Sapiens Chapter 1 Summary – An Animal of No Significance

The first chapter of the path-breaking book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari lays the groundwork for what the book is about.

The book is about the story of Homo Sapiens. That is, us.

It is our story.

The Beginning

The first chapter (An Animal of No Significance) starts with a high-level timeline of our origin.

14 billion years ago, the Big Bang happened. It was the moment when matter, energy, time and space came into existence. This gave birth to the laws of physics.300,000 years after the Big Bang, matter and energy coalesced into complex structures. First, there were atoms. Atoms combined into molecules, leading to the birth of chemistry.4 billion years ago, on a seemingly insignificant planet known as Earth, organisms composed of these molecules came into existence. This was the beginning of biology.70,000 years ago, organisms belonging to the species called homo sapiens started to form cultures. This led to the birth of history.

This timeline may feel rather simplistic. However, simplicity is the book’s greatest asset. You get a very quick snapshot of the history of our Universe and our place within it. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest qualities of the book. Profound facts are presented in simple manner.

Reading this, one point is absolutely clear. No matter how old the Universe may be, our species took a significant position only 70,000 years ago.

Not a really long time if you ask me!

However, this does not mean that humans did not exist before the 70,000 years mark.

Animals resembling a lot like modern humans had started walking the Earth some 2.5 million years ago. But these early humans were hardly more remarkable when compared with any other species of animals that roamed the planet. In fact, these prehistoric humans were insignificant animals with no more impact on their surroundings than gorillas, fireflies or jellyfish.

Moving on, Harari divides these 70,000 years into 3 distinct parts:

First, there was the Cognitive Revolution some 70,000 years ago.Second, there was the Agricultural Revolution some 12,000 years ago.Finally, 500 years ago, we had the Scientific Revolution. We are still kind of living through it.

Again, this is a great way to break down the history of Homo sapiens into high-level epochs.

What is a Species?

Moving on, Harari gives a great definition of the term species.

Typically, animals belong to the same species if they tend to mate with each other to produce fertile offspring. It is important for the offspring to be fertile.

For example, horses and donkeys can potentially mate with each other to produce offsprings – mules. However, mules are sterile. This means that horses and donkeys are technically two different species.

On the other hand, bulldogs and spaniels may look every different. But they can happily mate with each other to produce a new breed known as Cockerbull. The new breed can also re-produce more of its kind.

As per convention, species that evolve from a common ancestor are bunched together into a genus. For example, lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars are basically different species under the same genus known as panthera. Lions are called panthera leo. Jaguars are called panthera onca. Tiger is panthera tigris.

Similarly, we are all known as homo sapiens. Sapiens (meaning wise) is the name of the species. Homo is the genus.

This opens up a big question.

If we are a species belonging to the genus homo, are there other species in the same genus?

The answer to this mystery was sort of hidden for a long time. Homo sapiens preferred to view themselves as something apart from ordinary animals. All other animal species had ancestors and siblings. However, homo sapiens were presented like orphans that had no family and no cousins.

But this is not true.

In fact, at one point of time, there were several species of humans that roamed the Earth just like us. Also, humans didn’t appear out of thin air. Almost 6 million years ago, a single female ape had two daughters. One of them was the ancestor of all chimpanzees. The other happened to be our grandmother.

The Origin of Humans

Humans (basically all members of the genus homo) evolved in East Africa almost 2.5 million years ago. About 2 million years ago, some of these men and women left their homeland and journeyed to North Africa, Europe and Asia.

Different geographical regions needed different survival capabilities. The forests of Europe were snow-covered and cold. On the other hand, the islands of the Pacific such as Indonesia had tropical climates. Humans evolved in different directions, giving rise to several different species.

We had the Neanderthals in Europe and Western Asia. In order to adapt to the cold climate of the Ice Age, Neanderthals were bulkier and muscular.

The eastern regions of Asia were populated by Homo erectus or the Upright Man.

On the islands of Java lived Homo soloensis. These humans were more suited to life in the tropical regions.

On another island of Flores, ancient humans became dwarves. These humans reached a maximum height of 1 metre and are known as Homo floresiensis. Since the island of Flores was poor in resources, it created an evolutionary block for bigger humans, who needed more food to survive.

.stk-3bf1967{margin-bottom:0px !important}.stk-3bf1967-container{box-shadow:0 5px 30px -10px rgba(18,63,82,0.3) !important}.stk-9cbdf58{margin-bottom:0px !important}The Significance of Homo floresiensis

In 2004, the scientific community was shocked by the discovery of Homo floresiensis, our hobbit-like human ancestors. Their finding has shaken the very foundation of our knowledge about human evolution.

In fact, it is perfectly possible that many more such human species would have existed as the wheels of evolution turned in East Africa and elsewhere. Though it is hard to say how many species of humans were present at that time, it is evident that all of them existed during the same time period, overlapping each other much like how different species of panthera genus co-exist today.

None of these other human species exist today.

Evolution of Humans

At this point, Harari delves into the evolution of humans, specifically into a couple of aspects that make us stand apart from other animals – bigger brain size and upright posture.

Bigger Brains Means Bigger Gains?

While there were a lot of common features shared by the various human species, the most notable is that humans have extraordinarily large brains.

Human brain size is much larger than that of an average mammal. Modern Sapiens i.e. us have a brain size of 1200 to 1400 cubic centimetres. Neanderthals had even bigger brains.

Today, we might view a bigger brain as a huge evolutionary advantage. However, for a large part of our existence, this was far from reality.

Brain is a tremendous energy guzzler. Even though it accounts for just 2 to 3 percent of our body weight, the brain consumes one-fourth of our body energy.

This was not a great thing for our ancestors.

To fulfil the energy demands of the body, the archaic humans had to spend more time searching for food. Our muscles became weaker as most of the energy was consumed by the brain. This made us slower and weaker from a physical point of view.

This wasn’t a good strategy for survival in the wild lands of the savannah. It’s not like you can defeat a lion by the force of your logical arguments and the lion would simply walk away.

In my opinion, this is a great insight. We are so used to the supremacy of brain power since we are physically protected by the walls of society. But, if you remove all that, the human body is surprisingly weak to face the dangers of the natural world.

Standing Tall

Another specific human trait is the ability to walk upright. This had a lot of technical advantages.

It was now easier to scan the savannah grasslands for signs of food or even enemies. Hands were made free from the burden of walking and could be used for wielding weapons or throwing stones. In fact, humans were able to produce basic tools as early as 2.5 million years ago.

However, walking upright also had its downsides. The skeleton of our primate ancestors had evolved for millions of years to support a creature that walked on all fours and had a small head. Adjusting to the upright position was a challenge, thanks to the extra-large cranium. Mankind paid for this evolutionary change with back-pains and stiff necks.

Women paid an even more steeper price because of this change. An upright posture meant narrower hips, constricting the birth canal. With the heads of human babies growing bigger, death during childbirth became a major hazard.

Those women who gave birth earlier when the infant’s head was still small fared better and lived longer. Natural selection started to favour earlier births. But this meant human babies were born prematurely when compared to other animals. This is the evolutionary reason human babies are frail and dependent on their parents for sustenance for many years.

However, earlier births also had positive consequences.

Since it was difficult to take care of children alone, mothers were not able to go searching for food and other resources. This led to the evolution of tribes for protection and the formation of strong social ties.

Moreover, underdeveloped babies meant they could be educated and socialized to a far greater extent than any other animal. This resulted in increased learning and development opportunities of humans.

This is a remarkable point. Walking upright seems so natural today. But in reality, it was a compromise we made for survival in the grasslands. And while it caused a lot of other issues, it proved a stepping stone towards society in the long run.

The Violent Nature of Humans

Despite all the seeming advantages of a large brain, use of tools, superior learning and complex social structures, humans remained weak and marginal creatures for a full 2 million years.

In fact, humans were pretty much in the middle of the food chain. Often, they were dependent on scavenging for subsistence.

It was only 400,000 years ago that several human species started to hunt bigger game on a regular basis. Only in the last 100,000 years, humans jumped to the very top of the food chain.

So what changed for the humans?

The domestication of fire was probably one of the biggest leaps for humankind. With fire, humans had a dependable source of light and warmth. Fire was also a deadly weapon against prowling lions.

Fire allowed humans to cook food, leading to a significant increase in their food sources. Humans could now consume potatoes, wheat and rice. Cooking of food using fire also made it easily digestible. This removed the need for larger intestines. Smaller intestines consumed less energy to digest the food. The surplus energy could be used by the brain, leading to its rapid development.

This relatively swift jump to the top of the food chain created significant consequences for the natural order.

Other dominant animals such as lions or sharks had reached the top of the food chain very gradually. This enabled the ecosystem to develop checks and balances that prevent lions and sharks from wreaking too much havoc on the natural order. Other animals also evolved to counter the threat of lions and sharks.

However, humankind leaped to the top so quickly that the ecosystem had no chance to adjust accordingly. In fact, the humans also didn’t adjust that well with their newfound supremacy.

Unlike most predators that are majestic creatures, homo sapiens have evolved like dictators. Despite their apparent supremacy, humans are still full of fear and anxiety about their position. This makes humans more cruel and dangerous. The human history is littered with wars, bloodshed and catastrophes.

The Rise of Homo sapiens

About 70,000 years ago, another species of humans from East Africa spread into the Arabian Peninsula and from there, they quickly overran the entire Eurasian landmass. This species was the Homo sapiens.

Ultimately, all the other human species disappeared from the face of the Earth. Only homo sapiens remained.

What could be the reason for this?

In the academic circles, there are two main theories about this.

The first theory is known as the Interbreeding Theory. This theory proposes that homo sapiens bred with other human species until the two populations merged. For example, in Eurasia, the Sapiens merged with the Neanderthals. In East Asia, the Sapiens merged with the local Homo erectus.

The second theory is the Replacement Theory. This theory signals incompatibility, revulsion and perhaps, even genocide. The Homo sapiens basically destroyed all the other species of humans in some sort of ethnic cleansing. According to Harari, this would probably have been the first ethnic cleansing in the history of our planet.

Generally, the Replacement Theory has been a more agreed theory in the scientific community. However, some recent DNA studies have also revealed the existence of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans. Though the amount of this DNA is very less, it does indicate that some amount of interbreeding may have happened between the human species. However, this evidence is not enough to completely debunk the Replacement Theory.

The Replacement Theory also gains traction due to the proven penchant for violence in our species even today. Tolerance is not a trait that we possess in great amount. Also, there would have been a fight for the limited resources during the prehistoric times.

The Sapiens, with their better tools and technology, would have been able to establish dominance, driving other species towards an eventual extinction.

But what made the Sapiens so successful? Read the summary of the second chapter to find out.

.stk-281e88d{margin-bottom:0px !important}.stk-281e88d-container{box-shadow:0 5px 30px -10px rgba(18,63,82,0.3) !important}.stk-132b6db{margin-bottom:0px !important}Sapiens Chapter 2 Analysis – The Tree of Knowledge

Sapiens did not succeed overnight. Their first encounter against other human species was a failure. But then, a Cognitive Revolution transformed our brains, leading to our species becoming the rulers of the planet.

The post Sapiens Chapter 1 Summary – An Animal of No Significance first appeared on Saurabh Dashora.