $1 trillion
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