Naresh’s Reviews > Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind > Status Update

Religion formed bigger groups.
- Animism: All nature is equal. Trees as well as Humans have spirits.
- Tribal Gods: Local Gods for specialized purpose like healing. All nature is equal.
- Polytheism: Specialized gods for Earth, Water, Fire etc. Humans gained supremacy.
- Monotheism: My god is omnipotent. Invented saints for specialized work. Nature is for humans to consume.
* Religion: Enforces supreme order.

What makes humans different from other animals is their organization into large groups. Individuals formed bands. Bands formed tribes. Tribes formed villages, then towns, and cities, and so on. Agriculture gave them capability to plan for the future, and introduced the concept of wealth. Imagined order, and scripts came as a consequence. Orders were supported by mythical facts as if races are divine creation.

Agriculture promoted collective farming, storage, and distribution. Some tilled fields, others dug irrigation channels, still others protected the crops? Who gets how much? What is the penalty of theft? This required a social order. Hammurabi's Code introduced division of society for the 'common good'. Why believe such a code? Because God said so. To move people in believing myths, a higher order myth is necessary.

20,000 years ago, Sapiens started to cultivation of wheat, barley, millet etc. It held the promise for comfortable living. Comfortable living meant higher procreation. Population explosion - more mouths to feed - more work - miserable life.
Presence of wheat on the planet increased exponentially. Is wheat evolutionary superior, and sapiens just a means of its evolution? Probably not - Ask this tomillions of chickens

- Humans decimated animal life as they moved out of Africa.
- Marsupials of Australia died out 30,000 years ago.
- Mammoths, Ground Sloths died out 15,000 years ago.
- Giant Camels as they moved South.
- Large animals in Madagascar about 5,000 years ago.
- Human foragers wiped out 90% of large species on the planet.
- Agriculture wiped out the vegetation.
- Industrial revolution is wiping out the sea life.

We hardly have any evidence to support the religious beliefs, economic, and political structure of sapiens pre-agricultural era. Best guess is that there were varied religions, economic, and political systems quite different from each other.

- Sapiens could form better tribes than other humans.
- Could we learn from current tribes, the characteristics of Sapiens tribes 30000 years ago. Possibly.
- Current tribes are affected by advanced neighbors, and thrive in extreme conditions. Sapiens tribes would have flourished in rich environments.
- Culture is defined by the artifacts they posses. Sapiens had less artifacts than current civilization.

- An introduction to Human brothers and cousins.
- Standing upright reduces hip size. Premature birth. Evolution of tribal culture.
- Large brain needs more food. Cooked food makes digestion easier. Smaller intestine. More energy for brain.