這段時(shí)間終于斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地看完了赫拉利的《人類簡(jiǎn)史》這本書。這本書敘述了人類的發(fā)展歷史，探討了在sapiens發(fā)展過程中的一些存在的問題以及作者對(duì)人類未來的隱憂。
這本書嚴(yán)格來說不是一本學(xué)術(shù)著作，更像一本科普讀物，很多內(nèi)容的敘述缺乏論據(jù)，更像是作者對(duì)這些問題的一些觀點(diǎn)和看法。
summary (轉(zhuǎn)自wikipedia)
Harari surveys the history of humankind from the?evolution?of archaic human species in the?Stone Age?up to the twenty-first century, focusing on our own species of human,?Homo sapiens. He divides the history of Sapiens into four major parts:[4]
The?Cognitive Revolution?(c. 70,000 BC, when Sapiens evolved imagination).
The?Agricultural Revolution?(c. 10,000 BC, the development of agriculture).
The?unification of humankind?(the gradual consolidation of human political organisations towards one global empire).
The?Scientific Revolution?(c. 1500 AD, the emergence of objective science).
Harari's main argument is that Sapiens came to dominate the world because it is the only animal that can?cooperate?flexibly in large numbers. He argues that prehistoric Sapiens were a key cause of the extinction of other human species such as the?Neanderthals, along with numerous other?megafauna. He further argues that the ability of Sapiens to cooperate in large numbers arises from its unique capacity to believe in things existing purely in the?imagination, such as?gods,?nations,?money?and?human rights. Harari claims that all large-scale human cooperation systems – including?religions,?political structures,?trade networks?and?legal institutions?– owe their emergence to Sapiens' distinctive cognitive capacity for?fiction.[5]?Accordingly, Harari reads money as a system of?mutual trust?and sees?political?and?economic systems?as more or less identical with religions.
Harari's key claim regarding the Agricultural Revolution is that while it promoted population growth for Sapiens and co-evolving species like wheat and cows, it made the lives of most individuals (and animals) worse than they had been when Sapiens were mostly hunter-gatherers, since their diet and daily lives became significantly less varied. Humans' violent treatment of other animals is indeed a theme that runs throughout the book.
In discussing the unification of humankind, Harari argues that over its history, the trend for Sapiens has increasingly been towards political and economic interdependence. For centuries, the majority of humans have lived in empires, and capitalist?globalization?is effectively producing one, global empire. Harari argues that money, empires and?universal religions?are the principal drivers of this process.
Harari sees the Scientific Revolution as founded in an innovation in European thought, whereby elites became willing to admit to and hence to try and remedy their?ignorance. He sees this as one driver of early modern European imperialism and of the current convergence of human cultures. Harari also emphasises the lack of research into the history of?happiness, positing that people today are not significantly happier than in past eras.[6]?He concludes by considering how modern technology may soon end the species as we know it, as it ushers in?genetic engineering,?immortality?and?non-organic life. Humans have, in Harari's chosen?metaphor, become?gods: they can create species.
Harari cites?Jared Diamond's?Guns, Germs, and Steel?(1997) as one of the greatest inspirations for the book by showing that it was possible to "ask very big questions and answer them scientifically".[7]
