Foraging, Industry, and Human Happiness
In Sapiens, author Yuval Noah Harari questions the idea that humans (Homo sapiens, or Sapiens) are evolution’s biggest success story. Humans are more populous and industrious than we’ve ever been, which suggests—at least on the surface—that we’re thriving as a species. However, Harari contends that most humans suffer as societies expand. Even though ancient foragers faced difficulties like high child mortality rates and fearsome predators, Harari thinks humanity’s ancient ancestors actually endured…
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Fiction, Cooperation, and Culture
In Sapiens, author and historian Yuval Noah Harari argues that humankind’s early ancestors, Homo sapiens, conquered the world 70,000 years ago because of a newfound ability to imagine—and collectively believe in—fictional realities, which he calls “imagined orders” (e.g., myths, religions, and concepts like “money” or “nation”). To Harari, believing in the same fictions or stories about how the world works enables people who wouldn’t otherwise know or trust each other to…
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Science, Wealth, and Empire
Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari thinks that modern humanity puts too much blind faith in science. Harari suggests that many people believe that science is true, unbiased, and progressive because it’s rooted in discovering facts about the world, but he disagrees. Harari emphasizes that scientists still have to interpret the data they observe, meaning there’s a level of storytelling involved in scientific theories and they don’t solely deal in hard facts. He also suggests that…
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Human-Caused Ecological Devastation
In speculating about humanity’s ancient past, Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari argues that humans are the Earth’s deadliest species. Harari thinks humanity’s ancestors, Homo sapiens, evolved advanced cognitive skills so suddenly that they jumped to the top of the food chain before the rest of the ecosystem had to time to recalibrate to the new threat. Harari contends that Homo sapiens killed off at least six other human species (including Neanderthals), drove more animal…
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