What do you believe, fairy tales, God, creationism,
evolutionism, liberalism, Buddhism, Islamism, Christianism, capitalism,
communism, science, or singularity? In <Sapiens: A Brief History ofHumankind>, Yuval Noah Harari drew a big picture of human history from 2
million years ago till now. His main argument is that fictional ideas make
human stand out from other organisms on the Earth. We continually pursue the
basic question of who we are, and what we survive for; we conjure up enormous
ideas, stories, and isms to survive and outperform other species, but to
nowhere.
The story starts at the prehistory Sapiens migration out of
Africa and expansion to every corner of the Earth, then goes through the
cognitive revolution, agricultural revolution, and scientific and industrial
revolution until the intelligence designs of today. One of the significant views
of the author is that the agriculture revolution is a fraud that makes
individual human suffers rather than enjoys. And he thinks farmers lived a
miserable life compared to hunter-gathers; we moderns still have the physics of
2 millions years ago, yet we mainly live on carbohydrate foods (corn, rice,
wheat), which get us the modern diseases—diabetes, obesities, dental caries,
and atherosclerosis, a recent popular view that makes some people want to go
back to the living style of hunter-gathers.
The author tried to tell his story with
objectivity, and argue from different angles with underlying humors, which make
the book an interesting pitch. In the meantime, you can feel the pessimistic tone
that shadows the individual fate although the author tried to make the balance.
Most times, we live in illusions and delusions, which make our life happy and
meaningful, and humankind with astounding achievements. On the other hand, we
feel empty and uneasy for our fate. This perplexity hangs over us all the time,
and it is hard to believe the human society organized by fabricated ideas and isms
has gone so far.
