Sapiens: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

Modern industrialization creates a wealth of new raw materials for capitalists to invest in, like titanium and plastic, which didn’t exist before the world shifted from farming to industry. Farming-based societies also relied on manual labor to move things around—to carry sacks, water crops, and so on. Then people discovered that heat creates steam, and steam can move things. It literally pushes lids off pots of boiling water, for example. People started inventing machines that burn fuel to boil water and generate steam, which pushes pistons and creates motion, like the steam engine. Eventually, humans realized that using steam to rotate copper coils surrounded by magnets creates electricity. When steam-powered motion took replaced manual labor, the Industrial Revolution happened.

Harari thinks the Industrial Revolution was revolutionary in discovering new energy sources. Humans can now use fossil fuels, solar, water, gravitational, and nuclear energy. During the Industrial Revolution, people realized that there are near-infinite energy resources in the world. In searching for new energy sources, chemists discovered new materials like plastic and aluminum. In World War I, the Germans even discovered a way to create explosives using ammonia generated out of thin air.

The Industrial Revolution, Harari explains, shifted humanity into a world brimming with “cheap and abundant” energy and raw materials, leading to a colossal expansion in “human productivity.” Many of the first machines invented were used to automate farming processes, so Harari likes to think of the Industrial Revolution as the Second Agricultural Revolution. Today, humans even mass produce animals as if they are objects on a production line, and their quality of life is entirely determined by profit and loss tables, not their psychological needs.

Harari thinks about egg-laying hens, who have instinctive urges to forage and peck, yet egg companies lock them in cages so small that they can’t even flap their wings, let alone forage. Farmed pigs too, which are almost as intelligent as great apes, often spend their lives in cages so small that they can’t turn around. Harari thinks cows are treated like machines with mouths that take in food and udders that produce milk. He thinks it’s a shame that creatures with inner mental lives have to experience so much physical and psychological discomfort.

Harari notes that calves have instinctive urges (driven by evolution) to bond with their mothers. In the wild, such instincts are necessary because they help keep animals alive. In the modern agricultural industry, the calves won’t die without such bonding, but Harari thinks they must suffer immeasurably. American psychologist Harry Harlow devised an experiment in which monkeys were raised by metal imitation-monkeys that dispensed milk. Despite having their food needs met, the monkeys grew up to be disturbed and couldn’t reintegrate into monkey societies. Harari thinks about the millions of animals that are separated from their mothers in the farming industry, and he notes that 50 billion animals are slaughtered in the farming industry every year.

Harari notes that modern capitalism keeps pushing to produce more—but somebody also has to buy the things that companies produce. Historically, he thinks, living frugally was highly valued. Today, consumerism is far more highly valued. Consumerism teaches people that being indulgent is “good for you.” Harari says that in the past, the rich lived extravagantly and the poor lived frugally. Today, he thinks the rich take care to manage their assets while those who are less wealthy go into debt to buy things they don’t need. Harari thinks the capitalist-consumerist ethic is a complete break with the past—historical religions told people they would reach paradise if they were modest and unselfish. Consumerism tells people they’ll be happy if they indulge themselves.