A STORY OF COOPERATION: THE HISTORY OF HOMOSAPIENS
A STORY OF COOPERATION: THE HISTORY OF HOMOSAPIENS
Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian and author. After completing his PhD degree at Oxford University, he follows his studies as a lecturer in the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His books are respectively as follows: 'From Animals to Gods: Sapiens', 'Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow', and '21 Lessons for the 21st Century'.
This review covers 'From Animals to Gods: Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind'.
In this book, Harari tells the story of three revolutions and how they have affected people and other living beings. These revolutions are “Cognitive Revolution” starting nearly 70 thousand years ago, “Agricultural Revolution” dating back 12 thousand years and “Scientific Revolution” starting 500 years ago by ending history and opening another era (p. 17).
Cognitive Revolution is the era referring to period that Homosapiens, the Sapiens (intelligent) species of Homo (human), produce and use tools, live in small hunter-gatherer groups, shaped by the discovery of fire (p. 18).
It should be stated that his argument on trying to revive the life of ancient hunter-gatherers based on the tools we own is problematic indicates the limitation of his own narrative method, in his own words (p. 54-57):
“Instead of building huge theories on grave remains, cave paintings and bone figurines that can be considered a small hill, we should be sincerely admit that we had a very vague understanding of the beliefs of ancient hunter-gatherers“ (p. 67).
Since we have no other choice, it is the most logical way to take advantage of the homosapiens' brain's ability to predict, create scenarios, and simulate from these evidences if we consider our current knowledge. Anyway, he could not find any other way but to follow this method.
Harari states that mankind's ancestors have proved to be an ecological serial killer by destroying the entire fauna and ecosystem with their arrival of the Australian continent (p.78).
He emphasizes the malicious feature of humankind with the following words: “We have a questionable characteristic of being the deadliest species in the history of biology. ” (p. 85)
Harari considers processes such as the evolution of species and natural selection as highly scientific and natural data when describing the evolution of Homo Sapiens. Why doesn’t he consider homosapiens' war / struggle to survive within this natural process when he is discussing on the idea that the one who is unnatural and against the laws of nature cannot survive?
Harari, on the other hand, describes the Agricultural Revolution as "the greatest deception in history", in which human beings actually put themselves in more difficult conditions (p. 89).
“We did not domesticate wheat. It domesticated us. It’s the Sapiens living in the house, not the wheat ”(p.93).
As it is understood from this statement, human beings have put themselves into a more limited life by leaving a freer life.
He also states that historical facts that we knew about the Agricultural Revolution till now have changed after Göbeklitepe was discovered. Göbeklitepe, dating back to 12 thousand years ago, is an older settlement than the pyramids of Egypt and the Stonehenge of England and it is possible to rewrite the history of humanity.
Ruins found in archaeological researches indicate that this site is a sacred area. Harari explains that the construction of the pillars in Göbeklitepe would only be possible if thousands of hunter-gatherers cooperated for a long time and there must have been a developed religious or ideological system to sustain this effort (s. 102). Göbeklitepe has altered the idea that there was no belief in hunter-gatherer societies being unsettled. As known, the previous historical narratives were built on the fact that the transition to settled life occurred with the emergence of farming.
Harari explains what makes homo sapiens superior to all other animal species is that they cooperate on a common imaginary reality / myth, and also create patterns such as trade networks, mass celebrations and political institutions. These imaginary beliefs which cooperation is based on are so powerful that they gain a reality beyond the tangible beings as time passes. Gods, nations, human rights, equality and freedom terms, companies are all such collective beliefs and these myths can change quickly under suitable conditions (p. 38-44). As an example, he suggests that the idea of the sovereignty of the people replaced the divine power of kings overnight through the French Revolution of 1789 (p. 45).
Of course, Harari warns us about these "big networks of cooperation". These cooperation networks are mostly not voluntary and equitable; they are based on oppression and exploitation (p. 113, 114).
Harari says that the underlying factor of cooperation is the existence of a large number of people who genuinely believe in systems that they describe as "imaginary order", apart from the institutions of pressure (p. 120). He emphasizes that imaginary orders are not malicious conspiracies or aimless mirages; on the contrary, they are the guarantee for cooperation of large numbers of people (p. 119-120).
Harari argues that history continuously moves towards unity (p. 172) and a global unity is inevitable (p. 176). He explains that three following stages of the cooperation based on imaginary orders underlie this global unity: first is the establishment of universal monetary order, second is the order of political empires and third is the order formed by religions (p. 177).
At this point, we can think that Harari's arguments are a reflection of the order he believes in, and he wants us to believe his own story. His following words are very noteworthy:
“Telling effective stories is not easy; the difficulty is not telling the story, but making everyone believe the story” (p.44).
Harari describes the "Scientific Revolution" as the process that started with the discovery of America in about 1500, set foot on the Moon and continuing until today. He also explains that with the "Scientific Revolution", people have directed all their efforts to research how the world works and to invest in developing new technologies by confessing their ignorance, thus science, industry and military technology have formed a very powerful system by interconnecting with capitalism and the Industrial Revolution (p. 263).
He argues that the feedback loop among science, empires, and capital was the primary engine of history during these five hundred years. (p. 273).
One of Harari's significant arguments that should be addressed is that there is no energy shortage in the world, that we are surrounded by energy resources, and the only problem is that we do not know exactly the energy transformation (p. 334).
Although he takes a cautious stance, his another significant argument is that we can reduce war, epidemic and famine today, traditional wars are not beneficial, on the contrary they are irrational, and peace-loving policies are now profitable (p. 364-366, 407). Thus, he claims that a global empire was born and world peace was actually established within this world empire (p. 367). However, he does not hesitate to say that "we tensely go back and forth between heaven and hell" where a series of coincidences can change the course of history (p. 367).
One of these claims is unfortunately not confirmed, as the virus outbreak currently affecting the World indicates.
Finally, he asks the question of whether we are happy at the end of all these developments or not. He states that historians have never asked this question, however this is the most important question to ask. (p. 368). He explains that happiness is basically related to our expectations, but also the pleasure, the belief that our lives are meaningful, and genetic biochemical factors make an undeniable contribution for it. (p. 380).
Harari’s thoughts formed by the assumptions and experimental practice examples of scientists that “happiness” originates from genetic factors cannot be denied. Even through a simple observation, it is not difficult to see that some people are more prone to happiness. Harari questions what this myth of historical progress means if it doesn't help us to be "happy".
Dilek Şahin