Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

The Story of Us: From Tiny Tribes to a Global Village So far, we've talked about how humans went from being just another animal to building giant empires. We learned about the Cognitive Revolution, which gave us super-smart brains and the ability to share complex ideas through language. This led to the Agricultural Revolution, where we started farming and building villages, towns, and eventually, cities. But the story gets even more interesting! Imagine a giant LEGO castle. To build it, you need lots of LEGO bricks, right? In our story, the "LEGO bricks" are people. The Agricultural Revolution gave us more "bricks" – more people – because we could grow more food. But just having lots of bricks doesn't mean you automatically have a castle. You need a plan, a blueprint, and someone to organize the builders. That's where empires come in. Empires are like giant, organized LEGO castles. They’re built by lots of people working together, but they need a strong "blueprint" – a shared belief system. Think about the ancient Egyptians and their pyramids. They weren't just piles of rocks; they were monuments to their gods and pharaohs. The belief in the power of their gods and the importance of the afterlife was the "glue" that held the whole project together. People worked incredibly hard, sometimes for years, because they believed in something bigger than themselves. Another example is the Roman Empire. It wasn't just a powerful army; it was a shared belief in Roman greatness, in their gods, and in the laws of Rome. This shared belief helped unite a massive number of different people under one rule. They believed in the idea of "Rome," and that belief made them work together. But building a giant LEGO castle also needs a way to trade LEGO bricks. Imagine trying to build your castle by bartering – trading one brick for another. It would be incredibly slow and confusing! That’s where money comes in. Money is like a universal LEGO brick. It's a shared belief that a little piece of metal or paper (or even numbers on a screen!) is worth something. Everyone agrees on its value, so you can easily trade it for anything you want. This makes trading much easier and faster, and it helps empires grow even bigger. Now, let's talk about something really mind-blowing: imagined realities. These are things that don't actually exist physically, but they're incredibly powerful because lots of people believe in them. A nation, for example, is an imagined reality. It's a group of people who believe they belong together, even if they've never met and may have very different backgrounds. They share a common history, language, or religion – all imagined realities that unite them. Corporations are also imagined realities. A company like McDonald's doesn't exist as a physical thing; it's an idea, a legal entity that people believe in. They believe in its products, its brand, and its value. That belief gives it power and allows it to operate across the globe. Even money is an imagined reality. A dollar bill is just a piece of paper; it only has value because everyone agrees it does. It's like a shared game, where we all pretend these pieces of paper or numbers are worth something. These imagined realities – nations, companies, money, religions – are incredibly powerful because they allow humans to cooperate on a massive scale. They let us build things that no single person could ever build alone, like the internet, a global network that connects billions of people. It's a shared belief in the technology and its usefulness that makes it work. But these imagined realities can also lead to problems. Sometimes, people's beliefs can lead to conflicts and wars. Remember, the power of shared beliefs can be used for both good and bad. Throughout history, humans have used their clever brains and their ability to believe in shared myths to achieve amazing things, but also to cause immense suffering. Understanding how these myths and imagined realities shape our world is crucial to understanding ourselves and building a better future.