What is Reddit's opinion of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Hey r/kappa! Since I was not chosen for the winter komike, that means I'll have more time to focus on improving my fundamentals, as well as doing more fighting game related NSFW art. Hopefully I'll be able to post here more often from now on!

I have also been reading quite a lot recently. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari has been as inspirational as lord Daigo's book to me. Highly Recommended.

According to the book Sapiens, this very paradigm is why men are in positions of power and not women. Men, and male animals in general, have to be aggressive in order to win a mate. They also must learn to compete against other males for the same female. Females, on the other hand, could simply sit back and let the males come to them. They could afford to passive and not intervene in conflicts between males because they had no incentive otherwise. So evolution conditioned males to be aggressive, competitive and able to navigate conflict, while conditioning females to be passive and conflict-averse. You can easily see how this would result in men, throughout history, excelling in the power struggle while women really didn't even participate.

edit: link to book. it's really interesting

That's 100% wrong, though. You should read <em>Sapiens</em> by Yuval Noah Hariri. The TLDR is "We came, we saw, we ate."

...

Early humans were absolutely savage in terms of obliterating local wildlife populations and causing lasting environmental damage that we can detect (with some difficulty) today. Using up the food and water, and shitting up the surroundings, were the primary drivers of early migration.

The myth of the native or primitive human in balance with nature is a lie we tell ourselves. We are hungry murder monkeys.

According to Harari, it works as some kind of glue (my words). It's in one of the first chapters of his book Sapiens.

Just checked "Sapiens" on Amazon and although it has a 4.5 rating, the top reviews are 1 stars. Here's the Amazon link. They claim it's not scientific and/or biased. What did you think?

(to be fair, the 1 star reviews may be because of politics based on some reviews)

I think the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind might be an enlightening read for you. Particularly the first half has great information about the emergence of religion and how certain religions came to be dominant in the world we know today.

Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.

"From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?

Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.

Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?"

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.

Well written and a fascinating perspective. 4.5 stars with over 5,000 reviews.

"New York Times Bestseller

A Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg

From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?

Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.

Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?

Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem."

Favorite song is Instant Crush, by Daft Punk. Makes me remember a few of the crushes I had in my life, plus the beat is awesome too.

Favorite TV Show is breaking bad, as it tells a great story about great characters. You definitely should check it out, in case you never watched it.

Movie has to go to Tropa de Elite. It's a Brazilian movie about an elite squad in Rio, Brazil, that gets inside the favelas to take down a powerful drug dealer. It's one of the best acclaimed Brazilian movies, and the production do the movie is very hollywoodish, so a lot audiences outside of Brazil tend to like it too. http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0861739/

Favorite book goes to Sapient, a Brief History of Mankind. I learned so much about the human evolution, the human brain, the importance of religion and faith in the development of our societies that it's a nobrainer. Recommend to everyone. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ICN066A/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1

I'm enjoying Super Mario Odissey a decent bunch, but favorite game goes to Chrono Trigger. I played the game so many times for the plot and the characters that it takes a special place in my heart.

Because humans have agreed upon rules that have evolved to be socially beneficial. This set of rules could take the form of cultural norms, language, or a constitution. What's important is that these systems (usually) exist because the confer some type of net benefit to the community that adopts them. In this case we can weigh the pros and cons of allowing non-citizens to vote in school board elections:

pro: They have more control over how their child is educated.

con: Inherent cultural norms could mean they advocate for a less effective education system.

And we can weigh the pros and cons of allowing non-citizens to vote in presidential elections:

pros: greater representation of the total world (idk I'm kinda reaching for this one)

cons: China can just decide our president.

Because we want a system that does the most good for citizens of the US we can easily say that allowing non-citizens to vote in presidential elections is bad. I'd argue that allowing non-citizens to vote in school board elections is much more up for debate.

If you're interested in the argument I was trying to present in the first paragraph I recommend Sapiens. The way Harari explains cultural norms is incredible! :)

Edit: grammar

For 90% of our history humans were hunter gatherers living mostly in voluntary, egalitarian, nomadic groups without any form of government, even though other primates are anything but egalitarian. Hunter gatherers worked less hours, had more leisure time, ate better and were less violent than contemporary industrial societies.

The governments started to form once humanity invented agriculture. This has resulted in drastic decrease of quality of life, increase in violence, evolution of social hierarchies. Governments created empires which forcefully invaded other lands, enslaving people and/or imposing taxes.

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> Are you saying that, because we live in a "modern world with internet, Reddit, iPhones, drones and AI", this means we are no longer part of nature?

Never said that, but I'm guessing we disagree on what "nature" is.

EDIT: btw, I recommend "Sapiens": https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ICN066A/ Great book that covers how humanity came to be what it is now.