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November 30 - December 10, 2018
About 70,000 years ago, organisms belonging to the species Homo sapiens started to form even more elaborate structures called cultures. The subsequent development of these human cultures is called history.
the term ‘Sapiens’ to denote members of the species Homo sapiens, while reserving the term ‘human’ to refer to all extant members of the genus Homo.
Definition of Sapiens
But the best thing fire did was cook.
Sociological research has shown that the maximum ‘natural’ size of a group bonded by gossip is about 150 individuals.
Role of gossip in social bonding
The priest exclaimed, ‘Hoc est corpus meum!’ (Latin for ‘This is my body!’) and hocus pocus – the bread turned into Christ’s flesh.
This was the key to Sapiens’ success. In a one-on-one brawl, a Neanderthal would probably have beaten a Sapiens. But in a conflict of hundreds, Neanderthals wouldn’t stand a chance. Neanderthals could share information about the whereabouts of lions, but they probably could not tell – and revise – stories about tribal spirits. Without an ability to compose fiction, Neanderthals were unable to cooperate effectively in large numbers, nor could they adapt their social behaviour to rapidly changing challenges.
Sapiens defeat the Neanderthals, by the ability to compose fiction
The real difference between us and chimpanzees is the mythical glue that binds together large numbers of individuals, families and groups. This glue has made us the masters of creation.
The instinct to gorge on high-calorie food was hard-wired into our genes.
Behind The sweet tooth
bear in mind that before the development of modern embryological studies, people had no solid evidence that babies are always sired by a single father rather than by many.
Women bred with multiple men during pregnancy period, imagining that the offspring will have qualities of all these men.
The human collective knows far more today than did the ancient bands. But at the individual level, ancient foragers were the most knowledgeable and skilful people in history.
How the mobile phone made you dumb.
When agriculture and industry came along people could increasingly rely on the skills of others for survival, and new ‘niches for imbeciles’ were opened up. You could survive and pass your unremarkable genes to the next generation by working as a water carrier or an assembly-line worker.
Niche for imbeciles
The wandering bands of storytelling Sapiens were the most important and most destructive force the animal kingdom had ever produced.
Contradicts my idea that ancient humans lived in harmony with nature!!!
The Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud.
Agricultural Revolution
So here is that line from the American Declaration of Independence translated into biological terms: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men evolved differently, that they are born with certain mutable characteristics, and that among these are life and the pursuit of pleasure.
Yet it is an iron rule of history that every imagined hierarchy disavows its fictional origins and claims to be natural and inevitable.
Paradoxically, genetic superiority (in terms of immunity) translated into social inferiority: precisely because Africans were fitter in tropical climates than Europeans, they ended up as the slaves of European masters!
GEnetic superiority social inferiority
‘We have in the service the scum of the earth as common soldiers,’
viewpoint of General wellington(Napoleon's nemesis in the battle of waterloo)
