Foraging, Industry, and Human Happiness Theme Analysis

In Sapiens, author Yuval Noah Harari questions the idea that humans (Homo sapiens, or Sapiens) are evolution’s biggest success story. Humans are more populous and industrious than we’ve ever been, which suggests—at least on the surface—that we’re thriving as a species. However, Harari contends that most humans suffer as societies expand. Even though ancient foragers faced difficulties like high child mortality rates and fearsome predators, Harari thinks humanity’s ancient ancestors actually endured less physical labor and led more emotionally rewarding lives, which made them more satisfied overall. Harari thus argues that, contrary to popular belief, human history isn’t a story of clear upward progress. But that doesn’t mean we can—or should—attempt revert to our foraging ways. Rather, Harari concludes that we should question humanity’s blind pursuit of population growth and industry when considering our aspirations for the future, because he thinks larger, more industrious societies don’t necessarily make us happier.

Harari argues that humans often endure more physical hardship as societies expand, suggesting that population growth and industry aren’t necessarily healthy goals for humanity. Harari contends that ancient foraging humans lived in much smaller populations, meaning they didn’t have to work as hard to sustain their societies, leaving them physically less exhausted (and therefore better off) than many individuals in the modern world. Harari estimates that foragers needed to work only “thirty-five to forty hours a week” to gather and hunt food and maintain their dwellings. In contrast, modern-day agricultural laborers and industrial workers (who, he argues, make up 90 percent of the human population) typically work over “ten long, mind-numbing hours” a day before they go home to tackle further domestic chores. Harari implies, through this comparison, that the more developed human societies become, the more labor they demand to sustain, and the more exhausting life becomes for the majority of individuals in the society.

Harari also argues that before humans discovered agriculture 12,000 years ago, foraging communities could comfortably survive in nature’s wild habitat. Wild food sources (like fruits and meat) were readily available and they provided a varied, nutritious, and wholesome diet. Harari speculates that such foragers experienced fewer ailments and less physical suffering than people in subsequent agricultural and industry-based societies, whose diets were far less nutritious. After the advent of farming—which demands far more labor than foraging—humans began producing more offspring to generate the labor needed to sustain their crops. Larger human populations also needed more food than the natural habitat could offer, so people had to rely on their crops for food. Harari argues that foregoing the nutritious forager diet of wild fruits and meat and restricting the human diet to one particular grain caused widespread malnourishment and demanded more labor from humanity, thereby increasing physical pain and suffering on a day-to-day basis. Harari controversially concludes that farming and industrialization weren’t markers of human advancement, but rather setbacks to human progress. This is because laborers—who make up the vast majority of the human population, even today—endure more physical exhaustion, malnourishment, and illness than foragers likely ever did. Harari thus subtly implies that increasing humanity’s population and industrial pursuits further might cause even more suffering in the future. 

Harari also contends that although agricultural and industrialized societies promise more modern conveniences and easier lives for humans, they actually generate stress and emotional discontent, leaving us psychologically worse off. Harari argues that our future-oriented thinking, which increased with the invention of agriculture, triggers unprecedented worry and stress, causing humans to suffer more daily anxiety. It may seem surprising that Harari thinks workers in agricultural societies faced more stress than their foraging ancestors, who had to worry about being chased and eaten by predators on a daily basis. Nonetheless, Harari maintains that despite such worries, foragers could rely on their natural habitat to replenish its food supply each season and keep sustaining them. In contrast, “the anxious peasant[s]” of farming societies faced ongoing stress over their long-term food supply. Harari notes that “although there was enough food for today, next week, and even next month, [peasants] had to worry about next year and the year after that.” Harari thus speculates that agricultural laborers likely experienced more anxiety about their future sustenance, and he assumes they were therefore unhappier on a day-to-day basis.

Harari also thinks that the material luxuries that modern humans relentlessly pursue, as well as our inflated expectations about life, don’t facilitate happier lives. Harari argues that modern humans seek out “washing machines, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, telephones, mobile phones, computers [and] email” to make our lives easier, but we’re typically less “relaxed.” Harari thinks such conveniences actually make us more “intoleran[t] of inconvenience and discomfort” (which are inevitable in life) so we “suffer from [psychological] pain more than our ancestors ever did.” Harari also thinks that mass technology (like social media and billboards) often prompts people to compare their lives to elite individuals, like “movie stars, athletes, and supermodels,” which makes people feel disappointed and inadequate when they fail to achieve fame, wealth, and glamour in their own lives. Harari suggests that pursuing luxury, convenience, and success doesn’t necessarily make humanity happier, because most people’s lives fail to meet such inflated demands, leaving them disillusioned and discontent. Harari concludes that although it’s unrealistic to try to turn back the clock on modern living, human societies should at least proceed with more awareness about the day-to-day happiness of the overall population, when considering our species’ aspirations for the future.