This paper presents a structural account of human history as a sequence of dimensional activations within the cognitive manifold. Early human societies operated with rich behavioral and cooperative capacities but without reflective interiority. The emergence of selfhood—represented in the Genesis narrative—introduces the first interior dimension, producing a new form of moral agency. Israel becomes the first civilization organized around this interior structure, stabilizing it through covenantal and prophetic mechanisms. Christianity universalizes interiority, extending personhood and moral concern beyond ethnic and cultural boundaries. Modernity individualizes this universal interiority, generating the autonomous self as the primary unit of identity and meaning. Digital technology introduces a new manifold dimension that dissolves the conditions required for autonomous selfhood, fragmenting attention, memory, and narrative continuity. The paper argues that a post‑digital dimension of coherence is structurally required to re‑integrate the self within a networked environment. This framework offers a unified account of historical transitions and a basis for understanding the emerging form of human identity.
Denis Bailey (2026) studied this question.