ABSTRACT
Some fields of biology-related inquiry, anthropology, demography, human ecology, history of medicine and disease, and social aspects of psychology, assist understanding of human behavior, individual and social. History might be regarded as more relevant to the advancement of knowledge if it were regarded as source and method and not merely as historical writing. Advances in the life sciences have provided clues to previously unexplained historical events and have suggested their relevance to modern predicaments. Macrohistory may be the most promising way of pursuing the study of social survival. Hazards to social survival seldom emerge suddenly and without antecedents; they may be long in the making before they reach a critical point at which threatening change becomes dramatically evident. The historical record provides a check upon unbridled enthusiasm for the scientific management of humanity’s future. Among the high priesthood of science and technology the history of human behavior is widely regarded with condescension.
