Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
A Brief History of Humankind
I. The Cognitive Revolution
1. An Animal of No Significance
Three big revolutions in history of humanity. About 70k years ago cognitive revolution. 12,000 years ago agricultural revolution. 500 years ago scientific revolution which might also mark the end of humanity as we know it.
Every other species that evolved to top of food chain did so very slowly with ecosystem being able to adopt. For humans happened much faster, which had/has many consequences, often negative.
Use of fire made huge difference. Less bacteria/parasites and less time /energy required to digest food, allowing for more energy consumption by brain.
2. The Tree of Knowledge
From 70k to 30k years ago, cognitive revolution took place and lead to humans as capable of intelligence as we are.
Gossip was a foundational tool to establish who could be trusted or not and allowed larger groups to work together.
Most unique part about sapiens language: Ability to speak about fiction!
Entities like nations and companies are technically fictions. They allow huge amounts of people to trust each other and cooperate. Believe in “common myths”.
Since cognitive revolution, we live in a dual realty: Objective reality of real objects as well as imagines reality of gods, nations, and companies.
Also allowed historical narratives to bypass genetic evolution as main developmental source.
3. A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve
Our behavior still largely influenced by our hunter gatherer genes and how they interact with our modern environment.
Our tendency to gorge on high-calorie food comes from a time where these were very scarce. Now causing obesity epidemic due to overabundance of high-calorie food.
Also relationship problems and divorce rate might come from a time where things were completely egalitarian and monogamy essentially didn’t exist.
[bq] “The heated debate about Homo sapiens’ ‘natural way of life’ misses the main point. Ever since the Cognitive Revolution, there hasn’t been a single natural way of life for Sapiens. There are only cultural choices, from among a bewildering palette of possibilities.”
[bq] “Loneliness and privacy were rare.”
First semi-permanent fishing villages might be as old as 45k years.
Foragers had much broader skill sets compared to modern humans who are experts in tiny domains and rely on other experts for survival.
Their dexterity and athleticism was far greater than ours today.
Had a much more pleasant, healthy, and rewarding lifestyle than is usually adduced, often more so than many of us today.
Worked for far fewer hours than today.
Varied ad balanced diet much healthier than farmers limited/unbalanced diet.
Identified as ’the original affluent society’.
Animism probably big part of early believes. No omnipotent gods, but spirits inhabiting everything.
Truth is, we know very little about the details of their believes.
Same with monogamy and nuclear families. Truth is we simply don’t know, and chances are, different groups behaved very differently.
Interpreting thing like cave painting as “evidence” often says more about our own preconceptions then the cultures we study.
4. The Flood
Probably got first seafaring societies in Indonesia about 45k years ago, that then when on to colonize Australia.
These Australian settlers were the first to actually dramatically change an ecosystem.
90% of Australian magafauna (animals larger than 50kg) went extinct exactly around the time humans arrived there. Same thing happened in other places that were reached by humans.
From reaching Alaska via Siberia it took humans only one or two millennia to spread all the way to the most southern tip of America.
With them, a huge part of the American fauna disappeared, especially slow-breeding large animals who before had no natural enemy.
Long before industrial revolution or even agriculture humans caused mass extinctions and completely changed ecosystems.
II. The Agricultural Revolution
5. History’s Biggest Fraud
Around 9000BC what and goats started being domesticated around modern Turkey/Iran. All noteworthy plants/animals that we rely on today were domesticated no later than 3500BC.
Not a single instance that spread, but independent revolutions in different locations.
Initially scholars thought agricultural revolution was great step forward for humanity, but now this perception has changed. Lives actually became more difficult and less satisfying, and health declined.
[bq] “The Agricultural Revolution […] did not translate into a better diet or more leisure. Rather, it translated into population explosion and pampered elites.”
[bq] “The Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud.”
Argues that plants like wheat actually domesticated humans rather than the other way round.
The new and different physical demands of agriculture brought with it a range of new injuries and chronic ailments.
[bq] “We did not domesticate wheat. It domesticated us.”
Had to form permanent settlements since the care of wheat required so much time.
Farmers fought much harder wars over territory since giving up fields and granaries meant almost certain starvation.
Required huge societal frameworks like cities and kingdoms to slow down this violence.
While individuals suffered from the Agricultural Revolution, for the first time small areas off land could support large populations.
From the viewpoint of evolution it was a success: keep more people alive, even if their lives are shorter and under worse conditions.
[bq] “The Agricultural Revolution was a trap.”
Initially (wild) wheat was only a minor flood for our forager ancestors, but due to various circumstances like global warming it spread more and more, particularly along popular trails and near campsites due to humans dropping grains.
This allowed humans to spend more time near those camps and make them semi-permanent during harvest.
From there it was a slow but gradual “decline” to true agriculture.
The trap was a series of many small “improvements” that trapped farmers.
[bq] “If you worked harder, you would have a better life. That was the plan.”
But that plans was wrong.
Also no way back, both because by the time the transformation had happened no one remembered that it was ever different, but also because foraging wouldn’t have been able to support the now much larger population.
[bq] “The pursuit of an easier life resulted in much hardship, and not for the last time. It happens to us today.”
[bq] “Luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations.”
Animals were domesticated equally gradually, first by selective hunting (leaving fertile females alone), then by protecting herds against natural/human predators, and so on.
Just like humans, the domestic animals were evolutionarily/genetically extremely successful, multiplying to huge numbers, but with tremendous individual suffering.
6. Building Pyramids
Foragers roamed over territories of hundreds of square kilometers. Peasants on the other hand got strong attachment to their tiny home, which had huge psychological and architectural consequences. Became much more self-centered and possessive.
Lead to shift in time perception foragers lived mostly in the moment. Farmers used their imagination to think years into the future. Also brought with it a new kind of anxiety.
[bq] “History is something very few people have been doing while everyone else was ploughing fields and carrying water buckets."
As more and more people accumulated in small spaces, stronger and stronger myths, such as religion, states, and companies were required to keep social order.
Natural orders, like the laws of physics, are stable, but imagined orders can change rapidly (e.g. revolutions).
Myths deeply shape us as we grow up, and from thereon we perpetuate (and shape) them.
[bq] “Like the elite of ancient Egypt, most people in most cultures dedicate their lives to building pyramids. Only the names, shapes and sizes of these pyramids change from one culture to the other.”
[bq] “Few question the myths that cause us to desire the pyramid in the first place.”
[NFW: Is our busyness just building the pyramids that our culture has settled on?]
7. Memory Overload
As organizations and myths grew, the details that had to be remembered grew larger, and in many cases too large for a single individual. No one in a company knows all the details now, or all the procedures/rules/laws that keep it going.
Even if shared between humans, the memory and complexity of a system only stored in brains is limited, and kept size and complexity of human collectives small. But that changed with the advent of writing by the Sumerians around 3500 BC.
Initially purely reserved for mathematical record keeping, like debts and taxes.
Was only partial script, that could express only certain things. First general script: Cuneiform, around 2500 BC. Other full scripts soon followed in Egypt and China.
8. There is not Justice in History
The myths humans used to organize their large social constructs often contained large inequalities. Particularly between men and women, rich and poor, and people of different skin color.
[bq] “If you want to keep any human group isolated […] the best way to do it is convince everyone that these people are a source of pollution.”
Once these orders are in place, even if the official law enforcing them are abolished, the order itself often perpetuates itself for a long time in a vicious cycle.
E.g. money attracts more money and existing poverty only results in more poverty.
The one hierarchy that appears in almost every society was gender.
[bq] “Biology enables, culture forbids.”
[bq] “Our concepts of ’natural’ and ‘unnatural’ are not taken from biology, but from Christian theology."
Everyone is naturally born male or female, but becoming a man or a woman in the eyes of society requires constant effort.
Since Agricultural Revolution, almost all societies have been Patriarchies.
III. The Unification of Humankind
9. The Arrow of History
Cultures are in constant flux, even if free from external influences.
Man-made orders/myths contain contradictions, and trying to reconcile them fuels change. (E.g. equality vs. individual freedom)
[bq] “Discord in our thoughts, ideas and values compels us to think, re-evaluate and criticize. Consistency is the playground of dull minds.”
History is full of unifications and breakups (e.g. large empires forming and splintering again), but on very long time scales there is a trend towards unity.
Initially many completely separated human worlds existed and didn’t even know of each other. Now we’re (almost) all intimately connected.
No large culture is truly “authentic” anymore, we all share so many common ideas and concepts, even if we disagree on their interpretation/application.
Around first millennium BC humans for the first time started thinking of “us”, a universal order ruling us all.
Three universal orders:
Monetary (economic)
Imperial (political)
Religious
Merchants were first to give up “us vs. them” thinking and saw others simple as equal trade partners. Conquerers and prophets soon followed with their own version.
Greatest conquerer/unifier was money.
10. The Scent of Money
Despite religious differences strong enough to justify wars, the different religions freely used and accepted each others’ currencies.
As communities grew larger, specialization started becoming a viable option. But specialization does require something beyond an economy of favors, reciprocation, and barter. The more services and goods are available, the harder barter becomes.
Best solution (we know of): money.
Money has been invented independently in many places/times.
[bq] “This is perhaps its most basic quality. Everyone always wants more money because everyone else also always wants money.”
[bq] “Money isn’t material reality - it is a psychological construct.”
[bq] “Money is the most universal and efficient system of mutual trust ever devised.”
Coins had two advantages over simple amounts of silver as were long used: Their amount was obvious and they were backed by a powerful central authority.
Large centralized monetary systems also established easy trade between different systems and soon lead to a single easy global trade system.
Money is the only thing that goes completely beyond cultural differences and biases, and allows cooperation between people who don’t even know or trust each other.
Two universal principles:
Universal Convertibility
Universal Trust
Downside: Erodes more human values in favor of trust based purely on transactions.
11. Imperial Visions
Key points of an empire: Rules over several distinct cultures, and has fluctuation borders, with an appetite for expansion.
Almost everyone alive today is descendant of some kind of past empire.
Size is not important. Empire of Athens or the Aztecs far smaller than modern Greece or Mexico, but ruled over many unique cultures.
Empires and Imperialism are now seen as evil, but for much of human history they were simply the norm. Cultures within empires did not stay distinct and oppressed, but slowly evolved and merged.
While wars and suffering often formed the foundation/initiation of empires, they were also responsible for most of humanity’s creates cultural achievements.
Initially imperial rulers simply subjugated their subjects which they thought of as less worthy people. Later they simply saw them as people, and themselves as the protector.
Empires actively spread/encouraged common culture both to get legitimacy, but also for easier administration.
Now we are at the brink of the first truly global empire.
Especially as we face more and more global (ecological) problems, the only way forward all be to tackle them as a single entity, a global empire.
12. The Law of Religion
[bq] Religion is “a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order."
Religions that are universal (though to apply to everyone, everywhere) and missionary (that try to convert all of humanity) appeared around 1st century BC, and have been huge force of unification.
Initial animism gave way to polytheism as our territories expanded and local deities were no longer sufficient.
[bq] “Polytheism is inherently open-minded.”
Over time, as people got particularly attached to one god, monotheistic religions emerged.
Monotheists ten to discredit all other faiths and are much more fanatical and missionary.
But polytheism often snuck back in through the back door, e.g. saints in Christianity.
Problem of why evil exists very hard to answer for most monotheists.
Dualists see world as a battle of a good and an evil force.
Barely any dualist religions still exist, but again monotheist religions have adapted many of their believes.
Also have class of religions that put a natural law above else, even above gods (if they are part of the belief at all); e.g. Buddhism
Central law of Buddhism: “Suffering arises from craving.” Gods may exist and have powerful influences over the world, but they don’t/can’t change that fundamental law.
[bq] “If a religion is a system of human norms and values that is founded on belief in a superhuman order, then Soviet Communism was no less a religion than Islam.”
By this definition still live in an age of religion.
Superhuman does not mean supernatural.
While we tend to call Buddhism a religion and communism an ideology, there is really very little distinction between religions and ideologies.
Humanists believe that homo sapiens has a very special role in nature.
Humanist sects:
Liberal/Individualistic
Socialist
Evolutionary (e.g. Nazis)
13. The Secret of Success
[bq] “Every point in history is a crossroads."
Most historians are skeptical about deterministic theories. They can explain how history unfolded, but not why.
[bq] “It is an iron rule of history that what looks inevitable in hindsight was far from obvious at the time.”
History, like stock markets, is a “level two chaotic system”. It’s not chaotic, like the weather, but it is influenced by any predictions we can make of the future.
[bq] “Cultures are mental parasites that energy accidentally, and thereafter take advantage of all people infected by them.”
IV. The Scientific Revolution
14. The Discovery of Ignorance
If someone in 1000 AD feel asleep for 500 years , they would still feel pretty at home on waking up. But if the same happened in1500 AD, they wouldn’t recognize the world today. The progress over the last 500 years has been incredible.
And the process responsible for this is the Scientific Revolution.
Up to 1500 AD rulers mainly interested in stabilizing the status quo. Afterwards they more and more invested in progress.
Key differences of modern science to all previous forms of knowledge seeking:
Willingness to admit ignorance
Centrality of observation and mathematics
Acquisition of new (practical) powers/technologies (i.e. a practical aspect)
[bq] “The Scientific Revolution has not been a revolution of knowledge. It has above all been a revolution of ignorance.”
Before, it was assumed that e.g. holy scriptures already contained all the knowledge. The idea of “discovering” new knowledge didn’t make sense. Was just a matter of consulting the right people or texts.
One big breakthrough in applying maths to more complex fields like economics or biology: statistics!
In 1620 Francis Bacon argued “knowledge is power”. See science as a tool to do new things.
Even after then science still stood on its own for a while. Only with Industrial Revolution did it get really integrated with industry and military.
Death has always been the most fundamental “problem” of humankind, and gave many religions their meaning.
But even to this problem we are somewhat successfully applying science. Initially only by prolonging life and curing diseases, but more and more we are now at at point where we can actually consider “solving” the problem completely.
Science is expensive and relies on funding from governments, industry, and foundations.
But this creates a bias towards science that serves these organizations interests.
Need ideologies and religion to judge which scientific endeavor is more worthwhile. Science itself doesn’t know this kind of distinction.
Two forces have particularly shaped the direction of science: Imperialism and Capitalism.
15. The Marriage of Science and Empire
[bq] “The Scientific Revolution and modern Imperialism were inseparable.”
Early scientific expeditions were also military expeditions to grow the empire, or increase its power/riches.
In the 1500s Europe was still fairly insignificant compared to Eastern powers. Today, the whole world is very “European in dress, thought and taste.”
Why did Europe overtake and leave behind the East? Science is one answer, but only because of its combination with imperialism and capitalism.
Both early scientists and early conquerers shared common mindset: “I don’t know what’s out there but I want to find out.”
European explorers were the only ones who conquered for knowledge as well as territory.
Whereas Afro-Asians drew “complete” world maps based on their limited knowledge, Europeans started leaving large empty spaces on their world map to indicate unexplored areas.
[bq] “The discovery of America was the foundational event of the Scientific Revolution.”
For almost 300 years Asians and Muslims simply had no interest in the New World despite knowing of it. And then it was too late, Europe too advanced though their new wealth/knowledge.
Empires used scientific progress as positive branding.
16. The Capitalist Creed
Banks and our entire economy is built on our trust in the future. Banks are allowed to loan much more than they actually posses.
This trust in the future, and the concept of “credit”, completely unfroze the economy and enabled rapid growth.
Because there was no progress, people previously considered economy a zero-sum game, and would not want to give credit based on trust in the future. But then the Scientific Revolution brought constant progress and enabled this new kind of economy.
Adam Smith “taught people to think about the economy as a 'win-win situation’.”
As the rich get richer they consume more and employ more people, so that everyone gets richer.
First commandment in capitalist creed: “The profits of production must be reinvested in increasing production.”
When a capitalist individual or institution sponsors science, the first question is always: Will this project increase production and benefit the economy?
The rise and fall of empires from around 1500 was largely determined by who could get the trust of the financial markets and investors. In that way the tiny Dutch empire beat the might (but untrustworthy) Spanish empire, with capital.
Free market doctrine most prominent form of modern capitalist creed. Assumes that if the market is left alone by the government it will by itself lead to best economic growth.
But clearly not always true/good. Slavery was a direct result of unregulated capitalism.
Free market capitalism can not ensure that profits are made in fair way.
17. The Wheels of Industry
Economic growth (and a lot of other things now) are highly dependent on natural resources. While they are finite, in the recent past we have kept discovering ever new and better resources.
For much of human history, we used different energy sources but didn’t know how to convert one form into another. Except in our own bodies, so muscle power was the most important driving force.
That all changed with the steam engine. And again with electricity.
Along with the Industrial Revolution, agriculture was also industrialized (to the detriment of billions of animals). With that, more and more workers could move from the fields to the offices.
To sustain/balance the growth of supply, consumerism had to be “invented”.
18. A Permanent Revolution
As we are using more and more resources and producing more and more goods, we are also increasingly changing our ecosystem.
Along the way we also switched our time-keeping from rough (based mainly on the sun) to super-precise, and are now always painfully aware of time.
[bq] “Each worker arrives at work at exactly the same time. Everybody takes their lunch break together, whether they are hungry or not. Everybody goes home when a whistle announces that the shift is over - not when they have finished their project.”
Timepieces and timekeeping is ubiquitous now. We shifted from natural cycles to fixed external timetables.
[bq] “You need to make a conscious effort not to know what time it is.”
[bq] “The typical person consults these clocks several dozen times a day, because almost everything we do has to be done on time.”
Biggest social upheaval: Collapse of family and local community.
More and more fundamental functions like healthcare and protection turned from family/community to state/industry. With it came more and more individualism.
In previous decades and centuries, change was very slow. Now almost every year can be seen as revolutionary.
We also overall live in the most peaceful era ever, with the lowest percentage of violent/war-deaths.
After 1545 all European empires quickly and (mostly) quietly/peacefully disappeared.
It’s the first time in history where people don’t expect war, and can’t even imagine one breaking out that involves their country.
Previously war was lucrative, with wealth mainly coming from natural resources. Now peace is far more lucrative, war too expensive and the wealth mainly in knowledge that can’t be invaded.
19. And They Lived Happily Ever After
Historians rarely ask whether happiness has changed over the ages, as all other things have progressed.
Some even argue that the more technologically advanced we become, the greater our distance from joy.
More wealth and health don’t necessarily mean more happiness. Difficult concept to quantify.
Researchers try to measure “subjective well-being”, mainly based on questionnaires.
[bq] “Happiness does not really depend on objective conditions. […] Rather, it depends on the correlation between objective conditions and the subjective expectations.”
Mass media has enabled us to compare ourselves with millions and spread an epidemic of feeling inadequate.
Biologists on the other hand look for the key to happiness in our bio chemistry.
Many argue that every person has a certain happiness baseline around which they fluctuate. If something particularly good or bad happens, the happiness level changes but soon tends back to the baseline.
Buddhists think of suffering as our inability to accept the fleeting nature of pleasure, and happiness as realizing/accepting this.
20. The End of Homo Sapiens
Until now, despite all the progress we’ve made, we were still limited by the same biological factors as our ancestors and other animals.
But this is changing fast. We’ve already started messing with evolution through selective breeding and genetic modification.
We’re now on the brink of resurrecting extinct species, or even designing improved Sapiens.
We’re also ion the verge of becoming cyborgs, with technology already assisting our senses, and prosthetics being more advanced than real body parts.
A third way is engineering completely artificial life, like AI.
We might be heading fast towards a Singularity, a point where all our current notions stop to apply.