Sapiens

Sapiens is a dense and enjoyable book. I read it after Guns Germs and Steel, which it contrasts in interesting ways¹.

Although I read it twice, the book is so dense that I think I’ll need to read it again.

Main takeaway: The whole farming was an inevitable step backwards with regards to nutrition. Civilisations which reproduce quicker and grow to a larger size will eventually win.

The most important event in human evolution was the ‘awakening’ where humans became able to express abstract ideas. This allowed them to speak about the hypothetical, the future and to start constructing shared myths. These in turn enabled us to organise in groups much larger than before.

The notion of the “noble savage” as often portrayed in books and movies is also false. The humans were a bane of the ecosystem even before we discovered the gunpowder.

Contrary to any ecological or biological reasons, Harari states that the reason why it was the Europeans who dominated over the other civilisations is in part the enlightenment movement and their and trust in the future in form of debt. This is somewhat disputed in Debt - The first 5000 years, which shows that usage of debt was not unique to Europeans, and the slavery-coinage-military complex existed since the Roman empire.

Sequels

The sequels are mundane. For one, the first two-thirds of the Homo Deus is rehashing of Sapiens, followed by a glimpse into the future. Ultimately, I found it hollow. Nexus was enjoyable, albeit repetitive at the start. It is a tamer, but realistic², version of Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom.