Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind – by Yuval Noah Harari
Seventy thousand years ago, there were at least six different human species on earth, and now there is one!
That is one of the many things I learned from reading this book that I didn’t know.
Apes to Neanderthals to humans – I always understood it to be a direct lineage, a product of evolution, a straight line. Not true. Homo Sapiens have wiped out the rest of them, along with practically every type of megafauna and a terrifying array of other species.
Although the author doesn’t specifically say this, the inference seems clear that Homo Sapiens persevered over other human species due to several special talents, among them a special talent for genocide, an idea that would seem to have been borne out over thousands of years and could explain a lot about why genocide is a recurring phenomenon in human history.
A major evolutionary moment:
Around fifteen thousand years ago, the human species figured out how to unite in groups around a central concept, when until that point, evolution of the species was limited by the fact that humans were only able to associate as tribal groups limited in size by the necessity of knowing or recognizing other members of the tribe
Examples of central concepts would be religions, societal organization, political systems; in other words, this pivotal moment in the thinking process of the human species pretty much explains the entire evolution of human society and civilization after that point.
A clear definition of religion:
Religion is a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order. Based on that definition, which seems to me a very good definition, what is and isn’t a religion? Interestingly, according to this definition, Communism qualifies, and Buddhism does not. How’s that for an interesting question?
These are the kinds of insights found in this book.
It’s no accident that it has sold over 23 million copes worldwide.
