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Chapter 1
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
Although Sapiens that looked identical to modern humans already populated Africa 150,000 years ago, scientists think that their brains had different internal structures, causing them to have far more limited cognitive abilities (e.g., learning, remembering, and communicating). However, around 70,000 years ago, Sapiens “started doing extraordinary things.” They invented “boats, oil lamps, [and] bows and arrows.” The earliest pieces of evidence of “art […] “religion, commerce, and social stratification” also date back to this time period. Scientists speculate that a random genetic mutation enabled Sapiens’ brains to function differently, causing a massive cognitive leap forward. Harari calls this the Cognitive Revolution.
Once again, Harari undermines the idea that humans are inherently superior to other animals and therefore destined (or entitled) to rule the world. He thinks that Homo sapiens advanced to the top of the food chain entirely by chance when a random genetic mutation caused them to evolve new cognitive capabilities. Harari calls this moment in history the “Cognitive Revolution,” because it revolutionized, or completely changed, the way that humans functioned in the world, enabling them to climb to the top of the food chain.
Themes
All animals know how to communicate. Many animals communicate vocally like Sapiens, and some have equal or superior vocal abilities to humans (including parrots and some whales), so what makes Sapiens’ language unique? Harari thinks we have the unique ability to connect limited sounds into infinite meanings. A monkey can yell “Danger! Lion!” but Sapiens can tell each other exactly when and where they saw a lion, how dangerous it looked, and so on. Sapiens can also gossip—meaning they can discuss which other Sapiens in their social groups are honest and which are cheaters, enabling more sophisticated social cooperation.
Harari stresses that after Sapiens’ brains suddenly evolved, they learned to communicate in much more sophisticated ways, which consequently enabled them to form more complex social bonds. But to Harari, this isn’t the whole story. He actually thinks that humans learned to imagine and believe things aren’t true and communicate these ideas to each other. He’s going to expand on this theory in more detail for the rest of this chapter.
Themes
Harari thinks what makes Sapiens truly unique is our ability to communicate about “fictions”—things that can’t be observed in the physical world—like “Legends, myths, [and] gods.” Harari thinks our ability to imagine things “collectively” gives us an evolutionary advantage because it enables us to cooperate with countless strangers on the basis of shared ideas and beliefs. Ants can also cooperate collectively in vast numbers, but only with their close relatives. Wolves can cooperate collectively with non-relatives, but only in small groups. Harari thinks Sapiens’ ability to cooperate and act collectively with countless other Sapiens is why we “rule the world.”
Most animals in nature can’t cooperate in large groups (unless they’re genetic siblings or clones, like ants in a colony). Humans, too, can only know and trust a limited number of individuals at a given time. Harari thinks that humans learned to make up stories and ideas (like the concept of gods), and trust people who believed in the same ideas—enabling them to cooperate with countless strangers on an unprecedented scale. Harari thinks this large-scale cooperation gave humans an edge in nature.
Themes
Chimpanzees form complex social groups and hierarchies. Those vying for the “alpha male” position gather supporters, and they tend to dominate based on the loyalty they foster, up to a threshold of about 150 individuals. Beyond that threshold, there are too many strangers, and the group tends to split into two distinct communities. Harari thinks ancient Homo sapiens functioned in the same way until the Cognitive Revolution enabled them to cooperate in much larger groups.
Harari uses the example of chimpanzee societies to reinforce his claim that animals can only personally know (and therefore trust) a limited number of other individuals. Harari thinks ancient humans were no different until the Cognitive Revolution. When Sapiens realized they could make up stories, spread them far and wide, and make other Sapiens believe them too, they realized they could convince large groups of people to rally around the same ideas and beliefs and act in accordance with those ideas. This meant that they could cooperate even if they didn’t personally know each other.
Themes
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Some entities in the world don’t exist as physical objects, but exist in another sense. The car brand Peugeot, for example, enables 200,000 people to cooperate and produce millions of cars each year. If all those people leave the company and all those cars burn in a fire, Peugeot would still exist. Yet, if a judge dissolves the company, it ceases to exist. Lawyers call these legal (rather than physical) entities “legal fictions.” Harari thinks people create corporations in the same way that “priests and sorcerers” created “Gods and demons”—by telling stories and convincing others to believe them. Such complex stories allow “imagined realities” like the company Peugeot to exist and collate immense power.
Harari uses the symbol of the Peugeot car brand to illustrate what he means by fictions that humans invent. To Harari, animals in nature can only react and respond to things that they can physically sense (like food or other animals). Humans, however, can create ideas that aren’t connected to any specific physical phenomena. The idea of Peugeot, for example, would still exist even if no actual Peugeot cars or Peugeot employees existed. In that sense, it’s a fiction—the brand is an idea that makes people cooperate in specific ways, but it exists above and beyond actual physical phenomena. Harari thinks the idea of God is similar—people can believe that there’s such a thing as a God, even though it’s an idea that’s not specifically connected to actual things in the physical world.
Themes
Harari thinks “imagined realities” aren’t the same as lies, because the people participating in the stories believe them. A liar who pretends there’s a lion by the river doesn’t actually believe there’s a lion there. Yet priests really do believe that God exists, and Peugeot employees believe they’re working at a “real” company. Sapiens, thus, have occupied a dual reality since the Cognitive Revolution. Harari thinks our imagined reality even controls our physical one, since “the very survival of rivers, trees, and lions depends on the grace of imagined entities such as the United States and Google.”
Harari underscores that the fictions (or “imagined realities”) that humans create are incredibly powerful: people really believe them, and they treat them as if they’re concrete and real, rather than abstract concepts that could change. Once again, he uses the Peugeot car brand to symbolize an abstract idea that people treat as a real thing. Harari also shows that fictional entities (like a nation or a company) are so powerful that they often dictate how the human population functions in the physical world—much more so than tangible, physical entities like the natural ecosystem, which used to dictate the way humans functions before the capacity to invent fictions emerged with the Cognitive Revolution.
Themes
Harari believes that changing our “fictions” can change the way humans cooperate. For example, in 1789, the French population switched from believing kings had a divine right to rule to believing the people should rule themselves. Other animal species can’t change their typical social behavior without a genetic mutation. Chimpanzees can’t just decide to abolish the alpha male and establish a different social hierarchy without a mutation that enables such behavior. Harari thinks that’s why early Homo species functioned in the same way (with the same tools, communication signals, and social hierarchies) for so long.
For Harari, it’s crucial to remember that because fictions, imagined realities, and the concepts humans create have such power over how societies function, changing a society often demands changing the fiction (or guiding concepts) that organize it in a particular way. For example, during the French Revolution, the overarching collective belief in a divine human hierarchy was replaced by a new collective belief—that people are born equal, and therefore not pre-ordained to rule the country.
Themes
Archaic humans’ behavioral patterns remained fixed for thousands of years, but since the Cognitive Revolution, Homo sapiens can “transform social structures” in mere decades. Harari thinks this gave Sapiens the edge over Neanderthals, even though Neanderthals were physically stronger. Sapiens can coordinate large groups, rally other Sapiens around a cause (like taking Neanderthal territory), and adapt their behavior swiftly to accommodate unforeseen challenges.
Harari continues emphasizing the power in being able to make up and believe fictions. He thinks the capacity to invent new ideas to rally around gave Homo sapiens the unique ability to adapt quickly to new threats and territories. Harari also emphasizes that only Homo sapiens evolved this capacity to invent, believe, and change ideas that they rallied around (the Cognitive Revolution), thus giving them an advantage over other human species, even those who were physically stronger (like Neanderthals).
Themes
Harari argues that the wide range of imagined realities and associated behaviors that Homo sapiens engage in comprise what we call “culture.” We are still conditioned by our biology, which explains our social behavior (as it does for all animals) in small groups. However, according to Harari, the ability to invent fiction allows humans to function culturally in large groups, which is unique to Sapiens. This is why, Harari thinks, we need to look at our cultural (as well as biological history) to understand our nature.
Harari reminds the reader that inventing fictional ideas helps people cooperate in large groups (because people can trust strangers who believe in the same ideas and follow the same rules, even they don’t know each other). Harari reminds the reader that such ideas are often positioned as if they’re inherent, natural, or biological facts (e.g., the imagined idea that one gender or race is superior to another). In fact, they’re just made up—meaning they can be changed, which is how cultures evolve.
Themes
