#### [[Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari]] **Creator**:: [[Yuval Noah Harari]] **Source**:: [[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens]] ###### ^citation Harari, Y. (2015). *Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind* #### Key Concepts - [[Cognitive Revolution]] - [[human evolution]] - [[foraging]] - [[Imagined reality]] #### Insights - [[Humans have had little time to adjust to being the top predator]] #### Fun facts - [[We have been domesticating dogs for 15,000 years]] - [[Stone age tools were primarily wooden]] ## Summary ### Part One The [[Cognitive Revolution]] Harari divides this part into four sections, *An Animal of No Significance*, *The Tree of Knowledge*, *A Day in the life of Adam and Eve*, and *The Flood*. Despite the obvious Biblical references, Harari does not discuss [[Christianity]] at all, instead choosing to tackle the fundamental mechanisms behind belief itself. This is only one small part of this first section, as Harari spends most of their time dissecting the path of [[human evolution]]. *An Animal of No Significance* gives an overview of the other species of the family homo, and how they connect to our own [[homo sapiens]]. Some of the insights include, [[Cracking bones and eating the marrow may have been human's first niche]], and [[Cooking allowed prehistoric humans to spend less energy on digesting]]. This leads into the major topic of the next section, [[Greater cooperation and communication has lead to the success of humans as a species]]. *The Tree of Knowledge* defines and describes the [[Cognitive Revolution]] and it's basis in our [[language]] and how it enables us to understand [[human behavior]] and transmit [[information]] through symbols in ways that no other language can. This leads to Harari's discussion of our [[Imagined reality]]. A spin off of these ideas is [[Social order is built off of a shared belief in an imagined reality]] and Harari also touched on [[Cultural evolution is not confined to the slow process of genetic evolution]]. As Harari gets into the weeds of our evolved [[Biology]] and prehistoric behavior he makes note that [[Biological processes can only give context to behavior not predict it]]. This will be important in the next section (and especially as we relate these topics to [[Evolutionary Psychology]]). *A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve* starts to discuss how these ancients facts can affect our modern day [[psychology]]. Harari addresses many common beliefs about prehistoric human's such as the [[gorging gene]], and ideas about ancient family structure and behavior. They refuse to reinforce many of the myths that people try to use to justify their [[behavior]], stating that any attempt to reconstruct ancient human's lives from artifacts is extremely problematic as any foraging societies that have survived into modern times have done so in inhospitable areas and have been influenced by modern cultures. This leads then to discussing [[Hunter-gatherer societies were very diverse]]. > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#294931431q]] In the last part of this section [[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#The Curtain of Silence|The Curtain of Silence]], Harari addresses the elephant in the room, how little we are actually able to know about ancient humans. We can guess and theorize all we went, but until we develop [[time travel]] we will have a limited [[understanding]] of ancient human [[society]]. The section of part 1, *The Flood* mainly discusses [[Human caused extinction is prevalent]], but also touches on [[homo sapiens]] ingenuity allowed them to conquer [[Siberia]] more than the better adapted [[Homo neanderthalis]] had, allowed them to travel to [[Australia]], and the Americas (and then then annihilate many of the species there). ### Part 2: The Agricultural Revolution Harari first starts by addressing why [[The Agricultural Revolution]] happened where it did and when. He dispels the myth that [[hunter-gatherers]] were cognitively incapable of [[farming]], but the story farming is actually far more interesting than the discovery of fire or the wheel. First, [[Farming prevented a return to foraging for early humans]], then, [[Farming outcompeted foraging by allowing for higher populations]], and finally [[Farming domesticated humans]] > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#^297301085]] Harari does touch on some other possibilities for the rise of farming. Citing the likely more involved process of [[domestication|domesticating]] animals, and the previously covered ability for human's to cooperate, it is possible that there were individual human's that compared the life of foraging and farming and rationally chose, but the fact that the farming phenomena was independently born in multiple parts of the world points to the fact that it was an inevitability of human life. Either way, by 10,000 BC farming was the dominant way of life. > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#^297681720]] Harari then starts to discuss the effect that farming had on the human psyche. > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#^297681721]] [[When luxury becomes a necessity it is no longer a luxury]] [[The advent of farming lead to increased prevalence of anxiety]] Harari credits this increase in anxiety to the advent of his next major concept, [[Imagined order]]. ^[[[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#^297681726]]] First Harari asks, [[What enables large scale social order]], then [[What maintains our social order]], in order to arrive to the main question of this section is: [[Why is it hard to understand how our environment effects us]] Harari list's three options: 1. The imagined order is embedded in the material world. 2. The imagined order shapes our desires. 3. The imagined order is [[inter-subjective]]. ^dd0325 Harari quickly pauses to extoll the virtue of beurocracy - [[The first recorded name might have been an accountant]] Then stars examine ways that [[Oppressors invent reasoning for their oppression]] From [[Hammurabi's Code preserved hierarchy through deific justice]], to [[The caste system preserved hierarchy through purity]], we see that [[Theology preserves hierarchy through deific blessing]]. ### Part 3: The Unification of Humankind As humans connected across the globe they communicated through various means. While [[language]] and [[violence]] could rule initial interactions, more universal orders ruled more long term interactions. First they would trade, then they would conquer, and finally they would convert. > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#^300574943]] While they reaction of us vs them will always be strong ^[[[Humans love to group eachother]]] money, power, and religion drove us to form new [[social order]]s between groups. > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#^300574928]] > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Sapiens#^300574931]] [[Indigenous groups are often too slow in understanding their conquerors moral depravity]] [[Barter economy is limited by speed of communication]]