In the recent past, I read the book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind" by Yuval Noah Harari, published in 2011. The book contains a brief history of mankind, justifying the title: from nomadism to modern society. In general, I liked the book and it contained several, as it seems to me, interesting theses that I would like to draw attention to.
Before I start, I would like to warn you about the content of the article:
- When reading, like any other person, he perceived what he read from the point of view of his experience. I assume that another person who has read this book will perceive it differently. Some thoughts and ideas from the book can be interpreted in different ways. I do not set myself the goal of clarifying an objective point of view. My goal is to retell my own point of view.
- I will not retell the book, it is not a synopsis. I'm going to describe the interesting thoughts I read in the book.
Our ancestors had more variety
Homo Sapiens (HS) at an early stage of development were very similar to their ape ancestors. They led a nomadic lifestyle. A typical tribe contained up to 100 people. If the number became larger, the tribe split up and dispersed each in their own direction. Because of this, each tribe was culturally unique: in rituals and customs, in relation to gender (matriarchs, patriarchy), in relation to sex (monogamy, polygamy, homo-, heterosexuality), in relation to age (hatred, respect), in relation to death. Each such culture was the only true one for the tribe. All other cultures are strange, "wrong".
Over time, the tribes became larger and fought among themselves. Natural selection has done its job, and as a result, we now have a dozen unique cultures and, as a result, much less diversity.
The main advantage of Homo Sapiens is the ability to unite in large social groups
According to archaeological excavations, it is impossible to fully understand everything that happens in the past. However, we know that Neanderthals (HS ancestors) felt pretty good before the confrontation with HS. HS quickly conquered territories and pushed the Neanderthals to their complete destruction. How did HS manage it? What advantage did HS have over Neanderthals? Scientists do not have an unambiguous answer. But the author of the book suggests that the main advantage was religion, as a belief in something that cannot be seen or felt. Religion helped HS to unite in large groups, which led to advantages in the battle for territory.
Modern man cannot fully exist without abstract thinking. Harari gives an example of the modern idea of God, money and human rights as a religion that exists only in the abstract.
Evolution cares about the species, not about its individual
Evolution encourages the spread of genes most adapted to the environment. If the species is well adapted, it reproduces without problems. It turns out that the main criterion for success is the number of individuals of a certain species: the more, the more successful the species. Indeed, it can be argued that man is the most successful species on earth.
But evolution continues and we are still competing, at least with each other. Evolution for a person becomes a social evolution. Social evolution tends to improve the situation of society, but this does not mean that this is followed by an improvement in the life of the individual. Harari gives the following examples:
the transition to agriculture has had a very good effect on society: permanent buildings, sufficient food and organization was. However, the human body was not designed for hard work in the field, which affected the constant problems with the spine, calluses on the hands and feet, etc. Has an individual become happier during the transition to agriculture?!
the emancipation of women has made society more stable: everyone can take care of themselves regardless of gender. However, the femininity of the women themselves was lost. Are women happier after emancipation?! A little research on this topic
Conclusions:
I liked the book as a whole. It leads to arguments about the role of abstract things in the life of a modern person, about the confrontation between society and the individual and, in general, about a possible global society.
I recommend reading it.