Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

By Yual Noah Harari 

Firstly, I say this book is really extraordinary from what I have read ever before because, in this book, Harari introduces some mighty thoughtful concepts, which question the basic and commonly approved theories. Therefore, this book is almost a neutral work as there have come across several literary reviews and almost in same count, the critical reviews especially, on the theories Harari put forward through this book. In fact, Harari not only converses with the historical perspectives of humankind, but he also goes through biology, chemistry economy and beyond all, he enshrines with the philosophical observation of the entire age. So, I recommend this book for every research students who studies and pries in any discipline.

Basically, he divided the history of human in 3 revolutions:

•    Cognitive revolution, 70,000 years ago

•    Agricultural revolution 30,000 years ago

•    Scientific revolution, 500 years ago

 The cognitive revolution, where the genre of humankind is evolved from Neanderthals either by extinction or by replacement of Homo sapiens over the Neanderthals, means that the conquest of Homo sapiens over all other species is by their crucial intelligence and wisdom. It gives them the idea of hunting and foraging using special kinds of tools. Nowadays, those millenniums are often introduced as the Stone Age, Iron Age and Bronze Age etc... Secondly, the agricultural revolution, in a first blow, he extremely criticizes this change and redefines “the agricultural revolution is the biggest fraud in human history”. This change from a forager society to a farmer society has formed cleavages in their natural and wild contour that they used to do onwards like the animals and beasts.  While, in hunting, they consumed several varieties of meals and selective hunting from different places, the agriculture left them to a permanent settlement, domestication of cattle and balanced diet on each day.

Generally, both these revolutions have united the human society in a little way. Unlike all other creatures, the Homo sapiens worked together, cooperated, lived harmoniously, shared myths and shaped religions to be coalescent and cohesive. Henceforth, they started to migrate in groups and separate tribes to all parts of the world and gradually, the genre of humankind expanded all over the world.

The unification of the humankind is based on the aggression of money, empire and religion. These three components have played a vital role in maintaining the relation among the strangers and the different speakers, natives and foreigners. Someone said the empires are the evil engineers of destruction and exploitation, but, there is no any factor that unified the Homo sapiens under one umbrella than these evil hands of the Empire system. According to religion, this ideology is evolved around 3200 BCE by the invention of writing. The first religious premise, given to the records of scripts and archaeological evidence, formed in the way of animism (veneration to the other living beings) which later acceded to polytheism, neatly to monotheism and dualism, and finally, by the emergence of Darwin like scientists, this retrieved to the domain of Science and supremacy of atheist concepts even today, the capitalism, liberalism, communism and socialism have been understood within the boundaries of religion. In spite of the religion and empire, the monetary system has also a significant landmark in sustaining the economic order of the world at a balanced level. Though there are issued a lot of futile, sterile methods of exchange and transaction, the ultimate and acceptable way is only applied when there formed, a money-based society around 5000 BC. In total, we can conclude that socially religion, politically empires and economically money shaped the order of the contemporary world. 

Along with the growth of Science and the decline of religious dogmas in recent centuries, the world witnessed for an outstanding, powerful of all previous revolutions, the scientific revolution, embarked in France in the form of industrial revolution as a backlash to the feudal hegemony and Christ nobility. This revolution changed thoroughly the face of existing world order into a vivid, completely different from what have experienced by our ancestors as if they reborn, they may look confused and flabbergasted like Alice when he fell to wonderland. There are three things that ensued by the development of Science:-

•    The death rate and child mortality decreased as well as the population tripled than that of 200 years ago

•    The risky and time-lapsing jobs became easier and time-saving

•    Most importantly, the humans willed to admit ignorance and desired to explore new things 

Besides, the science brought umpteen changes in the current state of the world which resulted in the cultivation of the explorations, expeditions and research mentality for every human being. Quite undeniably, it can be said that there also broke out an information and technological revolution in the world on the pursuit of scientific revolution. Then, as Harari asks ‘why Europe dominated in all these cases over the entire world?, Why not Asia which is very rich in raw materials and older than the birth of Europe? The answer is short: the Asians are dynasties who explored and governed while Europeans are empires who explored and conquered.

Remarkably, the modern economic development is mainly focused on a staunch trust among the strangers even they might meet at first in their life. This trust works as bridge between humans even-today, there formed several online business which empowered this sense of belonging once more. The information revolution is mainly concentrated on a waging war between, capitalism, liberalism, neo-atheism, and most relevantly feminism. These political instabilities ushered in the enlightened despotism of democracy and secularism. All of these events happened in the outskirts of Europe and thus, the western culture, western attitude, western fashion and western lifestyle are the official trend of the entire world. That is how works the conquest on mind. 

  While coming to the 21st, the internet and the smart phone brought the entire world to the fingertip of every human. From the corner of the home, we can know what happens in the streets of New York and Chicago, when will a new trend or fashion be uploaded in social media and what happens around the world in every seconds without any risk. From a maximal world, we rode to minimal world of reality. That is how significant the innovations brought by the modern technology.

 In the final chapter, he says, following all these developments in every cases,  the happiness rate of human society has increased steadily in last 50 years and one’s happiness is, as Harari argues, personally I oppose to this claim, determined on the basis of one’s wealth. In this chapter, he refers to the psychological dimensions of humans on how happiness is measured and tries his best to differentiate between happiness and pleasure.

Apparently, the pre-eminent characteristics of this book is a bunch of questions rather than answering like Aristotle, who asked questions instead of finding answers which later made the intellectuals thoughtful. Secondly, he emphasizes his arguments with underpinning crucial and apt examples. Thirdly, the book is almost sarcastic on all concepts and world-wide ideologies that are often believed as true like what he commented on agricultural revolution. That is why I said this is absolutely an extra ordinary book of all time. The critical reviews of this book primarily pointed out to the repetition of some arguments and complete rejection of metaphysical knowledge. Besides, the critics also pointed out to its less depth on medieval age even he didn’t mention Aquinas and john of Salisbury, the apostles of scientific upheavals. And his rereading on American declaration of independence is absolutely stupid and controversial in which he tries to locate the Pareto law (80/20) in world order in order to establish a hierarchical society at all.

Totally, this book is an exceptional, even more interesting book for every reader. I nail down that if you read it completely, there will create on your brain a world of imagination and thoughts about our world and surrounding creatures. Therefore, if you ask me to give a one word description of this book, I can surely say that ‘the imaginations that helped humans cooperate and build a sovereign power over the entire world’.