HighPots Meets Oxford: Measurable Research Results through our Data Analytics

Study: Influence of Religions on Civilizations

  • The University of Oxford, with the help of research partner HighPots, analyzes the influence of religions on civilizations across 414 different societies over the past 10,000 years.
  • As part of the EU research project Horizon2020, HighPots was awarded the “Best Technology Partner for Cultural Studies” award.

Challenges

The HighPots team faced an impressive list of challenges at the start of the analysis:

Another hurdle was Brexit, which necessitated an acceleration of the project. We addressed this challenge by changing our research methods and increasing personnel.

Approach

The university chose HighPots because we could provide proof of performance and successful completion of similar projects, e.g., for the Lab for Information and Decision Systems located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Using combined data mining and data analytics methods, we identified relevant data sources together with the scientists, which the university had painstakingly compiled over decades through elaborate scanning processes.

Many religions were excluded because they were not drastically different from each other, were too close in time or geography, or because the data volumes were insufficient.

Ultimately, out of over 400 religions, 30 remained. The situation was similar for societies. In the end, 414 societies remained out of over 4,000. This is because the prerequisite for the analysis is that complex civilizations can also develop from simple societies; for this, a society must exist for many hundreds of years.

Another hurdle was Brexit, which necessitated an acceleration of the project. We addressed this challenge by changing our research methods and increasing personnel.

Results

After the analysis was completed, the following results emerged:

Religions supported the formation of civilizations, especially in their early stages when societies were emerging. Beyond a certain point, a level of achieved civilization (complexity level), religions hinder further civilizational development, making it difficult for these societies to progress further.
It is assumed that the rules of religions (e.g., the “10 Commandments” in Christianity) enable the formation of a society in the first place, but later in societal development, they slow down enlightenment.

HighPots ist Forschungspartner der EU für Datenanalyse und Statistik
Tibor Navracsics
“My department at the EU has been working with HighPots since 2014. HighPots supports EU research projects in the fields of culture and education as a scientific and technological service provider for universities and institutes in the European Union. HighPots' excellent scientific contribution has been valued by research institutions and has led to the successive expansion of strategic partnerships in recent years.”
EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport

The complete data is now publicly available in the Seshat Databank.
The full results were published in Nature.

Conclusion

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