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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Sapiens, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Foraging, Industry, and Human Happiness
Fiction, Cooperation, and Culture
Science, Wealth, and Empire
Human-Caused Ecological Devastation
Summary
Analysis
Sapiens used to be one animal among many, living in a remote corner of Africa 70,000 years ago. Today, Sapiens almost function like gods: creating new life-forms, seeking immortality, and ruling the world. Harari thinks that so far, Sapiens have done a lot more damage than good. Humans have built empires, but he’s not sure they’ve improved humanity’s well-being. Harari concludes that humans are more discontent than ever, and we don’t know what we want, which ultimately makes us a danger to ourselves.
In the Afterword, Harari considers the entire range of human history that he’s covered so far, starting with human life 70,000 years ago to the present day. Although many scholars assume that human societies have progressed with time and that humanity is thriving because we’re so populous and advanced as a species, Harari disagrees. He’s convinced that humans have been getting consistently unhappier as our societies have become more complex. He also thinks that humans have made life increasingly miserable for other animals as we’ve become more powerful. In the end, the project of humanity looks to Harari like a failure, because he thinks that there’s more unhappiness in the world now than there likely was in the ancient past.
Themes
