Sapiens

by

Yuval Noah Harari

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Human Flood Symbol Icon

Harari uses the idea of a “human flood” to symbolize humankind’s destructiveness, suggesting that humans wipe out animal species like a flood that sweeps the natural ecosystem, destroying everything in its path. Harari’s metaphor of a “human flood references the Judeo-Christian myth of Noah’s ark. In the story of Noah’s ark, a biblical figure named Noah builds an ark, or boat, to house a pair from each animal species in the world, so that every living species can survive the giant flood that God is about to inflict upon the earth. Harari thinks that humanity’s track record shows that we’re a lot less like Noah and a lot more like the flood that wipes out living species. He notes that when humanity’s ancestors, Homo sapiens (or “Sapiens”), started exploring different parts of the world from 70,000 years ago, they caused widespread ecological destruction wherever they settled. Sapiens’ arrival in Australian 45,000 years ago correlated with the extinction of nearly all of Australia’s large marsupials. Similarly, Sapiens’ arrival in the Americas 16,000 years ago correlated with the extinction of most of America’s large mammals. So, Harari symbolizes humanity’s spread around the globe as a “human flood” that causes widespread death and destruction. Harari intends for the reader to think, through this metaphor, about how humanity abuses its power and fails to protect other animal species.

Human Flood Quotes in Sapiens

The Sapiens quotes below all refer to the symbol of Human Flood. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Foraging, Industry, and Human Happiness Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

If things continue at the present pace, it is likely that whales, sharks, tuna and dolphins will follow the diprotodons, ground sloths and mammoths to oblivion. Among all the world’s large creatures, the only survivors of the human food will be humans themselves, and the farmyard animals that serve as galley slaves in Noah Ark.

Related Characters: Yuval Noah Harari (speaker), Noah
Related Symbols: Human Flood
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sapiens PDF

Human Flood Symbol Timeline in Sapiens

The timeline below shows where the symbol Human Flood appears in Sapiens. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4: The Flood
Human-Caused Ecological Devastation Theme Icon
...our farmyard animals) might be the only large creatures left on Earth as the “ human flood ” continues. (full context)