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Summary and Analysis of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Based on the Book by Yuval Noah Harari
By Worth Books OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA
Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4472-1
CHAPTER 1
Summary
Part One: The Cognitive Revolution
1. An Animal of No Significance
Homo sapiens ("wise man"), the only surviving species of humans, originated in East Africa 150,000 years ago, and lived simultaneously with many humans, but was an insignificant species, compared to the powerful apes that were its direct ancestors.
However, Sapiens's larger brain and upright posture helped it win the struggle for survival, as did its use of tools and discovery of fire. Moving north into Eurasia, Sapiens encountered the Neanderthals, whom they succeeded in displacing, either by intermingling with, or destroying them. "Tolerance is not a Sapiens trademark," Harari says, making the first of many links between human evolution and modern social history.
2. The Tree of Knowledge
The Cognitive Revolution occurred about 70,000 years ago, when Sapiens acquired language, its most useful tool. Verbal communication permitted humans to connect over real things — approaching lions, tribal gossip — but more importantly, about things that didn't exist: deities or shared beliefs, which are the basis of primitive and contemporary societies.
Over time, such shared beliefs — whether in a religion, a national history, a legal entity, or the value of money — came to have as much importance as physical objects. Common beliefs also enabled Sapiens, once organized into societies, to motivate large groups of people into action in a short time.
3. A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve
The nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived before the Agricultural Revolution — about 12,000 years ago — spent their days searching for edible plants and animals. Despite the dangers they faced, Harari says these Sapiens lived a relatively pleasant life, in what some have termed the original "affluent society."
They worked fewer hours, were more physically fit, and less susceptible to illness; they ate a healthier, more varied diet than their contemporaries. Moreover, they were more observant of their surroundings than their descendants; survival required this of them. In spite of this somewhat idealized view of forager society, the author admits that our knowledge about how their societies were organized is extraordinarily limited.
4. The Flood
The migration of Homo sapiens from Africa to the other continents created a global ecological calamity. The hunter-gatherers eliminated many species of the megafauna that inhabited Australia and the Americas, turning Sapiens into "an ecological serial killer."
As the realm of the Sapiens widened, fossilized history shows that Earth's megafauna simultaneously dwindled, victim to the humans' insatiable appetite for the vegetation the animals relied on, and their superior hunting skills. This First Wave Extinction by hunters was followed by the Second Wave Extinction by farmers which, in our own time, was followed by the Third Wave Extinction, caused by industrial activity.
Part Two: The Agricultural Revolution
5. History's Biggest Fraud
The Agricultural Revolution, in which Sapiens evolved from nomadic foragers to stationary farmers, was arguably a step backward for humanity — "history's greatest fraud." This era, which began around 10,000 years ago, forced humans to work harder for a diet that was arguably worse for them, while exposing them to diseases from domesticated animals; they also risked starvation if their crops failed or if their land was seized by a warring faction.
By producing much more food in a reduced space, Sapiens multiplied at an exponential rate, making humanity a success in evolutionary terms. However, the domesticated plants (wheat, potatoes, and rice) were really the winners, as they multiplied at an even greater rate and man became more dependent on them. Rather than man domesticating a few plants, plants domesticated man by keeping him in one place.
6. Building Pyramids
The Agricultural Revolution obliged Sapiens to form coherent societies to defend their farmhouses and villages. This led to the creation of ruling elites, or hierarchies, who lived at the top of the "social pyramid," and fed on the surplus food produced by the work of the vast majority. Harari suggests that this is an "imagined order" — a subjective means of organization which people have subscribed to for centuries.
All human societies, from the days of Jericho (8500 BC) to the Akkadian Empire (c. 2250 BC) to the democratic United States, are "imagined orders" based on shared myths and beliefs that bind and motivate large groups of people to live and work together. In order to function, an imagined set of rules — such as the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi or the Declaration of Independence — has to be followed by all of society. A "social contract" can only be rewritten if there is collective agreement on what the new order should be.
7. Memory Overload
As civilizations grew more complex, the need arose to store data, particularly mathematical information, about such things as tax collections. The ancient Sumerians invented writing — the use of signs to represent numbers. By 2500 BC, this had developed into cuneiform, a full script visually representing verbal language.
As the accumulation of information grew, ancient societies invented systems of record keeping that required accountants, scribes, and bureaucrats. Eventually, mathematical script — the system of numbers that is used universally today — became the dominant written language. Harari asserts that writing, specifically mathematical writing, which was created to serve humanity, is now becoming its master.
As writing grew in importance, language changed the human thought process from free association to the compartmentalized, bureaucratic thinking that reigns in the computer age.
8. There is No Justice in History
The "imagined orders" of human civilization gave rise to hierarchies, all of which proclaim them to be natural and just. Traditional Indian society was organized by caste; American society, by race; and Ottoman society, by religion. Religion has also helped preserve these social hierarchies — for example, by providing a biblical justification for slavery. Because there are no biological or genetic grounds to justify them, hierarchies can only be understood by studying the history of the different cultures.
The one hierarchical order that persists across almost all cultures and races is the dominance of men over women. Harari offers no specific explanation for this, but dismisses the usual theories about men being physically stronger or naturally more competitive. If cooperation, not competition, is the basis of Sapiens's superiority, he asks, then why haven't women — who are by nature more cooperative — led the human race?
Part Three: The Unification of Humankind
9. The Arrow of History
Cultures are defined by values that are in constant flux, to such a degree that there seems to be a "cognitive dissonance" within societies. Modern democracies struggle to balance the notions of equality and individual freedom, when achieving one often depends on curtailing the other. Despite this constant cultural instability, humanity seems to be moving inexorably toward unity.
Travel, trade, and conquest brought exchanges in human culture: Spanish horses were introduced to America, making the Plains Indians great horsemen, while potatoes from Peru became the staple crop of Ireland. As cultural barriers fell and unique cultural identities weakened, the move toward unity gained momentum, propelled by money, empire, and religion.
10. The Scent of Money
One of humanity's most powerful shared beliefs is the value of money. The first form of currency, created by the Sumerians, had both intrinsic value and practical use: it consisted of a liter of barley. When money became representative, in the form of shells, beads, coins, and banknotes, it helped create a system of trade that was universally accepted. This led to the development of complex economic systems.
The downside is that money has become an end in and of itself, driving people to disregard the traditional values of family and community that were formerly the underpinning of their cultures.
11. Imperial Visions
For the past 2,500 years, Harari tells us the "empire has been the world's most common form of political organisation." Imperialists have sought to conquer and then unify people, folding them into something like an extended family. He points out that the British Empire, the largest in history, was ruled by a democracy. This idealized view of empire ignores the fact that large numbers of the empire's inhabitants did not live in freedom, much less in democracy.
As generations passed, conquered peoples often accepted the language, customs, religious beliefs, and values of their rulers and, invoking those same values, demanded to be treated as equals. The new, multinational economic elite that has emerged from imperialism is comprised of professionals of all types who are part of an emerging global empire who see themselves as members of a worldwide society, with challenges and goals that are common to all.
12. The Law of Religion
Religion, along with money and empire, has been the third great unifier of humanity. Formalized religious beliefs appeared around the time of the Agricultural Revolution, as farmers appealed to a higher power for good weather for their crops, and fertility for their domesticated animals. Man's relationship with the gods, and his need to please them, therefore became crucial.
Many of religion's forms — polytheism, monotheism, and dualism — are based on a belief in supernatural beings, or deities. Others, such as Buddhism, focus on humanity itself and the idea of a superhuman order that should guide our behavior.
In the modern era, such humanist religions are defined as ideologies: liberalism, communism, capitalism, or nationalism. However, all forms of religion, whether they revolve around a supernatural being (such as Christianity's God) or a superhuman order (such as communism, which is legislated by humans), are on a collision course with science, which increasingly tells us that our behaviors are dictated by genetics and hormones — like any other species, even ants.
13. The Secret of Success
Although humanity may be progressing in an orderly fashion toward unity, human history is, in fact, chaotic — a constant journey through a series of crossroads where any number of paths could be selected. History's choices are not made for human benefit and humanity has not necessarily improved as history has progressed (this recalls Harari's previous assertion that humans were healthier as hunter-gatherers). There is no evidence that successful cultures — the ones that have managed to reproduce themselves on a large scale — are the best for humanity.
Part Four: The Scientific Revolution
14. The Discovery of Ignorance
The basis of modern science is the recognition of ignorance, which motivates observation, measurement, and the elaboration of theories, all of which are methods of empirical scientific research. Science today has great prestige because, like religion in the past, it provides answers to the world's great questions.
Consider the difference between medieval European society, where "logic, grammar and rhetoric formed the educational core," and modern Western schooling, that includes math. Mastery of the rules of mathematics enables one to understand statistics, psychology, and other disciplines that require exact science.
Though often applied in ways that are beneficial to people, such as medicine or energy, scientific research in the modern era can also be used to create technologies that result in new ways we can harm each other: weaponry.
However, almost all scientific study requires financing. The decision on whether or not to fund a project depends on its ability to further a political, military, or economic objective. Science is therefore never pure, but reflects the ideology or religion of the society that produces it, and is a tool that allows human societies to further their own agendas, whether economic, political, or religious. Propelled by the goals of empire and funded by capital, science has become the driving force of history in the past 500 years.
15. The Marriage of Science and Empire
The spread of the great empires of Europe and the United States was propelled by the growth of science. The Western nations produced railroads, canned foods, and machine guns to support their advancing armies. But they also studied the countries they conquered, learning their languages, histories, and natural sciences.
The success of the great European empires was due partly to their willingness to recognize their own ignorance, a quality lacking in the Arab or Chinese imperialists, who thought they knew everything about the world. The Europeans had accepted the thought systems of science and capitalism, which were the driving forces behind imperialism; they had the "mentality of conquest," the insatiable ambition to explore and conquer.
16. The Capitalist Creed
For most of history, growth of the global economy was relatively stagnant. Starting in AD 1500, the world economy began posting enormous growth, with global GDP rising to $250 billion. Today, it's around $60 trillion. The reason was credit, which is based on trust in the borrower and in the future. The Scientific Revolution likewise brought a belief in a better future. If the resources made possible by credit were invested in the future, growth would naturally result.
Capitalism combined with empire as financiers in Holland, France, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal funded not only the exploration of the Americas, Africa, and Asia, but also the wars to conquer those areas and turn them into wealth-producing colonies. However, imperialism revealed the basic flaw of free-market capitalism: it cannot assure that profits are made fairly or distributed equally.
Chapter 17. The Wheels of Industry
As global production rose, access to the world supply of energy and raw materials increased, thanks to science and technology. The steam engine and subsequent inventions of the early 1800s spawned the Industrial Revolution, which led to the mass production of food and consumer goods of all kinds.
Production has increased dramatically, due to cheap energy, materials, and greater efficiencies, which drives the capitalist economies. There is more to sell and, therefore, more to buy.
Consumerism has become a secular religion that preaches immediate satisfaction, as opposed to Christianity's requirement of earthly sacrifice in exchange for eternal bliss. One of the most visible and noxious effects of consumerism is obesity, which, ironically, has led to more consumer products, in the form of the diet foods industry.
Chapter 18. A Permanent Revolution
The Industrial Revolution saw commerce and globalization increase, as clocks set everyone on the same schedule — for trains, for work, for the evening news on TV.
And the traditional societal structures of family and community were replaced by the state and the market. Families formerly provided safety, education, employment, health care, and support in retirement, but — in most advanced societies, the state now supplies many of these "benefits." Meanwhile, career, place of residence, choice of partner, and even sexual habits are increasingly dictated by the market, though this is not always obvious to the individual.
The local community has been replaced by "imagined communities," the most important being the nation and what Harari terms the "consumer tribe." (e.g., users of Apple products or hybrid-car enthusiasts). Humans living in nations enjoy far more security than they did in premodern societies. War has become more expensive and much less profitable than in the past, so the elite that rules the emerging global empire has no interest in promoting armed conflict.
Chapter 19. And They Lived Happily Ever After
Human society has undergone enormous changes in the past 500 years, but are humans any happier? Happiness can be viewed as a momentary condition that results from raising our levels of serotonin, dopamine, or oxytocin. In this view, the only route to happiness is through biochemistry.
However, happiness may also be the measure of an individual's satisfaction with his or her life, which depends largely on society's view of what is important. Here, Harari inserts a mini-treatise on Buddhism, which eschews the pursuit of happiness in favor of the struggle to overcome human cravings.
The progress in human society over the centuries has not necessarily brought us any closer to happiness. Harari concludes that the key to attaining happiness is not pleasure or achievement, but knowing the truth about oneself.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Summary and Analysis of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Worth Books. Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA.
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