The Evolution of Four Civilizational Paradigms: From Agrarian and Industrial Systems to the Virtual Age and the Boundary-Phase Civilization

This article proposes a unified analytical framework for civilizational evolution grounded in three structural variables: constraint mechanisms, decision-making logics, and core resources. Drawing on institutional economics, cognitive science, and complexity theory, the framework explains transitions from agrarian to industrial to virtual (AI-driven) civilizations. Most critically, the article introduces the Boundary-Phase Civilization, an original concept proposed by Fan Ge, defined not by production technology but by its capacity to generate new paradigms. This civilizational form provides theoretical grounding for breakthrough innovation, structural transformation, and meta-level evolution in human systems.