The World is a proper noun for the planet Earth envisioned from an anthropocentric or human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the 'human condition' in general.^[1] The world population is over 6.80 billion people.^[2]

In a metaphysical context, World may refer to everything that constitutes reality and the Universe: see World (philosophy).

Etymology

In English, world may be parsed as rooted in a compound of the obsolete words were, "man", and eld, "age"; thus, its etymology may be semantically rendered as "age or life of man".^[3]

Usage

The World in plate carrée projection

'World' can also be used attributively, as an adjective, to mean 'global', 'relating to the whole world', forming usages such as World community. See World (adjective).

By extension, a 'world' may refer to any planet or heavenly body, especially when it is thought of as inhabited.

'World', when qualified, can also refer to a particular domain of human experience.

• The world of work describes paid work and the pursuit of a career, in all its social aspects, to distinguish it from home life and academic study.
• The fashion world describes the environment of the designers, fashion houses and consumers that make up the fashion industry.
• The New World is a part of the world discovered or colonized by Europeans later than other parts; it usually refers to the American continents or to Australia. Native Americans and Native Australians tend to dislike this usage. For them America and Australia are not new. Their ancestors have lived there since time immemorial. The Old World refers, by contrast, to the continents of Europe, Asia and north Africa.

Earth

The World in Gall-Peters projection

Earth's outer surface is divided into several rigid segments, or tectonic plates, that gradually migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of the surface is covered with salt-water oceans, the remainder consisting of continents and islands; liquid water, necessary for all known life, is not known to exist on any other planet's surface.^[9][10] Earth's interior remains active, with a thick layer of relatively solid mantle, a liquid outer core that generates a magnetic field, and a solid iron inner core.

The earth consists of seven continents listed as follows: North America, South America, Antarctica, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia; the largest of which is Asia. There are several other methods of determining the continents.

Earth is impacted upon by other objects in outer space, including the Sun and the Moon. At present, Earth orbits the Sun once for every roughly 365.26 times it rotates about its axis. This length of time is a sidereal year, which is equal to 365.26 solar days.^[11] The Earth's axis of rotation is tilted 23.4° away from the perpendicular to its orbital plane,^[12] producing seasonal variations on the planet's surface with a period of one tropical year (365.24 solar days). Earth's only known natural satellite, the Moon, which began orbiting it about 4.53 billion years ago, provides ocean tides, stabilizes the axial tilt and gradually slows the planet's rotation. A cometary bombardment during the early history of the planet played a role in the formation of the oceans.^[13] Later, asteroid impacts caused significant changes to the surface environment.

Humanity

Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens. Compared to other species, humans have a highly developed brain capable of abstract reasoning, language, and introspection. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage that frees their upper limbs for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species. DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago.^[14] Humans now inhabit every continent and low Earth orbit, with a total population of over 6.7 billion as of March 2008.^[15]

Like most primates, humans are social by nature. However, humans are particularly adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families to nations. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of traditions, rituals, ethics, values, social norms, and laws which form the basis of human society. Humans have a marked appreciation for beauty and aesthetics which, combined with the human desire for self-expression, has led to cultural innovations such as art, literature and music.

Humans are noted for their desire to understand and influence the world around them, seeking to explain and manipulate natural phenomena through science, philosophy, mythology and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skills; humans are the only extant species known to build fires, cook their food, clothe themselves, and use numerous other technologies.

Development

A summary of world development:

• universe is continuing its metric expansion
• our galaxy is approaching its neighbor
• the Sun is shining brighter and brighter
• the Earth's surface is getting hotter
• Species are becoming fewer
• Humans are increasing in number
• Their life expectancy, literacy, education, standard of living, and GDP per capita are increasing
• technology and socioculture are also developing
• Global businesses are also increasing.

See also

• Earth
• Planet
• World map
• Globe
• Universe
• Humanity

External links

References

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