Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind Quotes
"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."
"The real difference between us and chimpanzees is the mythical glue that binds together large numbers of individuals, families and groups."
"As long as this communal belief persists, the imagined reality exerts force in the world."
"Ever since the Cognitive Revolution, there hasn’t been a single natural way of life for Sapiens. There are only cultural choices, from among a bewildering palette of possibilities."
"The average ancient forager could turn a flint stone into a spear point within minutes. When we try to imitate this feat, we usually fail miserably."
"Most of us lack expert knowledge of the flaking properties of flint and basalt and the fine motor skills needed to work them precisely."
"This was the key to Sapiens’ success. In a one-on-one brawl, a Neanderthal would probably have beaten a Sapiens. But in a conflict of hundreds, Neanderthals wouldn’t stand a chance."
"Sapiens can cooperate in extremely flexible ways with countless numbers of strangers."
"The Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud."
"Luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations."
"The body of Homo sapiens had not evolved for such tasks. It was adapted to climbing apple trees and running after gazelles, not to clearing rocks and carrying water buckets."
"Wheat did not give people economic security. The life of a peasant is less secure than that of a hunter-gatherer."
"Hardest hit were the large furry creatures. At the time of the Cognitive Revolution, the planet was home to about 200 genera of large terrestrial mammals weighing over fifty kilograms. At the time of the Agricultural Revolution, only about a hundred remained."
"The pursuit of an easier life resulted in much hardship, and not for the last time."
"For the vast majority of domesticated animals, the Agricultural Revolution was a terrible catastrophe."
"The new agricultural territories were not only far smaller than those of ancient foragers, but also far more artificial."
"Hunter-gatherers spent their time in more stimulating and varied ways, and were less in danger of starvation and disease."
"The moment the first hunter-gatherer set foot on an Australian beach was the moment that Homo sapiens climbed to the top rung in the food chain on a particular landmass and thereafter became the deadliest species in the annals of planet Earth."
"Ancient farmers might seem to us dirt poor, but a typical family possessed more artefacts than an entire forager tribe."
"Foragers discounted the future because they lived from hand to mouth and could only preserve food or accumulate possessions with difficulty."
"The Agricultural Revolution made the future far more important than it had ever been before."
"Peasants were obliged to produce more than they consumed so that they could build up reserves."
"Concern about the future was rooted not only in seasonal cycles of production, but also in the fundamental uncertainty of agriculture."
"The anxious peasant was as frenetic and hardworking as a harvester ant in the summer."
"History is something that very few people have been doing while everyone else was ploughing fields and carrying water buckets."
"Myths, it transpired, are stronger than anyone could have imagined."
"The imagined order is embedded in the material world."
"Most people do not wish to accept that the order governing their lives is imaginary."
"An objective phenomenon exists independently of human consciousness and human beliefs."
"Writing was born as the maidservant of human consciousness, but is increasingly becoming its master."
"A good rule of thumb is 'Biology enables, Culture forbids.'"
"From a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural."
"Most of the laws, norms, rights, and obligations that define manhood and womanhood reflect human imagination more than biological reality."
"Sex is child’s play; but gender is serious business."
"Success is not guaranteed. Males in particular live in constant dread of losing their claim to manhood."
"Patriarchal societies educate men to think and act in a masculine way and women to think and act in a feminine way, punishing anyone who dares cross those boundaries."
"Yet they do not equally reward those who conform."
"Throughout Elizabeth’s forty-five-year reign, all Members of Parliament were men."
"Patriarchy has tenaciously weathered political upheavals, social revolutions and economic transformations."
"It is far more likely that even though the precise definition of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ varies between cultures, there is some universal biological reason why almost all cultures valued manhood over womanhood."
"Human history shows that there is often an inverse relation between physical prowess and social power."
"If there’s any truth in these stereotypes, then women should have made excellent politicians and empire-builders, leaving the dirty work on the battlefields to testosterone-charged but simple-minded machos."
"The great discovery that launched the Scientific Revolution was the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions."
"The willingness to admit ignorance has made modern science more dynamic, supple, and inquisitive than any previous tradition of knowledge."
"History’s choices are not made for the benefit of humans."
"The total value of goods and services produced by humankind in the year 1500 is estimated at $250 billion, in today’s dollars."
"The only way to be liberated from craving is to train the mind to experience reality as it is."
"The typical premodern ruler gave money to priests, philosophers, and poets in the hope that they would legitimize his rule and maintain the social order."
"A cultural idea – such as belief in Christian heaven above the clouds or Communist paradise here on earth – can compel a human to dedicate his or her life to spreading that idea, even at the price of death."
"The more proofs there were, the more resources wealthy people and governments were willing to put into science."
"The average Christian believes in the monotheist God, but also in the dualist Devil, in polytheist saints, and in animist ghosts."
"The battle for existence is hard and unforgiving, but is the only way to maintain life."
"Modern culture has nevertheless been willing to embrace ignorance to a much greater degree than has any previous culture."
"The dominant modern research method takes for granted the insufficiency of old knowledge."
"Physicists analysing the spectra of distant galaxies... give precedence to the observation."
"Earlier traditions formulated their theories in terms of stories. Modern science uses mathematics."
"The greatness of Newton’s theory was its ability to explain and predict... using three very simple mathematical laws."
"Science nevertheless enjoys immense prestige because of the new powers it gives us."
"The real test of 'knowledge' is not whether it is true, but whether it empowers us."
"The connection forged between science and technology is so strong that today people tend to confuse the two."
"Most scientific studies are funded because somebody believes they can help attain some political, economic or religious goal."
"Science can explain what exists in the world, how things work, and what might be in the future. By definition, it has no pretensions to knowing what should be in the future."
"No less important was the fact that science gave the empires ideological justification."
"Modern Europeans came to believe that acquiring new knowledge was always good."
"Even today, histories of sciences... cannot avoid crediting the European empires, at least indirectly."
"Imperialists claimed that their empires were not vast enterprises of exploitation but rather altruistic projects."
"The British conquered Bengal, the richest province of India, in 1764... a few years later led to the outbreak of the Great Bengal Famine."
"The European empires did so many different things... they cannot be simply labelled as good or evil."
"Biologists, anthropologists and even linguists provided scientific proof that Europeans are superior to all other races."
"Such racist theories... have become anathema among scientists and politicians alike."
"Among today’s elites, assertions about the contrasting merits of diverse human groups are almost always couched in terms of historical differences between cultures."
"Scientists have provided the imperial project with practical knowledge, ideological justification and technological gadgets."
"The modern economy has been growing like a hormone-soused teenager."
"Credit enables us to build the present at the expense of the future."
"The rich are obliged to do penance for their evil deeds by giving some of their surplus wealth to charity."
"The entire enterprise is thus founded on trust in an imaginary future."
"Capitalism gradually became far more than just an economic doctrine."
"The belief in the growing global pie eventually turned revolutionary."
"Capitalism distinguishes 'capital' from mere 'wealth'."
"The Industrial Revolution was above all else the Second Agricultural Revolution."
"The tragedy of industrial agriculture is that it takes great care of the objective needs of animals, while neglecting their subjective needs."
"Consumerism sees the consumption of ever more products and services as a positive thing."
"Most people throughout history lived under conditions of scarcity. Frugality was thus their watchword."
"We buy countless products that we don’t really need, and that until yesterday we didn’t know existed."
"Obesity is a double victory for consumerism."
"The supreme commandment of the rich is ‘Invest!’ The supreme commandment of the rest of us is ‘Buy!’"
"The history of ethics is a sad tale of wonderful ideals that nobody can live up to."
"This is the first religion in history whose followers actually do what they are asked to do."
"The resources available to humankind are constantly increasing."
"Ecological turmoil might endanger the survival of Homo sapiens itself."
"The Industrial Revolution opened the way to a long line of experiments in social engineering."
"The Industrial Revolution brought about the collapse of the family and the local community."
"The state and the market are the mother and father of the individual."
"The resulting serenity is so profound that those who spend their lives in the frenzied pursuit of pleasant feelings can hardly imagine it."
"Happiness does not depend on external conditions. It depends only on what we feel inside."
"True happiness is also independent of our inner feelings."
"The more significance we give our feelings, the more we crave them, and the more we suffer."
"The key to happiness is to know the truth about yourself – to understand who, or what, you really are."
"Maybe it isn’t so important whether people’s expectations are fulfilled and whether they enjoy pleasant feelings."
"The main question is whether people know the truth about themselves."