{"id":2981,"date":"2019-11-10T16:28:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T20:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=2981"},"modified":"2026-01-19T23:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:11:20","slug":"homo-sapiens-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-sapiens-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Homo Sapiens History: From Early Man to Modern Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Sapiens, <\/em>Yuval Noah Harari uses concepts from physics, chemistry, biology, and history to tell the story of us, Homo sapiens<\/em> history.
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Homo Sapiens history is punctuated by four major revolutions: The Cognitive Revolution<\/a>, the Agricultural Revolution<\/a>, the Scientific Revolution<\/a>, and the Industrial Revolution<\/a>. Each revolution ushered in a new era of innovation (and, often, suffering) for humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this brief history of Homo sapiens<\/em>, we\u2019ll look at each revolution and how it dramatically redirected the course of the history of Sapiens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Homo Sapiens<\/em> History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Cognitive Revolution<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first major stage in Homo sapiens<\/em> history was the Cognitive Revolution. 2.5 million years ago, Homo sapiens <\/em>was just one of eight human species. The first major revolution for Sapiens was the Cognitive Revolution 70,000 years ago. Before that point, Sapiens weren\u2019t particularly special and weren\u2019t superior to the other seven human species. The Cognitive Revolution involved the development of three new abilities, all related to language, that helped Homo sapiens outpace their fellow humans. 
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Ability #1: Flexible Language<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One reason the language of Sapiens was different was that it was more complex.<\/strong> Rather than communicating simple ideas the way green monkeys do (\u201cCareful! A lion!\u201d or \u201cCareful! An eagle!\u201d), the language of Sapiens could warn someone about a lion, describe its location, and plan how to deal with it. This allowed them to plan and follow through on complex actions like avoiding predators and working together to trap prey.
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Ability #2: Gossip<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A second distinction of the Sapiens language was its ability to convey gossip. We think of gossip as a bad thing, but using language to convey information about other people is a way to build trust. <\/strong>Trust is critical for social cooperation, and cooperation gives you an advantage in the struggle to survive<\/a> and pass on your genes. Sapiens could form groups of up to 150 people. They didn\u2019t need to know every group member personally to trust them. In a battle, a small group of Neanderthals<\/a> was no match for a group of 150 Sapiens.
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Ability #3: Fictions<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A third benefit of the Sapiens\u2019 language was how it was used to create fictions, also known as \u201csocial constructs\u201d or \u201cimagined realities.\u201d
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Being able to communicate information about things that don\u2019t exist doesn\u2019t seem like an advantage. But Sapiens seem to be the only animals who have this ability to discuss things that don\u2019t have a physical presence in the world, like money, human rights, corporations, and God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collective Fictions<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Collective fictions played a major role in Homo sapiens<\/em> history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In and of itself, imagining things that don\u2019t exist isn\u2019t an asset\u2014you won\u2019t aid your chances of survival if you go into the forest looking for ghosts rather than berries and deer.
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What\u2019s important about the ability to create fictions is the ability to create <\/strong>collective <\/em><\/strong>fictions, fictions everyone believes. <\/strong>These collective myths allow people who\u2019ve never met and otherwise would have nothing in common to cooperate under shared assumptions and goals.
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Although imagined, these myths are crucial. Without collective fictions, the systems built on them collapse.<\/strong> And as we\u2019ll see, most of our modern systems are built on these imagined realities. These myths are powerful, and the fact that they\u2019re not rooted in objective reality doesn\u2019t undermine them.
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Collective fictions allowed early Sapiens to cooperate within extremely large groups of people, most of whom they\u2019d never met, and it rapidly changed their social behavior.
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The Agricultural Revolution<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The next major stage in Homo sapiens<\/em> history was the Agricultural Revolution. About 10,000 years ago, between 9500 and 8500 BC, Sapiens started shifting from forager lifestyles to a life revolving around agriculture. This was the Agricultural Revolution. It was so successful for our species that we went from 5-8 million foragers in 10,000 BC to 250 million farmers by the first century AD.
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The move from foraging<\/a> to agriculture wasn\u2019t necessarily a conscious choice. Rather, it was a gradual process of small, seemingly insignificant changes. Let\u2019s see how those small changes add up to a monumental revolution.
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The Spread of Wheat<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

18,000 years ago, the last ice age retreated, increasing rainfall.<\/strong> This was great for wheat and other grains, which started to spread. Because there was more wheat, people started eating more of it, taking it back to their campsites to grind and cook. On the way to the campsite, some of the small grains were sprinkled along the path, helping the spread of wheat. Wheat played a huge role in the history of Sapiens.
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Humans burned the forests to create clearings that attracted animals. This also cleared the area of large trees and bushes that would have competed with the wheat for sunlight and water. Where wheat prospered, nomads would settle for a few weeks, enjoying the plenty. A few weeks turned into a few more, and over generations, these areas became permanent settlements.<\/strong>
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People started storing grain for later and invented stone scythes, pestles, and mortars. Because they saw that wheat grew better when it was buried deep in the soil rather than sprinkled on top, humans began to hoe and plow the fields. Weeding, watering, and fertilizing followed.<\/strong> With all this time spent on tending the wheat, there was less time to hunt and gather. Sapiens had become farmers.
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The move toward farming wasn\u2019t an obvious benefit, since it led to a number of drawbacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n