"David Christian discusses the chronometric revolution, and how this has lead to a single historical continuum stretching all the way back to the big bang, allowing for what he calls, Grand Unified Stories. Murray Gell-Mann discusses the nature of empirical regularities, and their relationship to measures of complexity. Gell-Mann illustrates how apparently complex histories and patterns can sometimes be organized using simple models of growth and scaling. Fred Spier, speaking as an historian, explores how big history might be brought within a reductive framework of physics, using the concept of free energy rate density, as a means of organizing major transitions, from the abiotic to the biotic and cultural domains. Peter Turchin explores the value of general quantitative theory in areas where prediction is limited, and comparative data and retrodiction need to be explored. Geoffrey West argues that is unlikely that we shall discern common patterns at the level of individuals, but if we allow ourselves to study collective phenomena, such as urban systems, then we might make surprising new discoveries." - Adriano