Sapiens — a book that will change the way you view the world
Sapiens is arguably one of the best novels ever written. It’s insane how much knowledge you can get from a brief history of humankind. In the 21st century, knowledge and information are superpowers, and this book is nothing short of being a superpowered-book. (Note: if you haven’t already filled your cart on Amazon with this must-read you’re crazy: click here.)
I’m clearly a big fan. But don’t just take it from me: there are millions of people who have been mind blown by the work of Yuval Harari. Let me break-down some of my favourite takeaways and learning points from Sapiens.
Homo Sapiens evolved and took over EVERYTHING that stood in their way
Over time, we got rid of our brother and sister species homo rudolfensis, homo erectus and homo neanderthalensis. Why? Because we wanted to dominate the world and felt other homo genus species would threaten this.
Throughout history, we used every animal in the animal kingdom for our benefit. We use animals as entertainment and food… some for blankets, product testing and necklaces.
The last species of humans (other than homo sapiens) vanished 12,000 years ago, and now we’re the last species left. One of the reasons historians thought homo sapiens conquered everything else is because of our language and storytelling.
Day to day I deal with the demographic that is teenagers. Teenagers (and maybe adults, but I wouldn’t know) do this thing one may call “fake friendships”. They pretend to invest their time with people they don’t like, in hopes of getting a certain outcome. Being part of this demographic, I have experienced many of these “fake friendships” — always super confused why people take advantage of each other. But after reading about the history of our species, I understand that humans are wired to be manipulative!!!
We care more about fiction than reality
We’ve been able to create many stories (money, nations, human rights) which have guided humans throughout history.
Money is one of the greatest stories ever told in that it has completely manipulated our species to want a fictional measure over world peace, fixing climate change and providing education for all. We’re so fixed on the world economy that if there is no economic incentive to fix a problem, we won’t fix it.
I am fortunate enough to live in a nice country, neighbourhood, house and go to a nice school. With that, I also have the joy of being surrounded by “spoiled children”. It’s amazing how many kids today are so materialistic. I used to be so self-conscious about the clothes I would wear and the devices I had: until recently I realized that money isn’t real and it also doesn’t matter.
A fictional currency doesn’t determine who you are. Nor do the assets you bought with the fictional currency. What does matter: relationships, passion, loving yourself and happiness. And if you need money to make you happy, you’re doing something wrong. In fact, if money had any correlation with happiness why is it that the richest people in the world aren’t the happiest? I’ll tell you why:
- You can’t buy people with money
- You can’t buy passion with money
- You can’t buy love for yourself with money
If you’re not surrounded by people you love and people who make your life more exciting and fun you won’t be happy. Additionally, if you’re unable to be passionate, your life will feel worthless and irrelevant (and being passionate about money isn’t a healthy passion) — do you think people who feel worthless and irrelevant are happy? Probably not. And if you don’t think you’re a dope person/you can’t spend time by yourself, you can’t be happy. At the end of the day, you’re one person, and you spend tons of time alone. If you don’t value that time alone or think you need people to be happy, a lot of the time you’re gonna be sad. Are sad people happy? Not usually.
Reading Sapiens made me more conscious of being happy. I got better at having good people in my life, spending time by myself, and doing stuff I’m interested in. From that, my life has shifted from being a constant mediocracy to being a constant high. No amount of money could have been worth the happiness I’ve gained over the past few weeks worth of reflecting over this book (well, besides the book itself, so like 20 bucks).
Today, we care more about our imaginative realities (gods, nations and companies) than the real reality (trees, ozone layer of air, rivers). You don’t see many millions of people fighting wars to clean rivers or stop cutting down trees. But throughout history, countless lives were lost in wars over religions and national hatred. Our imagination has taken over our species' sanity. One of our greatest issues is climate change, but we’re more interested in Facebook's stock price.
Growing up in such a nice country, up until recently, I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the billions of people in the world who are much less fortunate than me. And it wasn’t because I’m not a decent human being, but because the people who lived around me didn’t talk about it. Much of the connection I got to the outside world was the news and vacations. The news mainly consists of the stock market, Trump and occasionally Russia. Sometimes terror attacks and wars.
No one talks about the billions of people who are hungry, uneducated and thirsty. I couldn’t even imagine what it’s like to be a starving kid in Kenya or a Human Trafficker in Brazil. A lot of that is to blame on my parents (sorry mom and dad!). Growing up I was fortunate enough to go on some nice vacations, mostly in resorts in warm countries, or developed nations in Europe. While those were relaxing, they didn’t give me an understanding of the world. When I think of Mexico, I think of the Playa del Carmen 4 star resort, not the slums of Mexico City. In North America, we see these places as “exotic” and “adventurous”. My view on life would have been so different if I spent the first 15 years of my life visiting schools in India, orphanages in Bangladesh or farms in Kazakstan. Realistically, I don’t have a solid understanding of how the world works. I’m prone to my bubble of North America.
Sapiens, however, gave me at least a slightly better understanding of how the world operates. And also helped me develop a curiosity to explore more. In the near future, I’ll be ditching the resorts of Costa Rica, and instead, learn how the world works from the perspective of cocoa farmers in Ecuador, those who escaped the war in Sudan, women living in one of the strictest nations in the world: Saudi Arabia and people stuck by disaster in Indonesia. Because the world isn’t tropical resorts, there are people with big issues.
One of our greatest faults was the agricultural revolution
One of my favourite analogies from the book is his perspective of the agricultural revolution from the viewpoint of wheat. Wheat went from an insignificant grass from the middle east to one of the largest components in the food industry found throughout all four corners of the world. But growing wheat didn’t actually help humans. Farming wheat was a difficult task. This part of our history just made no sense. Farming did not offer any greater economic incentive, less violence or more joy. It literally provided no advantage for humans: in fact, it made lives harder. Why do we do things that aren’t good for us?
How did wheat convince Homo sapiens to exchange a rather good life for a more miserable existence? (Harari 81)
Farming has changed the way we live today in 2019. And it’s thanks to our ancestors who worked on farms. They suffered as individuals but their advancements in technology helped the Homo sapiens species multiply and evolve.
A much more representative viewpoint is that of a three-year-old girl dying from malnutrition in first-century China because her father’s crops have failed. Would she say ‘I am dying from malnutrition, but in 2,000 years, people will have plenty to eat and live in big air-conditioned houses, so my suffering is a worthwhile sacrifice? (83)
(Millions (maybe even billions) of people have died because of malnutrition due to the failure of crops in the past. But today, in 2019 people are more likely to be obese than hungry. How things have changed.)
Farming made the lives of people harder… why did people even want to be farmers? They would live more difficult lives, have less money, and be generally less happy.
It also involved animals in the process. This was one of the biggest faults in history: we use animals to benefit our species. Cows are one of the most successful species, but I’m sure they’re amongst the most depressed animals considering their life is mainly lived inside a wooden cage.
What’s craziest of all, is that we’ve steered away from our old farming techniques to new, more innovative forms of farming (we still have a long way to go), but fewer people are becoming farmers. Moreover, we still haven’t replaced the role of animals in agriculture.
Farming allowed our species to increase rapidly… we’re overpopulating the earth now :)
Here’s why the agricultural revolution sucked:
- Being a farmer sucked.
- Crops were unpredictable so many of those farmer’s families starved because they had no money. Why? Because being a farmer sucked.
- People had no economic security or joy
- We involved animals. Chickens and cows might be an “evolutionary success story” but “their evolutionary ‘success’ is meaningless. A rare wild rhinoceros on the brink of extinction is probably more satisfied than a calf who spends its short life inside a tiny box, fattened to produce juicy steaks” (97)
- Our population grew dramatically: now we’re running out of space.
I am super lucky to be in North America with food on my plate. But there are still hundreds of millions of people who don’t have that luxury, we have a long way to go.
Knowledge, Imagination and Information have driven our species forward and are more important than ever
“Out of the 7 billion people in the world, how many really understand quantum mechanics, cell biology or macroeconomics?” (259)
This is one of the lines from the book that really made me think. Very few people have the knowledge of such topics. But these are the topics that will change the world, and knowing them will give you a big advantage.
We need more people who have the correct knowledge and mindsets to change the future, and that’s why knowledge is power. Who’s going to advance artificial intelligence? Someone who is probably an expert in AI. Blockchain? Probably a blockchain master. Biotechnology? A person with a strong background in bio and gene editing… you get the point.
Sapiens was a book that provoked thought. It helped me develop curiosity.
On the topic of impacting people, I took away that in order to help the millions of people starving, I need to develop the correct knowledge and mindset to do so.
Science and tech have driven our species to accomplish the impossible. Sapiens opened my eyes to what we (humans) have accomplished and made me want to be a part of this innovation. The book also outlined some of our species’ not proudest moments like genocides and wars.
I want to be a part of innovation that benefits humankind and avoids the hatred of people. Especially considering that we now have the ability to completely eliminate everyone with the destructive nuclear bombs and weapons we’ve created. I want to make sure we don’t completely screw this planet up.
Where is science driving us?
Homo sapiens are going to become homo deus with the increasing impacts of biotechnology, info technology and artificial intelligence.
One of the biggest takeaways I acquired from this book is understanding how far as a race us humans have gone. Now of days obesity is more common than malnutrition and more people die from diabetes than terrorism (“sugar is more dangerous than gunpowder”).
It’s crazy how the news is centred around protecting us from terrorism, but no government is creating measures to warn people about the danger of sugar. Why? Because sugar grows a country’s economy and terrorism does not. We are more concerned about a fictional currency (say, the US dollar) than we are for the health and future of humans.
Science is advancing faster than anyone can predict — no one can predict and prepare for 2025, never mind 2050.
On top of all that, we don’t know how to shape our education system to prepare people for artificial intelligence. Interested in the future? Read Homo Deus. (or wait a few weeks for my next article on takeaways from the sequel ??).
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