On the Success of Humankind

王迪

【Abstract】Sapiens： A Brief History of Humankind presents Yuval Noah Hararis attitudes towards the development of humankind. Meanwhile， it also reveals the authors reflections on the success of humankind.

【Key words】homo sapiens； success； imagination；cooperation

I. Introduction to Yuval Noah Harari and Sapiens： A Brief History of Humankind

Born in 1976， Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian. Now， he is a professor at the Department of History of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Published in Hebrew in 2011， Hararis representative historical work Sapiens： A Brief History of Humankind offers his points of view about what made homo sapiens the most successful species on the planet.

II. Reasons — homo sapiens， the most successful species on the planet

In Sapiens： A Brief History of Humankind， Harari divides the history of homo sapiens into three revolutions. And by using different kinds of knowledge， Harari mainly asks what made homo sapiens the most successful species on the planet due to the following reasons.

A. Imagination

Around 70， 000 years ago， homo sapiens lived in the planet like other animals. After the cognitive revolution， the most distinctive feature which inspired homo sapiens start to rise is that they are able to create stories by using their imagination and work together.

By using imagination， Homo sapiens creates many fictional stories， such as laws， money rules， state mechanism， religions and so on. Homo sapiens invent and believe theses fictional stories. And homo sapiens are willing to obey these norms， values， dos and donts which they invent. For example， the story of money， homo sapiens invent the story of money and the rules of using money. They are just paper， but homo sapiens give these papers special meaning.

Actually， we， homo sapiens， not only live in a real world but also live in a world we create.

B. Cooperation

The fictional stories make homo sapiens to cooperate in flexible and large scale ways. Homo sapiens can cooperate in large numbers. Of course， bees and other animals can cooperate. But this kind of cooperation is rigid and in small scale. They can not cooperate like homo sapiens. .

For example， like the establishment of socialist in China. At that turbulent times， many Chinese scholars appreciated and believed the communist society that Max and Engels portrayed. And they were firmly confident of this political view and ideological system. With their propaganda， more Chinese were convinced and worked together to achieve this kind of society. In fact， most of them didnt know one another， but they believed this harmonious society that Max and Engels depicted would be achieved in China. With countless number of strangers struggling in different ways， in the end， socialist system was built in China in 1956. This kind of cooperation is powerful.

According to the author， imagination and cooperation are two reasons about why homo sapiens becomes the most successful species on the planet.

C. Homo Sapiens Centrism

After the cognitive revolution， most of the activities and inventions of homo sapiens are to meet the needs of their own survival and development， which is a pivotal reason for the success of homo sapiens.

For example， to achieve the immortality of themselves， which is also the dream of Gilgamesh， homo sapiens put the financial resources， human， material and even lives of other animals into medical researches and hi-tech industry by conducting different kinds of experiments.

III. The reflections on the “success” of homo sapiens

After many years evolution， we can say we homo sapiens has already been the master of our planet. But are they really successful？ Are they really become God in our planet？ There are two reflections about homo sapiens and other animals.

A. Cruelty to Animal

In the agricultural revolution， in order to using animal for certain purposes， such as， protecting their lives and belongings and doing farm work， homo sapiens domesticate animals， castrate control their mating， eat their lives for their living.

After the scientific revolution， by doing experiments on animal， homo sapiens even create new species by disrupting the genes of animals for serving themselves.

We can say， for other animals on our planet， homo sapiens is cruel for depriveing their freedom， their family and their lives. And many animals extinct due to human behaviors.

B. Future of homo sapiens

By hunting and gathering， our ancestors lived in this planet with fully happiness. After many years evolution and the three revolutions as the author explains in the book， we can know that we homo sapiens gradually becomes indifferent and irresponsible.

With the development of technology and artificial intelligence， the life of homo sapiens is becoming more convenient than before. But if one day， artificial intelligence surpasses the intelligence of homo sapien， at that time， homo sapiens will be dominated by the techniques they create.

References：

[1]尤瓦爾·赫拉利.林俊宏，譯.人類簡史[M].天津：南開大學出版社，2008.