Human Flood Symbol Analysis

Harari uses the idea of a “human flood” to symbolize humankind’s destructiveness, suggesting that humans wipe out animal species like a flood that sweeps the natural ecosystem, destroying everything in its path. Harari’s metaphor of a “human flood references the Judeo-Christian myth of Noah’s ark. In the story of Noah’s ark, a biblical figure named Noah builds an ark, or boat, to house a pair from each animal species in the world, so that every living species can survive the giant flood that God is about to inflict upon the earth. Harari thinks that humanity’s track record shows that we’re a lot less like Noah and a lot more like the flood that wipes out living species. He notes that when humanity’s ancestors, Homo sapiens (or “Sapiens”), started exploring different parts of the world from 70,000 years ago, they caused widespread ecological destruction wherever they settled. Sapiens’ arrival in Australian 45,000 years ago correlated with the extinction of nearly all of Australia’s large marsupials. Similarly, Sapiens’ arrival in the Americas 16,000 years ago correlated with the extinction of most of America’s large mammals. So, Harari symbolizes humanity’s spread around the globe as a “human flood” that causes widespread death and destruction. Harari intends for the reader to think, through this metaphor, about how humanity abuses its power and fails to protect other animal species.