The Human Condition: Reality, Science and History

by Gregory A. Loew

Evolution has produced an incomplete miracle: Homo, a species that can love, think, remember, talk, gain insight into reality, plan for the future, and produce amazing scientific knowledge and art. Unfortunately Homo still suffers from dismal weaknesses and is not yet wise enough to protect its species from ultimate demise.

To become wiser, humanity cannot count on natural selection or a revolution. Social and political institutions depend on a system of education that is imperfect. Economic development, while remarkable, is neither steady nor equitable. Technological development is often blind and burdened with unintended consequences. History is chaotic at both the national and international levels. Representative democracy, the best system of government we have invented, is fragile, vulnerable and often subject to paralysis.

We need a deliberate plan of action that builds on our intellectual and cultural heritages from philosophers, natural and social scientists, historians, educators, and the ideas of contemporary writers. The Human Condition proposes key elements of such a plan and how we may realize them.

Homo has much work left to become Sapiens.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

196 pages, Hardcover

Published August 6, 2019

Reviews

[Isaac]

“But note also that while the language faculty enables so much function, its innateness perhaps constrains us in certain ways: we may indeed be partially stuck in our own ‘language straitjackets.’”

[Nadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy this book at all. He summarized several fields of study like chemistry, genetics, psychology, economics, etc. All these topics were diminished so far that it felt like I was reading a Wikipedia page about each topic. The author also sometimes comes off as ignorant, privileged, or holier-than-thou when he discusses impoverished people, people of different religions, or people experiencing mental illness. If you want to hear some unoriginal and uninspiring opinions from an old white guy, the good news is you’ll be able to finish it in one sitting.

[Sunny Yu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great choose of subject matter. The line "Homo has much work left to become Sapiens" and the identification of the dichotomy that we humans find ourselves is very accurate and timely. Overall, the book offers lots of helpful information and demonstrates Professor Loew's astonishing breadth of wisdom spanning the physical sciences to history, but I do feel that each section is too brief and lack theoretical connections despite their collective attempt to address the question of the human condition. I also think each section reads like literature review without much insight. I wonder if it would be nice to have multiple experts from many fields write about the ways we need to go for homos to become sapiens. Perhaps that essay collection could be more interesting to read!
Overall, because the book was able to grasp my attention from a bookshelf of many books, it means that there is something we can learn, and indeed, the book, with its attempt to understand the metaphysics of humans and our future, does give us some potential answers. But the reality is way more complex and unfortunately chaotic, and I think there is still a long way to go for us to understand realities and human conditions beyond those identified in the book.

[. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book not really expecting what to make out of it; I was maybe expecting philosophy, science, or even history.
It turned out to be all of them, plus more.

This book essentially just goes over the history of humanity through an array of topics: Philosophy, biology, chemistry, history, psychology, language, evolution, political-science, mathematics, technology, etc. The topics mentioned didn't go too much in depth for the sake of simplicity, so they either just refreshed my memory or taught me something new. Despite this, I found the discussion of the 4 perceptions of reality to be quite interesting (partly due to me being interested in neuroscience.) Although the author did insert his own bias at some parts of the book, which threw me off since I set the tone of the book to be clinical and objective.

Overall, this was an interesting book with ethical discussions pertaining to the multiple fields of humanity. I wouldn't go as far as to say this is a life changing book that completely enlightened me to nirvana, but an interesting book nevertheless.

[Rob Lamb · Rating 1 out of 5]

For a book titled The Human Condition it oddly focuses more on idealistic hogwash, such as top-down planning, the false idea education solves every conceivable ill in the world, and condemns the people in a democracy as ignorant and unenlightened. A fairly common screed of an interventionista, advocating a world government to enforce international law, obliterating a nation's right to self determination.

The one positive is the author confesses their utopian ideas are utopian. Unclear why they push for them, anyway.

Worth a skip. One can find these ideas in the Guardian or New York Times in half the time it takes to read this thing.

[Serge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a concise and highly readable review of the entirety of human knowledge, including philosophy, psychology and science. Loew deftly synthesizes various strains in our understanding of man, physics and the universe, and leaves the reader hopeful yet concerned about mankind's future. I recommend this as a primer in the story of human inquiry.

[Nilendu Misra · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Sapiens” is for plebs. Read this one instead. A supreme, brain-orgasmic journey through the big questions of life, perception and our past. Brilliant!

[Tori · Rating 1 out of 5]

** I received an advanced reading copy from a Goodreads giveaway

I am not trying to be mean or cruel here, but this is the worst book I have read in 2019. I had very high expectations of this book and expected to learn a lot, instead, Gregory condenses every beautifully complicated human topic into boring surface-level easily-digestible chunks. I expected more insight and research from the author himself but instead he regurgitates what other great minds have already said. Most of what I read I already knew, with few exceptions. He goes on strange tangents complaining about video games. To me, this book is just a long-winded essay of a boomer who is out of touch of reality.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!