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SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND

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Von Yuval Noah Harari


Bewertung: 4.5 von 5 Sternen

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ÜBER DIESES E-BOOK

New York Times Bestseller

A Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark
Zuckerberg

From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s
creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in
which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what
it means to be “human.”

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans
inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the
others? And what may happen to us?

Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a
biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly
original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern
cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global
ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and
science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with
contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger
ideas.

Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades
humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for
the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the
world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we
want to become?

Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this
provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading
for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and
Sharon Moalem.

Weiterlesen


ANMERKUNG DES HERAUSGEBERS


EXPAND YOUR MIND…

Expand your mind with author Yuval Noah Harari’s new classic. Harari dives deep
and waxes philosophical about many of the large problems that plague us today.
Whether you agree with his takes isn’t really the point; his well-considered,
thoughtful arguments will give you a different perspective on all these problems
than we get from headlines and 30-second news clips.

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SpracheEnglish
HerausgeberHarperCollins
Erscheinungsdatum10. Feb. 2015
ISBN9780062316103


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YH
Autor


YUVAL NOAH HARARI

Prof. Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author
of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of
Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, and Sapiens: A Graphic History. His
books have sold over 35 million copies in 65 languages, and he is considered one
of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today. The Guardian
has credited Sapiens with revolutionizing the non-fiction market and
popularizing “brainy books”. In 2020 Harari joined forces with renowned comics
artists David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave, to create Sapiens: A Graphic
History: a radical adaptation of the original Sapiens into a graphic novel
series. This illustrated collection casts Yuval Noah Harari in the role of
guide, who takes the reader through the entire history of the human species,
accompanied by a range of fictional characters and traveling through time, space
and popular culture references. Born in Haifa, Israel, in 1976, Harari received
his PhD from the University of Oxford in 2002, and is currently a lecturer at
the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He originally
specialized in world history, medieval history and military history, and his
current research focuses on macro-historical questions such as: What is the
relationship between history and biology? What is the essential difference
between Homo sapiens and other animals? Is there justice in history? Does
history have a direction? Did people become happier as history unfolded? What
ethical questions do science and technology raise in the 21st century?

Weiterlesen



MEHR VON YUVAL NOAH HARARI LESEN

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VERWANDTE KATEGORIEN

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REZENSIONEN FÜR SAPIENS


Bewertung: 4.4311087190527445 von 5 Sternen
4.5/5

1.858 Bewertungen273 Rezensionen


WIE HAT ES IHNEN GEFALLEN?

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Die Rezension muss mindestens 10 Wörter umfassen

 * renbedell
   
   Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen
   5/5
   Non-fiction history of where humans came from to where they are going. It was
   a great look into human history. The author singles out aspects of human
   history that he finds important. He writes really well and makes it an easy
   and enjoyable read. He does have strong opinions, which some people may
   disagree with, but I enjoyed learning about his perspective.
   Weiterlesen
 * mbmackay
   
   Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen
   4/5
   This is an impressive book: big and interesting thoughts, good writing,
   compelling topic - but at times I felt it lack something - context? Numerous
   times I wanted to know more about a topic, how the recent research fitted
   with other views of the topic. Harari credits Jared Diamond with encouraging
   him to think big. But Jared Diamond, possible the very best at science
   writing for the general audience never tried to put ALL of his big thoughts
   into one volume. I think the scope of this book is so large, that it has
   become impossible to make the content fully manageable.But these are minor
   quibbles - this is an excellent book and a great read. Maybe in his later
   books, Harari focusses on slices of this broad canvas, and is able to bring
   the reader along, without leaving drowing them in information.
   Weiterlesen
 * aevaughn
   
   Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen
   4/5
   The prose is excellent and sharp, but I found his viewpoints rather
   pessimistic.
   Weiterlesen
 * geza.tatrallyay
   
   Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen
   5/5
   This is a winner. The author cuts across disciplines to explore the history
   of humankind. What emerges is a picture of an inherently clever and creative
   but ultimately destructive beast. Along the way he asks poignant questions,
   such as: what if Homo sapiens had not killed off its brother humanoid species
   i.e. Neanderthals, Homo erectus etc. Also he points to the possible ultimate
   destruction of mankind, yet gives some hope. History, biology, anthropology,
   sociology, psychology all come together in this wonderful book about us that
   everyone should read.
   Weiterlesen
 * dlmorrese
   
   Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen
   5/5
   Part natural science, part history, and part philosophy, this is a thought
   provoking read. It is careful not to make value judgements, but it is not
   reluctant to ascribe unknowable motivations to groups of people. Some of
   these motivations I thought reasonable, others not so much. I did have a few
   issues with some distinctions (and lack of distinctions) being drawn. The
   biggest was that the author uses a VERY broad definition of the word
   'religion', which he defines as "a belief in a superhuman order."
   Distinctions that I, and I think most others, would make between religion,
   ideology, and philosophy, he lumps together as forms of religion. By his
   definition, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, Stoicism, Cynicism,
   Epicurianism, Liberalism, Communism, Naziism, Humanism... are all forms of
   religion. Admittedly, the distinguishing line between such things is far from
   sharp, but grouping them under the umbrella term of 'religion' implies more
   similarity than they seem to be to have to me. The term 'belief system' would
   have been a better choice. His terminology may be what leads him to define
   humanism, for example, as a group of religions that "worship humanity." I
   doubt many Secular Humanists (which, oddly, is not one of the three varieties
   of humanism he identifies) would agree that they 'worship' humanity or regard
   it as 'sacred'. Humanism, in this respect, is simply the philosophical
   position that human codes of behavior are human based. Whereas a theistic
   religion may maintain that laws, taboos, commandments, and other such things
   are dictated by a god or gods, humanism maintains that such things have their
   origins in human imagination, cultural evolution, and human biology. There's
   not a lot of worship going on in this, unless he's also using an atypical
   definition for that word as well.
   But despite a few issues with terminology, I found this to be a well written,
   well organized, and thought provoking book. I highly recommend it.
   
   (P.S. the picture on page 287 of the edition I read is either upside down or
   the caption is incorrect. The map as shown is oriented with north at the
   bottom, so Europe is not in the upper left corner as the caption states.)
   Weiterlesen
 * guide2_1
   
   Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen
   5/5
   An amazing history book that is well written and easy to read. It's not a dry
   recitation of facts, but really a study of why things happened and which
   aspects of life have an important impact on history. A must read!
   Weiterlesen




BUCHVORSCHAU


SAPIENS - YUVAL NOAH HARARI


PART ONE


THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION

1. A human handprint made about 30,000 years ago, on the wall of the
Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in southern France. Somebody tried to say, ‘I was here!’

© ImageBank/Getty Images Israel.


1


AN ANIMAL OF NO SIGNIFICANCE

ABOUT 14 BILLION YEARS AGO, MATTER, energy, time and space came into being in
what is known as the Big Bang. The story of these fundamental features of our
universe is called physics.

About 300,000 years after their appearance, matter and energy started to
coalesce into complex structures, called atoms, which then combined into
molecules. The story of atoms, molecules and their interactions is called
chemistry.

About 4 billion years ago, on a planet called Earth, certain molecules combined
to form particularly large and intricate structures called organisms. The story
of organisms is called biology.

About 70,000 years ago, organisms belonging to the species Homo sapiens started
to form even more elaborate structures called cultures. The subsequent
development of these human cultures is called history.

Three important revolutions shaped the course of history: the Cognitive
Revolution kick-started history about 70,000 years ago. The Agricultural
Revolution sped it up about 12,000 years ago. The Scientific Revolution, which
got under way only 500 years ago, may well end history and start something
completely different. This book tells the story of how these three revolutions
have affected humans and their fellow organisms.

There were humans long before there was history. Animals much like modern humans
first appeared about 2.5 million years ago. But for countless generations they
did not stand out from the myriad other organisms that populated the planet.

On a hike in East Africa 2 million years ago, you might well have encountered a
familiar cast of human characters: anxious mothers cuddling their babies and
clutches of carefree children playing in the mud; temperamental youths chafing
against the dictates of society and weary elders who just wanted to be left in
peace; chest-thumping machos trying to impress the local beauty and wise old
matriarchs who had already seen it all. These archaic humans loved, played,
formed close friendships and competed for status and power – but so did
chimpanzees, baboons and elephants. There was nothing special about humans.
Nobody, least of all humans themselves, had any inkling that their descendants
would one day walk on the moon, split the atom, fathom the genetic code and
write history books. The most important thing to know about prehistoric humans
is that they were insignificant animals with no more impact on their environment
than gorillas, fireflies or jellyfish.

Biologists classify organisms into species. Animals are said to belong to the
same species if they tend to mate with each other, giving birth to fertile
offspring. Horses and donkeys have a recent common ancestor and share many
physical traits. But they show little sexual interest in one another. They will
mate if induced to do so – but their offspring, called mules, are sterile.
Mutations in donkey DNA can therefore never cross over to horses, or vice versa.
The two types of animals are consequently considered two distinct species,
moving along separate evolutionary paths. By contrast, a bulldog and a spaniel
may look very different, but they are members of the same species, sharing the
same DNA pool. They will happily mate and their puppies will grow up to pair off
with other dogs and produce more puppies.

Species that evolved from a common ancestor are bunched together under the
heading ‘genus’ (plural genera). Lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars are
different species within the genus Panthera. Biologists label organisms with a
two-part Latin name, genus followed by species. Lions, for example, are called
Panthera leo, the species leo of the genus Panthera. Presumably, everyone
reading this book is a Homo sapiens – the species sapiens (wise) of the genus
Homo (man).

Genera in their turn are grouped into families, such as the cats (lions,
cheetahs, house cats), the dogs (wolves, foxes, jackals) and the elephants
(elephants, mammoths, mastodons). All members of a family trace their lineage
back to a founding matriarch or patriarch. All cats, for example, from the
smallest house kitten to the most ferocious lion, share a common feline ancestor
who lived about 25 million years ago.

Homo sapiens, too, belongs to a family. This banal fact used to be one of
history’s most closely guarded secrets. Homo sapiens long preferred to view
itself as set apart from animals, an orphan who has no family, no cousins and –
most importantly – no parents. But that’s just not the case. Like it or not, we
are members of a large and particularly noisy family called the great apes. Our
nearest living relatives include chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. The
chimpanzees are the closest. Just 6 million years ago, a single female ape had
two daughters. One became the ancestor of all chimpanzees, the other is our own
grandmother.


SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET

Homo sapiens has kept hidden an even more disturbing secret. Not only do we
possess an abundance of uncivilised cousins, once upon a time we had quite a few
brothers and sisters as well. We are used to thinking about ourselves as the
only humans, because for the last 10,000 years, our species has indeed been the
only human species around. Yet the real meaning of the word human is ‘an animal
belonging to the genus Homo’, and there used to be many other species of this
genus besides Homo sapiens. Moreover, as we shall see in the last chapter of the
book, in the not so distant future we might again have to contend with
non-sapiens humans. To clarify this point, I will often use the term ‘Sapiens’
to denote members of the species Homo sapiens, while reserving the term ‘human’
to refer to all members of the genus Homo.

Humans first evolved in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago from an earlier
genus of apes called Australopithecus, which means ‘Southern Ape’. About 2
million years ago, some of these archaic men and women left their homeland to
journey through and settle vast areas of North Africa, Europe and Asia. Since
survival in the snowy forests of northern Europe required different traits than
those needed to stay alive in Indonesia’s steaming jungles, human populations
evolved in different directions. The result was several distinct species, to
each of which scientists have assigned a pompous Latin name.

2. Our siblings, according to speculative reconstructions (left to right): Homo
rudolfensis (East Africa); Homo erectus (East Asia); and Homo neanderthalensis
(Europe and western Asia). All are humans.

© Visual/Corbis.

Humans in Europe and western Asia evolved into Homo neanderthalensis (‘Man from
the Neander Valley’), popularly referred to simply as ‘Neanderthals’.
Neanderthals, bulkier and more muscular than us Sapiens, were well adapted to
the cold climate of Ice Age western Eurasia. The more eastern regions of Asia
were populated by Homo erectus, ‘Upright Man’, who survived there for close to 2
million years, making it the most durable human species ever. This record is
unlikely to be broken even by our own species. It is doubtful whether Homo
sapiens will still be around a thousand years from now, so 2 million years is
really out of our league.

On the island of Java, in Indonesia, lived Homo soloensis, ‘Man from the Solo
Valley’, who was suited to life in the tropics. On another Indonesian island –
the small island of Flores – archaic humans underwent a process of dwarfing.
Humans first reached Flores when the sea level was exceptionally low, and the
island was easily accessible from the mainland. When the seas rose again, some
people were trapped on the island, which was poor in resources. Big people, who
need a lot of food, died first. Smaller fellows survived much better. Over the
generations, the people of Flores became dwarves. This unique species, known by
scientists as Homo floresiensis, reached a maximum height of only 3.5 feet and
weighed no more than fifty-five pounds. They were nevertheless able to produce
stone tools, and even managed occasionally to hunt down some of the island’s
elephants – though, to be fair, the elephants were a dwarf species as well.

In 2010 another lost sibling was rescued from oblivion, when scientists
excavating the Denisova Cave in Siberia discovered a fossilised finger bone.
Genetic analysis proved that the finger belonged to a previously unknown human
species, which was named Homo denisova. Who knows how many lost relatives of
ours are waiting to be discovered in other caves, on other islands, and in other
climes.

While these humans were evolving in Europe and Asia, evolution in East Africa
did not stop. The cradle of humanity continued to nurture numerous new species,
such as Homo rudolfensis, ‘Man from Lake Rudolf’, Homo ergaster, ‘Working Man’,
and eventually our own species, which we’ve immodestly named Homo sapiens, ‘Wise
Man’.

The members of some of these species were massive and others were dwarves. Some
were fearsome hunters and others meek plant-gatherers. Some lived only on a
single island, while many roamed over continents. But all of them belonged to
the genus Homo. They were all human beings.

It’s a common fallacy to envision these species as arranged in a straight line
of descent, with Ergaster begetting Erectus, Erectus begetting the Neanderthals,
and the Neanderthals evolving into us. This linear model gives the mistaken
impression that at any particular moment only one type of human inhabited the
earth, and that all earlier species were merely older models of ourselves. The
truth is that from about 2 million years ago until around 10,000 years ago, the
world was home, at one and the same time, to several human species. And why not?
Today there are many species of bears: brown bears, black bears, grizzly bears,
polar bears. The earth of a hundred millennia ago was walked by at least six
different species of man. It’s our current exclusivity, not that multi-species
past, that is peculiar – and perhaps incriminating. As we will shortly see, we
Sapiens have good reasons to repress the memory of our siblings.


THE COST OF THINKING

Despite their many differences, all human species share several defining
characteristics. Most notably, humans have extraordinarily large brains compared
to other animals. Mammals weighing 130 pounds have an average brain size of 12
cubic inches. The earliest men and women, 2.5 million years ago, had brains of
about 36 cubic inches. Modern Sapiens sport a brain averaging 73–85 cubic
inches. Neanderthal brains were even bigger.

That evolution should select for larger brains may seem to us like, well, a
no-brainer. We are so enamoured of our high intelligence that we assume that
when it comes to cerebral power, more must be better. But if that were the case,
the feline family would also have produced cats who could do calculus, and frogs
would by now have launched their own space program. Why are giant brains so rare
in the animal kingdom?

The fact is that a jumbo brain is a jumbo drain on the body. It’s not easy to
carry around, especially when encased inside a massive skull. It’s even harder
to fuel. In Homo sapiens, the brain accounts for about 2–3 per cent of total
body weight, but it consumes 25 per cent of the body’s energy when the body is
at rest. By comparison, the brains of other apes require only 8 per cent of
rest-time energy. Archaic humans paid for their large brains in two ways.
Firstly, they spent more time in search of food. Secondly, their muscles
atrophied. Like a government diverting money from defence to education, humans
diverted energy from biceps to neurons. It’s hardly a foregone conclusion that
this is a good strategy for survival on the savannah. A chimpanzee can’t win an
argument with a Homo sapiens, but the ape can rip the man apart like a rag doll.

Today our big brains pay off nicely, because we can produce cars and guns that
enable us to move much faster than chimps, and shoot them from a safe distance
instead of wrestling. But cars and guns are a recent phenomenon. For more than 2
million years, human neural networks kept growing and growing, but apart from
some flint knives and pointed sticks, humans had precious little to show for it.
What then drove forward the evolution of the massive human brain during those 2
million years? Frankly, we don’t know.

Another singular human trait is that we walk upright on two legs. Standing up,
it’s easier to scan the savannah for game or enemies, and arms that are
unnecessary for locomotion are freed for other purposes, like throwing stones or
signalling. The more things these hands could do, the more successful their
owners were, so evolutionary pressure brought about an increasing concentration
of nerves and finely tuned muscles in the palms and fingers. As a result, humans
can perform very intricate tasks with their hands. In particular, they can
produce and use sophisticated tools. The first evidence for tool production
dates from about 2.5 million years ago, and the manufacture and use of tools are
the criteria by which archaeologists recognise ancient humans.

Yet walking upright has its downside. The skeleton of our primate ancestors
developed for millions of years to support a creature that walked on all fours
and had a relatively small head. Adjusting to an upright position was quite a
challenge, especially when the scaffolding had to support an extra-large
cranium. Humankind paid for its lofty vision and industrious hands with
backaches and stiff necks.

Women paid extra. An upright gait required narrower hips, constricting the birth
canal – and this just when babies’ heads were getting bigger and bigger. Death
in childbirth became a major hazard for human females. Women who gave birth
earlier, when the infant’s brain and head were still relatively small and
supple, fared better and lived to have more children. Natural selection
consequently favoured earlier births. And, indeed, compared to other animals,
humans are born prematurely, when many of their vital systems are still
under-developed. A colt can trot shortly after birth; a kitten leaves its mother
to forage on its own when it is just a few weeks old. Human babies are helpless,
dependent for many years on their elders for sustenance, protection and
education.

This fact has contributed greatly both to humankind’s extraordinary social
abilities and to its unique social problems. Lone mothers could hardly forage
enough food for their offspring and themselves with needy children in tow.
Raising children required constant help from other family members and
neighbours. It takes a tribe to raise a human. Evolution thus favoured those
capable of forming strong social ties. In addition, since humans are born
underdeveloped, they can be educated and socialised to a far greater extent than
any other animal. Most mammals emerge from the womb like glazed earthenware
emerging from a kiln – any attempt at remoulding will only scratch or break
them. Humans emerge from the womb like molten glass from a furnace. They can be
spun, stretched and shaped with a surprising degree of freedom. This is why
today we can educate our children to become Christian or Buddhist, capitalist or
socialist, warlike or peace-loving.

We assume that a large brain, the use of tools, superior learning abilities and
complex social structures are huge advantages. It seems self-evident that these
have made humankind the most powerful animal on earth. But humans enjoyed all of
these advantages for a full 2 million years during which they remained weak and
marginal creatures. Thus humans who lived a million years ago, despite their big
brains and sharp stone tools, dwelt in constant fear of predators, rarely hunted
large game, and subsisted mainly by gathering plants, scooping up insects,
stalking small animals, and eating the carrion left behind by other more
powerful carnivores.

One of the most common uses of early stone tools was to crack open bones in
order to get to the marrow. Some researchers believe this was our original
niche. Just as woodpeckers specialise in extracting insects from the trunks of
trees, the first humans specialised in extracting marrow from bones. Why marrow?
Well, suppose you observe a pride of lions take down and devour a giraffe. You
wait patiently until they’re done. But it’s still not your turn because first
the hyenas and jackals – and you don’t dare interfere with them – scavenge the
leftovers. Only then would you and your band dare approach the carcass, look
cautiously left and right – and dig into the edible tissue that remained.

This is a key to understanding our history and psychology. Genus Homo’s position
in the food chain was, until quite recently, solidly in the middle. For millions
of years, humans hunted smaller creatures and gathered what they could, all the
while being hunted by larger predators. It was only 400,000 years ago that
several species of man began to hunt large game on a regular basis, and only in
the last 100,000 years – with the rise of Homo sapiens – that man jumped to the
top of the food chain.

That spectacular leap from the middle to the top had enormous consequences.
Other animals at the top of the pyramid, such as lions and sharks, evolved into
that position very gradually, over millions of years. This enabled the ecosystem
to develop checks and balances that prevent lions and sharks from wreaking too
much havoc. As lions became deadlier, so gazelles evolved to run faster, hyenas
to cooperate better, and rhinoceroses to be more bad-tempered. In contrast,
humankind ascended to the top so quickly that the ecosystem was not given time
to adjust. Moreover, humans themselves failed to adjust. Most top predators of
the planet are majestic creatures. Millions of years of dominion have filled
them with self-confidence. Sapiens by contrast is more like a banana republic
dictator. Having so recently been one of the underdogs of the savannah, we are
full of fears and anxieties over our position, which makes us doubly cruel and
dangerous. Many historical calamities, from deadly wars to ecological
catastrophes, have resulted from this over-hasty jump.


A RACE OF COOKS

A significant step on the way to the top was the domestication of fire. Some
human species may have made occasional use of fire as early as 800,000 years
ago. By about 300,000 years ago, Homo erectus, Neanderthals and the forefathers
of Homo sapiens were using fire on a daily basis. Humans now had a dependable
source of light and warmth, and a deadly weapon against prowling lions. Not long
afterwards, humans may even have started deliberately to torch their
neighbourhoods. A carefully managed fire could turn impassable barren thickets
into prime grasslands teeming with game. In addition, once the fire died down,
Stone Age entrepreneurs could walk through the smoking remains and harvest
charcoaled animals, nuts and tubers.

But the best thing fire did was cook. Foods that humans cannot digest in their
natural forms – such as wheat, rice and potatoes – became staples of our diet
thanks to cooking. Fire not only changed food’s chemistry, it changed its
biology as well. Cooking killed germs and parasites that infested food. Humans
also had a far easier time chewing and digesting old favourites such as fruits,
nuts, insects and carrion if they were cooked. Whereas chimpanzees spend five
hours a day chewing raw food, a single hour suffices for people eating cooked
food.

The advent of cooking enabled humans to eat more kinds of food, to devote less
time to eating, and to make do with smaller teeth and shorter intestines. Some
scholars believe there is a direct link between the advent of cooking, the
shortening of the human intestinal tract, and the growth of the human brain.
Since long intestines and large brains are both massive energy consumers, it’s
hard to have both. By shortening the intestines and decreasing their energy
consumption, cooking inadvertently opened the way to the jumbo brains of
Neanderthals and Sapiens.¹

Fire also opened the first significant gulf between man and the other animals.
The power of almost all animals depends on their bodies: the strength of their
muscles, the size of their teeth, the breadth of their wings. Though they may
harness winds and currents, they are unable to control these natural forces, and
are always constrained by their physical design. Eagles, for example, identify
thermal columns rising from the ground, spread their giant wings and allow the
hot air to lift them upwards. Yet eagles cannot control the location of the
columns, and their maximum carrying capacity is strictly proportional to their
wingspan.

When humans domesticated fire, they gained control of an obedient and
potentially limitless force. Unlike eagles, humans could choose when and where
to ignite a flame, and they were able to exploit fire for any number of tasks.
Most importantly, the power of fire was not limited by the form, structure or
strength of the human body. A single woman with a flint or fire stick could burn
down an entire forest in a matter of hours. The domestication of fire was a sign
of things to come.


OUR BROTHERS’ KEEPERS

Despite the benefits of fire, 150,000 years ago humans were still marginal
creatures. They could now scare away lions, warm themselves during cold nights,
and burn down the occasional forest. Yet counting all species together, there
were still no more than perhaps a million humans living between the Indonesian
archipelago and the Iberian peninsula, a mere blip on the ecological radar.

Our own species, Homo sapiens, was already present on the world stage, but so
far it was just minding its own business in a corner of Africa. We don’t know
exactly where and when animals that can be classified as Homo sapiens first
evolved from some earlier type of humans, but most scientists agree that by
150,000 years ago, East Africa was populated by Sapiens that looked just like
us. If one of them turned up in a modern morgue, the local pathologist would
notice nothing peculiar. Thanks to the blessings of fire, they had smaller teeth
and jaws than their ancestors, whereas they had massive brains, equal in size to
ours.

Scientists also agree that about 70,000 years ago, Sapiens from East Africa
spread into the Arabian peninsula, and from there they quickly overran the
entire Eurasian landmass.

When Homo sapiens landed in Arabia, most of Eurasia was already settled by other
humans. What happened to them? There are two conflicting theories. The
‘Interbreeding Theory’ tells a story of attraction, sex and mingling. As the
African immigrants spread around the world, they bred with other human
populations, and people today are the outcome of this interbreeding.

For example, when Sapiens reached the Middle East and Europe, they encountered
the Neanderthals. These humans were more muscular than Sapiens, had larger
brains, and were better adapted to cold climes. They used tools and fire, were
good hunters, and apparently took care of their sick and infirm. (Archaeologists
have discovered the bones of Neanderthals who lived for many years with severe
physical handicaps, evidence that they were cared for by their relatives.)
Neanderthals are often depicted in caricatures as the archetypical brutish and
stupid ‘cave people’, but recent evidence has changed their image.

According to the Interbreeding Theory, when Sapiens spread into Neanderthal
lands, Sapiens bred with Neanderthals until the two populations merged. If this
is the case, then today’s Eurasians are not pure Sapiens. They are a mixture of
Sapiens and Neanderthals. Similarly, when Sapiens reached East Asia, they
interbred with the local Erectus, so the Chinese and Koreans are a mixture of
Sapiens and Erectus.

The opposing view, called the ‘Replacement Theory’ tells a very different story
– one of incompatibility, revulsion, and perhaps even genocide. According to
this theory, Sapiens and other humans had different anatomies, and most likely
different mating habits and even body odours. They would have had little sexual
interest in one another. And even if a Neanderthal Romeo and a Sapiens Juliet
fell in love, they could not produce fertile children, because the genetic gulf
separating the two populations was already unbridgeable. The two populations
remained completely distinct, and when the Neanderthals died out, or were killed
off, their genes died with them. According to this view, Sapiens replaced all
the previous human populations without merging with them. If that is the case,
the lineages of all contemporary humans can be traced back, exclusively, to East
Africa, 70,000 years ago. We are all ‘pure Sapiens’.

Map 1. Homo sapiens conquers the globe.

Neil Gower

A lot hinges on this debate. From an evolutionary perspective, 70,000 years is a
relatively short interval. If the Replacement Theory is correct, all living
humans have roughly the same genetic baggage, and racial distinctions among them
are negligible. But if the Interbreeding Theory is right, there might well be
genetic differences between Africans, Europeans and Asians that go back hundreds
of thousands of years. This is political dynamite, which could provide material
for explosive racial theories.

In recent decades the Replacement Theory has been the common wisdom in the
field. It had firmer archaeological backing, and was more politically correct
(scientists had no desire to open up the Pandora’s box of racism by claiming
significant genetic diversity among modern human populations). But that ended in
2010, when the results of a four-year effort to map the Neanderthal genome were
published. Geneticists were able to collect enough intact Neanderthal DNA from
fossils to make a broad comparison between it and the DNA of contemporary
humans. The results stunned the scientific community.

It turned out that 1–4 per cent of the unique human DNA of modern populations in
the Middle East and Europe is Neanderthal DNA. That’s not a huge amount, but
it’s significant. A second shock came several months later, when DNA extracted
from the fossilised finger from Denisova was mapped. The results proved that up
to 6 per cent of the unique human DNA of modern Melanesians and Aboriginal
Australians is Denisovan DNA.

If these results are valid – and it’s important to keep in mind that further
research is under way and may either reinforce or modify these conclusions – the
Interbreeders got at least some things right. But that doesn’t mean that the
Replacement Theory is completely wrong. Since Neanderthals and Denisovans
contributed only a small amount of DNA to our present-day genome, it is
impossible to speak of a ‘merger’ between Sapiens and other human species.
Although differences between them were not large enough to completely prevent
fertile intercourse, they were sufficient to make such contacts very rare.

How then should we understand the biological relatedness of Sapiens,
Neanderthals and Denisovans? Clearly, they were not completely different species
like horses and donkeys. On the other hand, they were not just different
populations of the same species, like bulldogs and spaniels. Biological reality
is not black and white. There are also important grey areas. Every two species
that evolved from a common ancestor, such as horses and donkeys, were at one
time just two populations of the same species, like bulldogs and spaniels. There
must have been a point when the two populations were already quite different
from one another, but still capable on rare occasions of having sex and
producing fertile offspring. Then another mutation severed this last connecting
thread, and they went their separate evolutionary ways.

It seems that about 50,000 years ago, Sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans were
at that borderline point. They were almost, but not quite, entirely separate
species. As we shall see in the next chapter, Sapiens were already very
different from Neanderthals and Denisovans not only in their genetic code and
physical traits, but also in their cognitive and social abilities, yet it
appears it was still just possible, on rare occasions, for a Sapiens and a
Neanderthal to produce a fertile offspring. So the populations did not merge,
but a few lucky Neanderthal genes did hitch a ride on the Sapiens Express. It is
unsettling – and perhaps thrilling – to think that we Sapiens could at one time
have sex with an animal from a different species, and produce children together.

3. A speculative reconstruction of a Neanderthal child. Genetic evidence hints
that at least some Neanderthals may have had fair skin and hair.

© Anthropologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich.

But if the Neanderthals, Denisovans and other human species didn’t merge with
Sapiens, why did they vanish? One possibility is that Homo sapiens drove them to
extinction. Imagine a Sapiens band reaching a Balkan valley where Neanderthals
had lived for hundreds of thousands of years. The newcomers began to hunt the
deer and gather the nuts and berries that were the Neanderthals’ traditional
staples. Sapiens were more proficient hunters and gatherers – thanks to better
technology and superior social skills – so they multiplied and spread. The less
resourceful Neanderthals found it increasingly difficult to feed themselves.
Their population dwindled and they slowly died out, except perhaps for one or
two members who joined their Sapiens neighbours.

Another possibility is that competition for resources flared up into violence
and genocide. Tolerance is not a Sapiens trademark. In modern times, a small
difference in skin colour, dialect or religion has been enough to prompt one
group of Sapiens to set about exterminating another group. Would ancient Sapiens
have been more tolerant towards an entirely different human species? It may well
be that when Sapiens encountered Neanderthals, the result was the first and most
significant ethnic-cleansing campaign in history.

Whichever way it happened, the Neanderthals (and the other human species) pose
one of history’s great what ifs. Imagine how things might have turned out had
the Neanderthals or Denisovans survived alongside Homo sapiens. What kind of
cultures, societies and political structures would have emerged in a world where
several different human species coexisted? How, for example, would religious
faiths have unfolded? Would the book of Genesis have declared that Neanderthals
descend from Adam and Eve, would Jesus have died for the sins of the Denisovans,
and would the Qur’an have reserved seats in heaven for all righteous humans,
whatever their species? Would Neanderthals have been able to serve in the Roman
legions, or in the sprawling bureaucracy of imperial China? Would the American
Declaration of Independence hold as a self-evident truth that all members of the
genus Homo are created equal? Would Karl Marx have urged workers of all species
to unite?

Over the past 10,000 years, Homo sapiens has grown so accustomed to being the
only human species that it’s hard for us to conceive of any other possibility.
Our lack of brothers and sisters makes it easier to imagine that we are the
epitome of creation, and that a chasm separates us from the rest of the animal
kingdom. When Charles Darwin indicated that Homo sapiens was just another kind
of animal, people were outraged. Even today many refuse to believe it. Had the
Neanderthals survived, would we still imagine ourselves to be a creature apart?
Perhaps this is exactly why our ancestors wiped out the Neanderthals. They were
too familiar to ignore, but too different to tolerate.

Whether Sapiens are to blame or not, no sooner had they arrived at a new
location than the native population became extinct. The last remains of Homo
soloensis are dated to about 50,000 years ago. Homo denisova disappeared shortly
thereafter. Neanderthals made their exit roughly 30,000 years ago. The last
dwarf-like humans vanished from Flores Island about 12,000 years ago. They left
behind some bones, stone tools, a few genes in our DNA and a lot of unanswered
questions. They also left behind us, Homo sapiens, the last human species.

What was the Sapiens’ secret of success? How did we manage to settle so rapidly
in so many distant and ecologically different habitats? How did we push all
other human species into oblivion? Why couldn’t even the strong, brainy,
cold-proof Neanderthals survive our onslaught? The debate continues to rage. The
most likely answer is the very thing that makes the debate possible: Homo
sapiens conquered the world thanks above all to its unique language.


2


THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WE SAW THAT although Sapiens had already populated East
Africa 150,000 years ago, they began to overrun the rest of planet Earth and
drive the other human species to extinction only about 70,000 years ago. In the
intervening millennia, even though these archaic Sapiens looked just like us and
their brains were as big as ours, they did not enjoy any marked advantage over
other human species, did not produce particularly sophisticated tools, and did
not accomplish any other special feats.

In fact, in the first recorded encounter between Sapiens and Neanderthals, the
Neanderthals won. About 100,000 years ago, some Sapiens groups migrated north to
the Levant, which was Neanderthal territory, but failed to secure a firm
footing. It might have been due to nasty natives, an inclement climate, or
unfamiliar local parasites. Whatever the reason, the Sapiens eventually
retreated, leaving the Neanderthals as masters of the Middle East.

This poor record of achievement has led scholars to speculate that the internal
structure of the brains of these Sapiens was probably different from ours. They
looked like us, but their cognitive abilities – learning, remembering,
communicating – were far more limited. Teaching such ancient Sapiens to speak
English, persuading them of the truth of Christian dogma, or getting them to
understand the theory of evolution would probably have been hopeless
undertakings. Conversely, we would have had a very hard time learning their
communication system and way of thinking.

But then, beginning about 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens started doing very
special things. Around that date Sapiens bands left Africa for a second time.
This time they drove the Neanderthals and all other human species not only from
the Middle East, but from the face of the earth. Within a remarkably short
period, Sapiens reached Europe and East Asia. About 45,000 years ago, they
somehow crossed the open sea and landed in Australia – a continent hitherto
untouched by humans. The period from about 70,000 years ago to about 30,000
years ago witnessed the invention of boats, oil lamps, bows and arrows and
needles (essential for sewing warm clothing). The first objects that can
reliably be called art date from this era (see the Stadel lion-man), as does the
first clear evidence for religion, commerce and social stratification.

Most researchers believe that these unprecedented accomplishments were the
product of a revolution in Sapiens’ cognitive abilities. They maintain that the
people who drove the Neanderthals to extinction, settled Australia, and carved
the Stadel lion-man were as intelligent, creative and sensitive as we are. If we
were to come across the artists of the Stadel Cave, we could learn their
language and they ours. We’d be able to explain to them everything we know –
from the adventures of Alice in Wonderland to the paradoxes of quantum physics –
and they could teach us how their people view the world.

The appearance of new ways of thinking and communicating, between 70,000 and
30,000 years ago, constitutes the Cognitive Revolution. What caused it? We’re
not sure. The most commonly believed theory argues that accidental genetic
mutations changed the inner wiring of the brains of Sapiens, enabling them to
think in unprecedented ways and to communicate using an altogether new type of
language. We might call it the Tree of Knowledge mutation. Why did it occur in
Sapiens DNA rather than in that of Neanderthals? It was a matter of pure chance,
as far as we can tell. But it’s more important to understand the consequences of
the Tree of Knowledge mutation than its causes. What was so special about the
new Sapiens language that it enabled us to conquer the world?*

It was not the first communication system. Every animal knows how to
communicate. Even insects, such as bees and ants, know how to inform one another
of the whereabouts of food. Neither was it the first vocal communication system.
Many animals, including all ape and monkey species, use vocal signs. For
example, green monkeys use calls of various kinds to warn each other of danger.
Zoologists have identified one call that means, ‘Careful! An eagle!’ A slightly
different call warns, ‘Careful! A lion!’ When researchers played a recording of
the first call to a group of monkeys, the monkeys stopped what they were doing
and looked upwards in fear. When the same group heard a recording of the second
call, the lion warning, they quickly scrambled up a tree. Sapiens can produce
many more distinct sounds than green monkeys, but whales and elephants have
equally impressive abilities. A parrot can say anything Albert Einstein could
say, as well as mimicking the sounds of phones ringing, doors slamming and
sirens wailing. Whatever advantage Einstein had over a parrot, it wasn’t vocal.
What, then, is so special about our language?

The most common answer is that our language is amazingly supple. We can connect
a limited number of sounds and signs to produce an infinite number of sentences,
each with a distinct meaning. We can thereby ingest, store and communicate a
prodigious amount of information about the surrounding world. A green monkey can
yell to its comrades, ‘Careful! A lion!’ But a modern human can tell her friends
that this morning, near the bend in the river, she saw a lion tracking a herd of
bison. She can then describe the exact location, including the different paths
leading to the area. With this information, the members of her band can put
their heads together and discuss whether they should approach the river, chase
away the lion and hunt the bison.

A second theory agrees that our unique language evolved as a means of sharing
information about the world. But the most important information that needed to
be conveyed was about humans, not about lions and bison. Our language evolved as
a way of gossiping. According to this theory Homo sapiens is primarily a social
animal. Social cooperation is our key for survival and reproduction. It is not
enough for individual men and women to know the whereabouts of lions and bison.
It’s much more important for them to know who in their band hates whom, who is
sleeping with whom, who is honest, and who is a cheat.

4. An ivory figurine of a ‘lion-man’ (or ‘lioness-woman’) from the Stadel Cave
in Germany (c.32,000 years ago). The body is human, but the head is leonine.
This is one of the first indisputable examples of art, and probably of religion,
and of the ability of the human mind to imagine things that do not really exist.

Photo: Thomas Stephan © Ulmer Museum.

The amount of information that one must obtain and store in order to track the
ever-changing relationships of even a few dozen individuals is staggering. (In a
band of fifty individuals, there are 1,225 one-on-one relationships, and
countless more complex social combinations.) All apes show a keen interest in
such social information, but they have trouble gossiping effectively.
Neanderthals and archaic Homo sapiens probably also had a hard time talking
behind each other’s backs – a much maligned ability which is in fact essential
for cooperation in large numbers. The new linguistic skills that modern Sapiens
acquired about seventy millennia ago enabled them to gossip for hours on end.
Reliable information about who could be trusted meant that small bands could
expand into larger bands, and Sapiens could develop tighter and more
sophisticated types of cooperation.¹

The gossip theory might sound like a joke, but numerous studies support it. Even
today the vast majority of human communication – whether in the form of emails,
phone calls or newspaper columns – is gossip. It comes so naturally to us that
it seems as if our language evolved for this very purpose. Do you think that
history professors chat about the reasons for World War One when they meet for
lunch, or that nuclear physicists spend their coffee breaks at scientific
conferences talking about quarks? Sometimes. But more often, they gossip about
the professor who caught her husband cheating, or the quarrel between the head
of the department and the dean, or the rumours that a colleague used his
research funds to buy a Lexus. Gossip usually focuses on wrongdoings.
Rumour-mongers are the original fourth estate, journalists who inform society
about and thus protect it from cheats and freeloaders.

Most likely, both the gossip theory and the there-is-a-lion-near-the-river
theory are valid. Yet the truly unique feature of our language is not its
ability to transmit information about men and lions. Rather, it’s the ability to
transmit information about things that do not exist at all. As far as we know,
only Sapiens can talk about entire kinds of entities that they have never seen,
touched or smelled.

Legends, myths, gods and religions appeared for the first time with the
Cognitive Revolution. Many animals and human species could previously say,
‘Careful! A lion!’ Thanks to the Cognitive Revolution, Homo sapiens acquired the
ability to say, ‘The lion is the guardian spirit of our tribe.’ This ability to
speak about fictions is the most unique feature of Sapiens language.

It’s relatively easy to agree that only Homo sapiens can speak about things that
don’t really exist, and believe six impossible things before breakfast. You
could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless
bananas after death in monkey heaven. But why is it important? After all,
fiction can be dangerously misleading or distracting. People who go to the
forest looking for fairies and unicorns would seem to have less chance of
survival than people who go looking for mushrooms and deer. And if you spend
hours praying to non-existing guardian spirits, aren’t you wasting precious
time, time better spent foraging, fighting and fornicating?

However, fiction has enabled us not merely to imagine things, but to do so
collectively. We can weave common myths such as the biblical creation story, the
Dreamtime myths of Aboriginal Australians, and the nationalist myths of modern
states. Such myths give Sapiens the unprecedented ability to cooperate flexibly
in large numbers. Ants and bees can also work together in huge numbers, but they
do so in a very rigid manner and only with close relatives. Wolves and
chimpanzees cooperate far more flexibly than ants, but they can do so only with
small numbers of other individuals that they know intimately. Sapiens can
cooperate in extremely flexible ways with countless numbers of strangers. That’s
why Sapiens rule the world, whereas ants eat our leftovers and chimps are locked
up in zoos and research laboratories.


THE LEGEND OF PEUGEOT

Our chimpanzee cousins usually live in small troops of several dozen
individuals. They form close friendships, hunt together and fight shoulder to
shoulder against baboons, cheetahs and enemy chimpanzees. Their social structure
tends to be hierarchical. The dominant member, who is almost always a male, is
termed the ‘alpha male’. Other males and females exhibit their submission to the
alpha male by bowing before him while making grunting sounds, not unlike human
subjects kowtowing before a king. The alpha male strives to maintain social
harmony within his troop. When two individuals fight, he will intervene and stop
the violence. Less benevolently, he might monopolise particularly coveted foods
and prevent lower-ranking males from mating with the females.

When two males are contesting the alpha position, they usually do so by forming
extensive coalitions of supporters, both male and female, from within the group.
Ties between coalition members are based on intimate daily contact – hugging,
touching, kissing, grooming and mutual favours. Just as human politicians on
election campaigns go around shaking hands and kissing babies, so aspirants to
the top position in a chimpanzee group spend much time hugging, back-slapping
and kissing baby chimps. The alpha male usually wins his position not because he
is physically stronger, but because he leads a large and stable coalition. These
coalitions play a central part not only during overt struggles for the alpha
position, but in almost all day-to-day activities. Members of a coalition spend
more time together, share food, and help one another in times of trouble.



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