I picked up this book at someone else’s library, and I started reading it because I was bored. After a couple of pages, I couldn’t stop. Sapiens is a fantastic reflection of humanity and its place in this world.
It is an accessible history class, written in a compelling novel fashion. You can either agree with Harari or find it a little reductionist (thousands of years in a few pages can have that impact); you won’t be able to ignore it.
Are WE that special?
For many years, we thought that we were special, near-divine. According to Harari, we are just another animal that happened to control the world for several reasons. It seems that a series of random events led us to this point.
One of the most curious things I found in this book was that I thought human evolution was a sort of continuum line in which one single species evolved, step by step. Apparently, like with any other animals, different "kinds" of humans shared the world. At some point, all the others were gone, except for sapiens. Why?
There are a few theories, but the one that looks more accurate through scientific evidence is that the first sapiens committed the first genocide in history. It is terrifying when you think our ancestors may have killed all other human species on Earth. Besides that, it is impossible not to think: what would happen if there were still different species of humans nowadays?
How would our world be? Better? Worse? Would we think about ourselves and our so-called “uniqueness” differently? Would we be in constant war? Would the sapiens unify the world under his domination anyway? The hypotheses are endless!
We are a plague
You don’t need to go very far to listen to people talking about how we destroy the planet. The news may be that we always did that! The Sapiens have destroyed ecosystems for thousands of years!
When we look back, there is a lot we can’t know about primitive humans. Were they pacifists or constantly at war? Did they have a political system? Did they measure time in some way? We can try to guess, but there is no empirical evidence. Yet, one thing seems certain: we'd destroy the environment around us, anywhere we’d go.
Whole ecosystems seem to have been eradicated. The author gives an example of Australian megafauna, completely wiped out after the first sapiens reached the continent. One example, amongst many others. “Humankind is a mass murderer, ecologically speaking.”, says Harari. We are the biggest dissimulation of nature. We look fragile and harmless, yet we are the most deadly being on this earth. Apparently, we always have been.
Agricultural Revolution: the beginning of decay
With the development of agriculture, humans no longer need to run from one place to another. Sounds good, right? Well, Harari calls it the biggest fraud of history. According to him, we started to live more, not better.
We have more food, but fewer options and more nutrition problems. Our health has gotten worse. The villages are colonies for bacteria and viruses. We started to have spine problems, arthritis, and hernias. Child mortality increased. The notion of property made us more selfish and aggressive.
Randomness: Are we a result of the butterfly effect?
The author seems to have a negative vision of evolution. Yet humanity isn't to blame for it all. According to him, most prejudices came from random happenings. They create myths, and generalization does the rest.
He focused on racism, gender equality, and homosexuality, all explored biologically, ignoring the so-called cultural rules and prejudices. Culture can change through events or discoveries that make you question everything you knew.
He makes us think about how small coincidences can change everything in a moment - even the course of history.
The unification of mankind - money
Harari sees most of our evolution through our beliefs, and there is only one thing all humans believe in: money.
Money is the true unifier of humanity because everyone believes in it. All countries use it. Its value is unquestionable. Money united us in a way that religions, kings, and empires never could.
The truth is: I don’t know
With the ending of absolute truths given by religious beliefs, humanity looked for concrete, exact data - we developed math, altering how we see the world.
Admitting we didn’t know it all was the first big step in our history's biggest revolution.
Industrial Revolution - the power of energy and time
One of the things I liked most about this book is how it puts into perspective what seemed obvious to us. Industrial Revolution is explored in History Classes, but you don’t always understand how fast it happened.
For millions of years, humans used the strength of their muscles. Suddenly, someone invents the steam engine, and in the blink of an eye, humanity is dependent on oil and electricity.
Huge factories work around the world, and time is no longer measured by sunlight. Now, we have watches and alarms, precise schedules. We work when it’s time to work, not when the sun rises. We eat when it’s time to eat, not when we are hungry.
Trust in the future
The more you evolve, the faster the changes. We trust that.
Money is no longer something you can touch. Most of the money you use every day doesn’t even exist. What supports the modern economy is trust—our trust in the institutions.
The idea of growth and improvement is fairly recent, but it enabled credit and investment. The idea of progress taught us to trust in the future.
I’m god
Sapiens offers an interesting and accurate perspective of humanity. Most humans feel they are special beings and everything else on this planet is here to serve them. That’s why this is an important reading for all of us.
My favorite part of this book is the opening, maybe because it surprised me the most.
Harari finishes with one question: are we happier now? The evolution of science, the changes we make in this world, and the fantastic genetic discoveries are as fascinating as scary. Are we making it better, or are we destroying our world for good? What comes tomorrow?
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