Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind By Yuval Noah Harari

Last year, I took a class at school called AP World History, the high school equivalent of an introductory college World History course. Although I was intrigued by much of the content covered in the curriculum, my teacher, despite her respectable attempts to spice up the classwork, kept me bored. For example, when we covered the Columbian Exchange (a fascinating historical process by the way), she redundantly assigned several pages of notes from two textbooks and a boondoggle project which she ignorantly expected my busy class of AP students to complete in a week. Even as someone who understood the "rigor" of AP classes, I knew this was more than excessive and unfair. Suffice to say, my interest in history was killed.

Fortunately, however, I recently picked up Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari, a book that single-handedly reinvigorated my interest in history. In a mere 400 pages, Harari brilliantly illustrates not only key events, but their salient themes that are relevant even today. For instance, while discussing archaic polities such as Hammurabi’s Code, he segues into explaining the philosophical essence of government. Sapiens teaches us that history—beyond the names, dates, and facts that jade many of us—is literally everything. A history professor I once met said, "History is philosophy. It’s biology. It’s politics and humanities. " I'm sure Harari would gleefully agree.

Here are the 5 insights I found in Sapiens:

1.Language is powerful

Unlike other language-speaking species, humans can express thoughts precisely. Instead of saying "I’m hungry," we can say "I want to have a burger right now." I wonder if there is a correlation between precision of speech and intelligence. Currently, as eloquent as humans can be, biases and other perceptive flaws preclude the exact expression of ideas. Perhaps in the future, a superintelligent species will communicate ideas telepathically, thus circumventing the perceptive flaws of conveying messages.

2.Much of the modern world exists in the imagination

Objects like cars, apples, and pencils exist physically. On the other hand, governments, corporations, and religions exist in the collective imagination. Microsoft may not be a physical entity, but it exists in thought because people agree that it exists. It wouldn’t matter if Satya Nadella stopped believing in Microsoft because millions of people would continue to, and the board of directors would oust him as CEO for going insane. This concept of imaginary existence legitimized by collective belief is the basis of culture.

3.The agricultural revolution sucked

We are frequently taught in history that agriculture enabled a sedentary lifestyle that spurred the development of society. This depiction of the agricultural revolution, while accurate, is misleading. From a biological perspective, the agricultural revolution was successful because it stimulated population growth. Yet, it fettered the lives of the myriad humans born. Without modern technology, agricultural societies were vulnerable to famine and drought and toiled to painstakingly sustain a nutritionally incomplete diet. Compare that to their hunter-forager ancestors, who roamed to whatever lush region could enrich them with a vigorous assortment of fruits, nuts, and meat. It is easy to relish the modern luxuries that eventually came from the agricultural revolution, but we often overlook the tribulations it gave our ancestors. 

4.Capitalism is powerful

As an American, I was indoctrinated in elementary school to favor capitalism over other economic systems. Over time, I’ve learned that capitalism has continued to deliver greater economic prosperity than any other economic system, albeit maintaining its greatest flaws. Most people ascribe capitalism’s economic strength to the freedom entrepreneurs are given to contribute to the economy. Considering that billionaires alone controlled roughly 3.5% of global wealth in 2021, along with the wealth of statistics (get the pun?) supporting this claim, I would agree. But Sapiens reveals another underpinning of the capitalist money-making machine–credit. Before the advent of financial institutions, transactions were a zero-sum game, where for one individual to gain wealth, another had to lose wealth. Banks were able to "create" money through the power of trust, consequently pumping more money into the economy and shifting economics from a zero-sum game. I highly recommend this article that delves deeper into the concept. 

5.Humanity’s growth potential is scary

Almost all of human innovation has occurred in the last 200 years, coinciding with the "hockey stick" of population growth. The magnitude of innovation humans continue to drive is staggering. No other species has advanced nearly as much as humanity, and no other species possesses our ingenuity. Our technology is becoming so powerful that natural phenomena like natural selection can be manipulated and entire countries annihilated with a button press. Now is one of the most frenetic times in all of history, and no one can predict where we’re headed.