Man's History

  According to this book by Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Sapiens (modern man) is only about 200, 000 years old and originated in East Africa. It is not biblical but purely scientific, mainly archaeological, geological, and anthropological. In this explanation, he believes that  70,000 years ago, Homo Sapiens emerged out of Africa. Sixteen thousand (16,000) years ago, Homo Sapiens settled in America, hunting most American large animals to extinction, Australia and where every they settled, Homo Sapiens caused the extinction of other species.  By 12,000 years ago, domestication of plants and animals started, leading to the first permanent human settlement - The agricultural revolution. Then about 5,000 years ago, the first kingdoms, scripts and money started. The next important dates were about 500 years ago was the Renaissance in Europe that man admits his ignorance and looks to science. Then 200 years ago was the Industrial revolution placed Europe above the rest of the world. Prof Harari is an intellectual and Israeli historian, has written many books, among them Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, which is a follow up to this book. In this book, there is no religious context, and he sees man's development as an animal and not be special but lucky.

The book is divided into 4 parts

1. The Cognitive Revolution - the thought process
2. The Agricultural Revolution - the food advantage
3. The unification of humankind
4. The Scientific Revolution

Homo Sapiens, according to this book, were not the only humans, as we were part of a big family that included Chimpanzees, Gorillas, and other bigger apes that were said to be our cousins. There are different species of humans from 2 million years ago to as recent as 10,000 years ago are said to be our brothers and sisters, that co-existed with Homo Sapiens. The book said that the scary thing is from Homo Erectus to Homo Neanderthalensis, which have disappeared, leaving only Homo Sapiens. The smaller Homo Floresiensis, who was a height of one meter, to the larger Neanderthal, who were bigger, could tolerate cold and had bigger brains. The questions were why and how two theories were put forward, the interbreeding and replacement theories. But before they had agreed with replacement theory, as humans, we have a poor history of tolerance, which was more likely genocide. But recent DNA Studies have shown that there may be very little interbreeding involved as well... 

The book says that Homo Sapiens had the advantage because of the complex interactions Homo Sapiens gave through language. Although the Neanderthals did take care of their old and sick, as evident by their bones, Homo Sapiens was able to take it a step further. Homo Sapiens had abstract thought and complex interactions, communications with total strangers and in large numbers. With concepts as money, tax, laws, corporations, tribes, countries, etc., which are in some way abstractions are treated as physicals entities. When examined, evolutionary archaeologists found that the various humans did not mix, the caves of the Neanderthals only contained local materials, whilst the caves of Homo Sapiens had stuff from far and wide, indicating an elaborate trading network and "that why Sapiens rule the world, whereas ants eat our leftovers and chimps are locked up in our zoos and research laboratories." This, the book claims, is the Cognitive advantage that put man above everything else. Also, it is said that our various ape ancestors had eaten their food raw before, but the introduction of fire made available much more nutrients and complex molecules, which are now broken down by heat to small compounds. Other humans, including the shy, reclusive Neanderthals, had a fire that has caused changes in the teeth and gut.  It is said that our guts got much smaller and able to deal with the cooked food. Other changes include toleration to milk in adulthood. But it is believed that our ancestors were a bit smarter than a modern man who could not last a week in the wild. It seems that man was more affluent in the pre-agriculture period. They had a better diet and exercise, a bigger brain and taller than his settled, more modern relatives. As it is believed that the numerous things men living in the wild had to eat and avoid that had to have a mental database of places to go when during the year they could go to, what herbs to eat for what particular condition and when during the year they could eat particular fruits. It is believed our roaming or foraging ancestors brains were bigger than our present brains, where we have outsourced out most of the abilities. Also, a man worked less as compared to the 9 to 5 days. They just foraged for a few hours in the day, and not every day, and they did not have clothes to wash, dishes to clean, floors to clean or polish, nappies to change, or bills to pay. They were also very healthy as they were walking or running every day. Apart from the high maternal molarity rate and infant molarity rate once you survived till your teens in men and after 45 years in females. There is a high probability you would live till your sixties and a few to your eighties. They were also exposed to various diets depending on the season; hence we did not suffer from starvation or malnutrition. Once men began living in towns and villages with animals, we were exposed to crowding diseases and diseases that cross over from the animals we kept. Yuval sees it as the biggest historical fraud. He asks why then did we settle down - his answer is such life does not support huge populations and population growth; it is a luxury trap, he explains. However, such a hunter-gather lifestyle should not see men living in a healthy paradise. Although we were happier without any earthly processions, it could be crude. There were instances of infanticide, gentricide, geronticide, and murder, especially when it is believed that you are holding the group back. Hence, there was not likely to be a significant population growth till they settle down.

Homo Sapiens is capable of abstract thought and can put things like countries, companies, money, etc., into a hierarchy that is not based on strength, sex, or size. This is responsible that many humans will live successfully together and obey certain rules to benefit everyone. For animals to live in a complex hierarchy, it has to be genetically programmed into their DNA, like bees in hives or termites. Hence, each bee knows its function at birth, whether it's a worker, drone, soldier, or Queen. A single Neanderthal is stronger than a man, could, as a matter of fact, live longer than a man in the wild. But Homo Sapiens has the ability to form groups that are involved in the killing of a whole band of Neanderthals, killing animals on a large scale with groups that communicate effectively and kill whole herds of animals after directing them to a trap. Killing them, skinning them, processing the meat, i.e., drying, salting, smoking, etc., and storing them for months. Later in the Agricultural Revolution, select the ancestors of the sheep, cow, horse, etc. and domesticate them, not to talk of wild wheat, corn, rice, etc. and grow them for our sustenance.  But humans can also expand and form multi-dimensional societies with complex hierarchal interlink structures. Lead him to be able to paint and write, and writing was a game-changer. This enabled empires to be run, people to be taxed and records to be kept, without which empires could not be run successfully. He looks at it from an evolutionary and anthropological point of view. How man was able to institute international bodies that almost everyone involved understands. 

At the end of the book, he described what might be the end of Homo Sapiens as we know it. The recent advances in genetics and the change of our genes initially to prevent diseases but later to enhance certain features and the quest for immortality. Then the use of technology initiatives to enhance deformities and later to add functionalities. As the case of Jesse Sullivan and Claudia Mitchell, who have bionic arms which are operated fully by thought. The use of AI is now diagnosing patients and even treating others. People uploading their consciousness to the internet, the various legal and moral issues involved in defining a human being. The use of AI would raise the question of where the AI begins or stops and when the person starts or stops. Most people would like to know whether the decision was made by a person or an AI, or a computer. As we have to define death, is when the heart stops, but machines can do that. When you stop breathing, there are artificial respirators, or when the brain waves stop, people are known to regain full function afterwards.

The main aim is to propagate itself and select the most desirable as it is in its DNA. Man has been able to propagate its institutions by stories it tells itself.  Looking at the Roman Catholic Church or the Chinese eunuchs, the stability of these institutions has nothing to do with the inheritance of genes but of the stories, we can tell one another. These are much more important than genes and build a more cohesive and expanding legacy. The stories are myths man is able to tell itself range from the laws of of Hammurabi Code to the US Constitution, but there were actual true believers who believed in it as at that time. 

The book gives the full journey of man from an evolutionary sense and his evolution and shows that the things we thought were important are not and actually changed my view. The author's concept of religion is a side note and was developed by man to explain what was happening around him. According to him, God or the gods were not active precipitants. It was not our brains that made us the dominant species of this planet. I do feel uncomfortable with this notion, but the book does explain a lot based on science. But our ability to work with one another as a group made it possible that we outwitted the other stronger animals and brainer humans. He even saw an animal with a bigger brain has a disadvantage in the race of survival of the fittest. We were healthier as hunters and gathers than as farmers living in town and settlements due to a combination of variation in the diet as compared to a single crop dependence and the emergence of crowding diseases. Empires, it seems, are not built on steel, soldiers, generals and iron, but on the pen and paper of the boring accountants, clerks and lawyers.  Whatever made it possible to raise money and get a return. Any country that ensures that its accountants and lawyers are secure will go far. We were lucky and took advantage of our luck. It seems we're just fortunate.