This book surveys the history of humankind from the Stone Age to the 21st century, focusing on Homo sapiens. It divides human history into four major parts: the Cognitive Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution, the Unification of Humankind, and the Scientific Revolution. Harari argues that Homo sapiens dominate the world due to their unique ability to cooperate in large numbers through beliefs in imagined realities such as gods, nations, money, and human rights. The book also examines the impact of human activities on the global ecosystem and speculates on the future of humanity, including the potential for genetic engineering and non-organic life.
This book offers a dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging fundamental assumptions about social evolution, the development of agriculture, cities, the state, democracy, and inequality. Graeber and Wengrow argue that traditional theories of human history, such as those posited by Hobbes and Rousseau, are not supported by anthropological or archaeological evidence. Instead, they show that humans have lived in large, complex, but decentralized societies for millennia, often without ruling elites or hierarchical systems. The authors draw on extensive research in archaeology and anthropology to reveal a history that is more varied and hopeful than previously assumed, emphasizing human experimentation with different social arrangements and the potential for new forms of freedom and societal organization.
In this book, Steven Pinker presents a detailed argument that violence has significantly decreased over the course of human history. He uses extensive data and statistical analysis to demonstrate this decline in various domains, including military conflict, homicide, genocide, torture, and the treatment of children, homosexuals, animals, and racial and ethnic minorities. Pinker identifies four key human motivations – empathy, self-control, the moral sense, and reason – as the 'better angels' that have oriented humans away from violence and towards cooperation and altruism. He also discusses historical forces such as the rise of the state (which he terms 'Leviathan'), the spread of commerce, the growth of feminist values, and the expansion of cosmopolitanism, which have contributed to this decline in violence[1][4][5].
In this book, Jared Diamond explains why Eurasian and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others. He argues that differences in societal development arise primarily from geographical causes. The book details how agricultural societies developed immunities to deadly diseases, advanced in technology, and formed centralized political structures, ultimately leading to the conquest of other societies. Diamond also discusses the impact of germs, domesticated animals, and environmental factors on human history[2][4][5].
In 'The God Delusion', Richard Dawkins argues that the belief in a supernatural creator, God, is almost certainly false and qualifies as a delusion. He examines God in various forms, from the Old Testament to the Celestial Watchmaker, and critiques the major arguments for religion. Dawkins discusses how religion fuels war, fosters bigotry, and abuses children, and he advocates for atheism as a morally and intellectually fulfilling worldview. The book also explores the relationship between religion and morality, suggesting that morality can exist independently of religion, and argues against the teaching of religion in schools as a form of indoctrination[2][3][4].
What was life like before agriculture? Was it "nasty, brutish, and short?" Or was it quite peaceful and relaxing, making agriculture the "worst mistake in human history"?
There are plenty of theories about our ancestral lives. And these are not just neutral hypotheses about a past epoch. They are often used as an origin story of our species. They shape the way we think of ourselves, our natural inclinations, and the virtues or vices of civilisation.
But how can we go beyond origin myths? Is there a science of the past?
For a long-time, it was common to use modern-day hunter-gatherers as a model of the past. This method has been popularised by books such as Sapiens. But recently, this method came under serious attack by another bestseller, Dawn of Everything, whose authors argue that the project is largely futile. But is it? Are there any methods to study our ancestral past?
Dr Vivek V. Venkataraman is a hunter-gatherer expert who recently wrote a clarifying piece on this for The Conversation. He joins Ilari to discuss topics such as:
- What books like Sapiens or Dawn of Everything get right and wrong
- Why there is no such a thing as a “hunter-gatherer lifestyle” - but we can still learn something from modern-day hunter-gatherers.
- Dr Venkataraman’s experience of living with an egalitarian hunter-gatherer community (the Batek in Malaysia)
- Were our ancestors egalitarian?
- How archaeology helps anthropology
- Beyond the "story of the seed": How climate change and population density explain more than agriculture
- Some speculation about war and violence in the Pleistocene (see also episode 8)
Names mentioned:
- Thomas Hobbes & Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Richard Wrangham (author of The Goodness Paradox)
- Christopher Boehm (author of Hierarchy in the Forest)
- Jared Diamond (author of Guns, Germs, & Steel)
- Yuval Noah Harari (author of Sapiens)
- David Wengrow and David Graeber (authors of Dawn of Everything)
- Marshall Sahlins (author of the essay, The Original Affluent Society)
- Karen & Kirk Endicott (author of The Headman Was A Woman)
- Peter Turchin (referenced paper on complexity)
- Douglas P. Fry (see episode 8)
- Richard Dawkins (author of God Delusion)
- John McPhee (author)
- Kim Sterelny (philosopher of science)
Terms
- Göbekli Tepe
- Pleistocene (the era ending c. 11 700 years ago, starting c 2 million years ago)
- Intensification
- Scalar stress
- Self-domestication (see e.g. Survival of the Friendliest)
Hunter-gatherer groups mentioned:
- !Kung (a group of San Bushmen, also known Ju/’hoansi) in the Kalahari Desert
- The Hadza in Tanzania
- The Ache in Paraguay
- The Batek in Malaysia
- The Northwestern Pacific hunter-gatherers of US and Canada
- The Calousa of Florida
On Humans 
