Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind
I loved 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Harari, so I decided to read it. I worried it might feel like A Short History of Nearly Everything. I have to say, yes, similar in concept, but focused only on humans and their achievements, with reflections on economics, history, philosophy, and many other fields. I would call it a mix of the two, very enjoyable. Harari conveys complex ideas very clearly. Toward the end I was slightly bored, but overall it was a positive read. I will leave Nat Eliason, who is great at summarizing: https://www.nateliason.com/notes/sapiens-yuval-noah-harari.
Notes
- Humans are animals without inherent meaning; we were just skilled apes who used tools, communication, and sociality to beat other animals, leaving scorched earth behind us.
- We evolved so fast that our brains still run on prehistoric dynamics.
- The capacity to believe gave us incredible powers: things like religion, culture, even race allow two Sapiens who have never met to collaborate and get things done together.
- Many things exist only because we believe in them, such as companies, states, our economy, religions and beliefs, movements, etc. If we all stopped believing in France at the same time, it would no longer exist.
- Clear explanation of the transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers, the first great revolution that let human settlements grow, at the cost of a gradually worse lifestyle.
- Humans wipe out other species. This happened everywhere, including Australia and the Americas. In many cases they also wiped out local humans.
- Good discussion of writing, which was first used for counting, and how it evolved. Many ancient systems focused on counting and record-keeping more than abstract words.
- History of empires, the economy, navigation and exploration (maps), religion and its evolutions, many concepts in well-structured chapters.
- In 1945, with the atomic bomb, we completed the third great revolution, reaching a point that could destroy humanity.
- Capitalism is the religion of the last century, and through loans and investments it has grown the economy with win-win relationships at different levels of leverage, massively expanding our markets, but it is all based on trust. This made me a bit anxious.
- We are better off than in previous centuries (fewer wars, diseases, famines, illiteracy, etc.). At the moment a war makes little sense, since the things of value are people’s know-how, and you cannot seize that by force.
- Highlight
True happiness is about understanding your own expectations. The oxytocin spike of a Sapiens who found a bush of berries and someone who wins 1,000 euros is the same, then in the long run you return to the same chemical baseline of happiness. Some have a higher set point and others lower, but you will never be happy all the time. Appreciate the small, beautiful things when you are up, and when you are down, know that your monkey brain will return to the average soon.
- Concern for the future of humanity. What will we do? Will we destroy the planet? What will these apes do?