The Doubling Table
Each dot is one doubling (×2). At 10,000 BCE every column is a single seed. Today the world economy has doubled 19 times, the number of people 10 times, the average distance a good travels 7 times.
● one doubling○ seed - not doubled yet
Reference: 10,000 BCE. Wealth appears at 1 CE, market flow at 1900; their seed is that year.
The number under each column: total doublings so far.
Four acts
10,000 – 8,000 BCE
1. Bonded layers
Hunter-gatherers. The six numbers are locked together: matter tracks people. One seed per column.
8,000 BCE – 1800 CE
2. First leverage
Farming. Humans start planning the flow. The columns fill slowly, together; wealth becomes countable from 1 CE.
1800 – 1950
3. Break-off
Coal and industry. The GDP column pulls ahead of the rest; two wars set the wealth layer back.
1950 – today
4. Free spin
Financialisation. The market-flow column goes from 0 to 10 doublings in 125 years - the youngest column, the fastest.
The same story told other ways: The Delamination of the Layers → · The Fan of Six Numbers →Historical-series methodology →