Sapiens (A brief history of mankind) by Yuval Noah Harari

Sapiens (A brief history of mankind) by Yuval Noah Harari

Years before the present (2018) -

13.5 Bn - Matter, energy, time and space came into being - Big Bang - Story of these fundamental features called Physics

After 30k yrs - Matter and energy started to coalesce into complex structure called atoms, which then combined to form molecules - Story of interaction of atoms and molecules called Chemistry

4.5 Bn - Formation of Planet Earth

3.8 Bn - On earth certain molecules combined to form large and intricate structures called organism - Biology

6 Mn - Last common grandmother of humans and chimpanzees

2.5 Mn - Evolution of genus Homo in Africa and first stone tools

2 Mn - Humans spread from Africa to Eurasia. Evolution of different human species.

500,000 - Neanderthals evolve in Europe and Middle East

300,000 - Daily usage of fire

200,000 - Homo Sapiens evolves in East Africa

About 70k years ago - Homo sapiens started to form even elaborate structures called 'culture'.  - Subsequent development of these human culture is called history.

3 important revolution shaped the course of history - (Yrs ago) 70 k the cognitive revolution, 12 k agriculture revolution, 500 scientific revolution. 

Animals are said to belong to the same species if they tend to mate with each other.

Species that evolved from a common ancestor and bundled together under the heading 'Genus'

Biologists label organisms with - Genus + Species. Homo (Genus-Homo man) + Sapien (the species sapien wise)

6 Mn years ago Female ape - 2 daughters - Chimpanzee and Homo

Humans first evolved in East Africa (2.5 Mn years ago) Genus - Australopithcus (Southern Ape)

- Before 2 Mn yrs ago they left Africa. 

  a. Europe and Western Asia - Homo Neanderthals

  b. East Asia - Homo Erectus (survived for 2 Mn years)

  c. Java - Homo Soloensis

  d. Flores - Homo Floresiensis

In Africs other species also emerged  - Homo Rudolfensis, Homo Ergester, Homo Sapien,

Brain - 

Mammal (60Kg) - Brain size 200 cubic cm

Earliest Man (2.5 mn yrs ago) - 600 cubic cm

Moders sapiens - 1200-1400 cc

Neanderthals - more than 1400 cc

HS - 2.3% of body weight and consumes 25% energy (at rest)

other species - 8% energy

Hence big brain requires - 1. More food 2. Muscles atrophied

What drove the evolution of the massive human brain during 2 mn yrs ? Frankly we dont know.

Singular human trait - We walk on 2 limbs - its easier to scan - hands free more things hands could do more powerful the user. Downside - Lofty vision and bachaches, stiff necks.  Women paid extra - upright gait required narrower hips, constricting the birth canal. - and this just when babis head were geting bigger and bigger. 

Also humans are born prematurely when many of their vital system are underdeveloped.  HUman babies are helpless, dependent for many years on mother. Hence human emerge from the wont like molten glass from a furnace. 

For full 2 mN years they remained weak and marginal. Early stones were used to crack bones and eat the bone marrow. middle of the food chain after lion and jackals. HUnted smalled creatures 

Only 400,000 hunt large game

100,000 - rise of HS and man jumped to the top of food chain.

All other species eveoled to the food chain greadullay over mn of years, this enabled the ecosystem to develop check and balances.In contrast the humans ascended the human chain so quickly that ecosystem was not given time to adjust. Moreover humans have themselves failed to adjust. Other creatures mn of years of dominion have filled then with self-confidence - humans more full of anxieties over our position.

The Tree of Knowledge -

70K spaiens did not enojoy any marked advantage over other human species even though they had the brain size same as ours. In fact in first ever interaction with Neanderthals 100,000 yrs ago, N won. But post 70k yrs ago the sapiens drove all other speices away. 70k-30k sapiens invented boats, oil lamps, bows and arrows and needles (essential for sewing warm clothes). But how ? Cognitive ability. We might call it Tree of Knowledge mutation. Why not Neanderthals ? Matter of pure chance.  What caused it ? No answer, but commonly believed theory id that accidental genetic mutation changed the inner wiring of the S, enabling them to communicate effectively using different type of language used by other species such as monkeys, insects, bees etc. What is so special about our language ? Our language is amazingly supple (flexible) we can use limited number of sounds and signs to create infinite number of sentences to describe. A second theory proposes that the language evolved not to convey information about the dangers from lion, bisons etc but about ourselves. Our language evolved as a way of gossiping. HS is social animal which needs to know about their band. N and archaic HS probably had hard time talking behind one's back which even though a much maligned ability, is in fact necessary for cooperation in large numbers. New skills gathered around 70k years back allowed HS to gossip for hours, about who could be trusted etc means that the small bands could be expanded in to large collective groups. Even today vast majority of humans gossip about who is having affair, who is friend, who is enemy. And most important part of our language is its ability to transmit information about the fictional things. Legends, myths, gods appeared for the first time with cognitive revolution. Fiction has not only enabled to imagine but to do so collectively. Myth game HS the unprecedented ability t0 cooperate collectively in large numbers. Other species cooperate in only small numbers with whom they share intimate relationship, but humans can cooperate with large numbers of strangers.   

The Legend of Peugeot

In the wake of cognitive revolution, gossip helped the HS to form large groups, but even this has a limit. Sociological research shows that the maximum 'natural' size of group formed by gossip is about 150 persons. Ex - Today's family business, communities, military units etc. But how did HS cross this magical figure ? Appearance of fiction. Common believe of Churches bring strangers together to cooperate because they believe in Jesus. Two strangers can come together and fight because they believe in state and country. Judicial system is based on the myth of law, injustice, human rights etc. There are no gods, nation, money outside the common imagination of human being. The large companies are 'limited liability companies'. Before the individual was responsible for the business due to which we might have to give a second thought for openeng and enterprise, which is why the people started imagining the existence of limited liabilities companies, corporation etc which actually does not exist in flesh and blood. But still difficulty does not lie in telling the fiction, social constructs or imagined realities but in convincing everyone to believe it.  But when it success it gives HS immense power to work towards one common goal. On one hand there is objective reality and on other imagined reality. But as time went by the imagined reality have become so powerful that existence of objective reality trees, animals etc. depends on the imagined reality US, UN, Google etc. 

Bypassing the Genome

Ever since the cognitive revolution the human being have been able to revise its behaviour rapidly in accordance to the changing needs. The behaviour of other social animals depends to a large extent on their genes. Significant changes in social behaviour can not occur in general without genetic mutation. Ex - Chimpanzees after meeting bonobos cannot start a revolution. For similar reasons the archaic humans does not start a revolution, all the changes related to tool invention, settlement resulted from genetic mutation and environment pressure rather than cultural initiatives. Ever since the cognitive revolution S have been able to change their behaviour quickly Ex - Catholic alpha male abstain from sex. S could transform the their social structure, nature of interpersonal relationship, economic activities within a decade or two. This was the key to S success. Early sapiens traded shells and obsidian etc. Trade cant exist without trust, today its based on fictional entities such as dollar, banks, gods etc. Archaic S traded shells and obsidian hence they must have traded information that served them well as compared to N. Hunting - N alone but S in mutual cooperation. Eventually S would have won the battle with N.

History and Biology

Culture - Immense diversity of  imagined realities and the resulting diversity of behaviour pattern. Cognitive revolution is the point when history declared its independence from biology. We are still animals,and our physical emotions and cognitive abilities are still shaped by our DNA. Our societies are build of same blocks such as that of N or Chimpanzee, more we examine these - sensation, emotions, family ties - the less the difference between us and other apes. Significant difference appears when we cross the threshold of 150 ind. The real difference between us and chimps is the mythical glue that binds large numbers of us together. This glue has made us the master of creation. Physiologically there have been no significant improvement in our tool making capacity over the last 30k years but the cooperation of millions on strangers all over the world allow to make missiles. 

3. A day in the life of Adam and Eve

Past 200 years where S have earned bread while working as urban labourers and office workers seems to be blip in the radar compared to the preceeding 10,000 yrs where S lived as farmers and herders. The flourishing field of evolutionary psychology argues that many of our present day social and psychological charatcters where shaped during this long period of pre-agriculture era. Ex - People gorge on high calorie food. The instict to gorge on high calorie food was hard wired into our genes - 'gorging gene' theory is widely accepted. Other theories - Ancient foraging bands were not nuclear families centered on monogamous relationships. There are present day human cultures and that of animals where multiple fatherhood is practised so that child gets the best of all the men. Before the development of embryological studies there was no hard evidence that babies were sired by a single father rather than many. Hence the nuclear family and monogamous relationship is incompatible in the current society. But many scholars reject this theory- as even both are still a norm in majority. But the evidence on this debate is very little as flimsy as there is no document because foragers carried no artefacts as they moved very often. (Stone age shoulkd more accuratly be called the wood age. because most of the tools were of woods.). Similarly if someone in the future had to depict the life of 21st centure teenager not much evidence would be available as there would not be any evidence of mails, texts, blogs etc. The 5-8 mn foragrers who populated the world on the eve of  agriculture revolution were divided into thousands of separate tribes with thousands of different languages and culturesm thanks to the appearance of fiction due to cognitive revoltiuon. There havent been one single was of life of Sapiens.

The Original Affluent Society

Vast majority of people live dins small bands numbering several dozens to hundreds but mainly human, do domesticated animals. First was dog evidence suggests before 15k years earlier. 2 species co-evolved together. Loneliness and Privacy were rare. Neighbouring bands had friendly contacts exchanged members, hunted tog, traded rare luxuries, cemented political allies and celebrated religious fests but spent vast majority of time in complete isolation and independence. The movement was influenced by changing seasons, annual migration of animals and growth of cycles of plants. fishing villages appeared on the coast of Indonesia as early as 4k years ago which may have been the base for first trnasoceanic enterprice : the invasion of australia. S main activity was gathering and not hunting, as it provided for all the calories as well as flint, bamboo and wood. They foraged for knowledge as well, as for survival they needed detailed map of their territory, growth pattern of each plant, habits of animals, nourishing food, food that makes you sick, what warnign sign preceded storm, snakebite etc.Average forager had wider, deeper and more varied knowledge of the immediate surrounding than most of modern descendants. The humans collectively knows far more today but at individual level ancient forager were more knowledgabel and skillful. There is some evidence to suugest that the size of brain has actually decreased since the age of foraging. Foragers mastered internal world of their own bodies and senses. Slightest movement of grass would suggest snake, bmoved with min effort, walk and run agile and had physical dexterity They seemed to share a more comfortable and rewarding lifestyle than who followed their footsteps, worked lesser number of hours. Foraging provided ideal nourishment because of varied diet. not just potato, wheat, rice but all types of fruit, root, rabbits, frogs, mushrooms berries, etc though average life expectancy was just 30-40 yrs due to child mortality. They suffered less infectious diseases.Most ID that have plagued the agriculture and industrial societies (Spox, Meas, TB) originated in domesticated animals and were transferred to humans only after agri revolution. Hence the wholesome and varied dietm relatively short wroking period, rare ID have led many experts to define pre-agri forage societies as 'the original affluent societies'.  But still it would be mistake to idealize their lives as it was hard and unforgiving. Minor accident could lead to death etc. but they valued most the good social interaction and high q friendship. 

Talking Ghosts

Most scholars agree that animistic beleifs were common anmong ancient foragers. Belief that almost every place, animal, plant and natural phenomenon has awareness and feeling and can communicate directly with humans. But we have only the haziest of notions about religion, stories they told, festivals etc its one of the biggest hole in out understanding of human history. 

(Pic) http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/lascaux/

Peace or War

Ancient hunter-gatherer society were paradise or violent there is not concrete evidence to suggest. Research of archeological sites shows both the signs. At best some areas and some peroid of time may have enjoyed peace some ferocious conflicts.

4. The Flood

Prior to cognitive revolution venturing into sea was not possible, planet earth has several distinct ecosystems each made up of unique assembly of animal and plnats but post that HS was about to put and end to this biological exuberance. The journey of first humans to Australia is one of the most important events in history. The moment first hunter-gatherer set foot on an Australian beach was the moment when HS climbed to the top rung in food chain on a particular land mass and therafter became the deadliest speices in the annals of earth. Marsupial mammals were almost unknown in Africa and Asia but reigned supreme in Australia. Within few thousands of years virtually all of these giants vanished. Out of 24 australian animals weight 50 kg or more 23 became extinct. It was the most important transformation of Aus ecosystem fot mn of yrs. Was it all fault of HS?

Guilt as Charged

Some experts exonerate the HS and put the blame on climate change. There are 3 peice of evidence that weaken this claim - 1. Earths climate always change and is in constant flux. Ice age occur every 100,000 yrs, the last one ran from about 75k to 15k yrs ago. Even though the climate changed some 45k years ago, it wasnt a very remarkable upheavel. The giant diaprotodon appeared more than 1.5 mn years ago hence survived many ice ages. But more than 90% of the australian's megafauna disappeared along with diaprotodon. 2. Climate change causes sea dwellers also to hit as hard as land dwellers. But nothing happened to them 3 - Whereever humans have set foot the same thing has happened ex- New Zealand, Arctic islands. HS looks like an ecological serial killer. But how could stone dwellers could have caused ecological disaster ? Large animals breed slowly hence ig they got killed even one or two every month the entire species would exting in few thousand years. Humans dont come across as dangerous, is australia they were new so others were not so scared of them. before the animals could eveolve they became extinct. 2. By the time HS came to siland they already had mastered the fire agriculture. Would have burned the entire forest for game. Euclaptus are particularly fire resistant hence they spread far wiode as comapred to others. Koala happily munched but others became extinct. 3. HUmans appeared on the same critical juncture of climate change and pushed the brittle ecosystem to abyss. 

The End of Sloth

S learned crossed and reached america withstanding the extreme condition of arctic condition of northern siberia. They devised indigenous solutions, make snowshoes, effective thermal clothing  composed of layers of fur and skins, sewen tightly with the help of needle, new weapons and sophisticated hunting techniques that enabled them to track and kill mammoth animals. But why did they bother to take the hardship and move towards hard siberia ? Animal protei. the animal lands where full of large meat, juicy animals whihc could be frozen, tasty fat, warm fur and valuable ivory. They didnt survive but thrived. Where ever S arrived the other species bacamce extinct. 

Part 2 - The Agriculture Revolution

History's biggest fraud

For 2.5 mn yrs ago the humans fed themselves by gathering plants, huting animals but all this changed about 10,000 yrs ago when S began devoting all the time manupulating the lives of few animals and plants - Agricultural revolution. All noteworthy plants Wheat, goats, peas, lentils, olive trees, horses, grapevines, camels chew nuts were domesticated before 2,ooo yrs. No noteworhty plant has been domesticated since then. 90% of our calories that feed humanity comes from handful of plants domesticated by our ancestors. It erupted in Middle east, china and central america but not in Australia or Amercia ? The reason - most species of plants and animals cant be domesticated and which could be existed in those regions only then. But this left farmers live in more difficult ans less satisfying condition than foragers.It cenrtainly enlarged the sum total of food at the disposal of humanskind but the extra food did not translate into better dier or lifestyle. Then why did it happen ? Actually few plants domesticated humans including wheat, rice and potatoes. They took great care of these plants which caused lot of pain and humans were not conditioned for that - slipped disk, arthiritsi, hernia etc. Wheat domesticated us. Village life + protection against wild animals, rain and cold but disadvantage outweighed.  Then why ? It provided more food per unit of territory and thereby enabling HS to multiply exponentially. The success of eolution is measured by the copies of DNA produced with no regard to individual suffering and happiness. The essence of Agri revol is ability to keep more people alive under worse conditions.

The Luxury Trap

Wheat and others expanded the entire world -  when humans burned down the forestes they monopolised the sunlight, water and nutrients. But why they didnt relalise this ? People were unable to fathom the full consequences of their decision. It took generations to for the small changes to accumulate and transform the society and by then no body remembered that they ever lived differently. There was no going back, it was a trap.The persuit for a easier life resulted in much harship and not for the last time- even today technology. One of history's iron laws is the luxuroes tend to become neccessaties and to spawn nee obligations. 

Divine Intervemtion

Gobekli Tepe suggests that the temples may have been built first and the villages later grew up around it. In order to feed peopple who built and used the monumental structures, required particularly large quantities of food. So foragers might have swithced to farmers.

Victims of Revolution

Bad state of cattles, pigs, cows, chicken for human use, though in terms of DNA copies AR was boom for them. A rare wild animal on the brink of extinction lives satidfied life than cow in a cage.

6. Building pyramids

AR is one of the most controversial events in history some say it led us to prosperity some say to perdition, but no doubt it was a turning point for HS and there was no turning back. People started living in permanent locations.

The coming of Future

The AR made the future far more important than the it had ever been before. Foragers didnt waste mush time thinking about it but farmers sailed into years and decades into future. The fundamental uncertainity in agriculture. Since they cultivated a very limited variety of domesticated plants and animals they were at the mercy of droughts, floods and pestilence. Until late modern era 90% of humans worked as peasants for 10% of kings, elites etc who made history..

An Imagined Order

The food surplus was not emough for mutual cooperation. The frence rev, roman republic, american indepen did not emerge from hunger. The problem at the root is that humans eveolved for mn of years in small bands of a dozed ind. and the handful of millenia separatign the AR and emergence of kingdoms, cities, empires were not enogh time to allow an instinct for mass cooperation to eveolve. The cooperation before was loose and limited. But Myths, it transpired are stronger than anyone could have imagined. Cooperation may sound altruistic but seldom is not volumtary and egalitarian, most have been geared towards oppression and exploitation. Qin, Roman empires were imagined orders. The social norms that sustained them were based on shared myths. Ex code of Hammurabi, The declaration of independence promises if the humans act accordingly to its sacred principles, mn would be able to cooperate effectively, live safely and peacefully in a just and prosperous society. Imagines reality of justice exists only in the futile imagination of HS and in the myth they invent and tell each other. Biology - Evolution is based on differences and not on equality. 

True Believers

Voltaire said 'There is no God, but don't tell that to my servant, lest he murders me at night'. A natural order is a stable order eg gravity but imagined order if always in danger of collapse, bec it depends upon myths and they vanish once people stop believeing in them. A single priest often does the work of hundred soldiers for more cheaply and effectively. OF all human collective activities, the one most diff to organize is violence. C woulnt have existed if majority of bishops and priests would not have believed in Christ, amrecian demo if congressmen and presidents not human rights, modern economic ssytem if investors and bankers in capitalism. 

The Prison Wall

Its not easy to change. Inter subjectivity is something that exists within the communication network linking the subjective conciousness of many individuals. These imagines orders are inter-subjective so in order to change them we must simultaneously change the concisouss of bm people which is not easy. It follows that in order to change an existing imagined order we must believe in an alternate IO.

7. Memory Overload

The large societies of other species are stable and resilient because the information needed to sustain them is encoded in the genome. Because the S social order is imagined humans cant preserve critical information for running it simply by making copies of their DNA and passing these on to their progeny. When amount of people and property crossed the critical threshold it became neccessary to store and process large amount of mathematical data. Since the human brain could not do itm the system collapsed. For 1000 yrs after the AR humans social network remained simple and rel small. The first to over come this problem was Sumerians (mesopotamia) they inveted system for storing and processing information outside their brain that was custom built to handle large amt of info - writing. 

Signed, Kushim

The earliest message was - 29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim  - A total of 29,086 measures of barley was received over a course of 37 months - signed Kushim. The first recorded name in history belongs to an accountant, rather than prophet, king. But these writing were partial scripts.

The Wonders of Bureaucracy

More signs were added bw 3000-2500BC making Sumerian a full script - cuneiform. Egyptian - hierogylphics. Imprinting a document in clay not enough to guarantee efficient, accurate and convenient data processing. That requires methods of organisation like catalogues, method of reproduction, accurate retrieval - inventing such methods proved to be far more difficult than invemting writing. Since ancent times, clerks and accountants think non-human fashion like filing cabinets. The most imp impact of scripts on human history is precisely this - gradually changed the way to thinking- freee association and holistic thoughts have given way to compartmentalisation and bureaucracy.

The Large Numbers

A critical step was addedd in 9th centure AD whrn new partial scroipt was invented. Confusingly knows a Arab numerals but invented by Hindus, 0-9 (arab conquered india and make it their own) - arabs addedd severla signs of add , divide but this remains a prtial script. Now entire field of knowledge physics, engg have already lost touch with the spoken human language and are maintained solely by mathematical scripts. W was born as maidservant to human conciousness but is increasingly becoming its master. Since computers have troubling understanding our language we are learnign theirs.

8. There is no Justice in History

How did humans organize themselves in mass cooperation network when they lacked the biological instincts neccessary to sustain such networks ? Imagined orders and devised scripts. The appearance of these network was blessing for some as it created heirarchies and few maintained it. Many who signed the declaration of independence were slavehlders and did not gave it up upon signing, nor considered themselves into hypocrites. In their view the rights of men were different from that of negros. Heirarcy bw free/slave, white/black, poor/rich - it is iron rule of history that every imagined disawows its fictional origins and claims to be natural and inevitable. Societies claimed to be natural such as Hindus believed the cosmic force has created this divide, some on gene, ability etc. Yet its all product of human imagination. Unfortunately the complex human societies seem to require imagined hierarchies and unjust discrimination. They serve an important purpose of how to treat the stranger without wasting time and energy. 

The Vicious Circle

Most case hierarchies originated as a result of a set of accidental historical circumastances and was then perpetuated and refined over mnay generations as different groups has vested interest in it. Ex - Indo-Aryan invaders in fear of losing the priviledged status they divided the population into caste. Concept of purity was essential in were harnessed to buttress the social pyramid. The concept of purity has played the leadign role in all societies in enforcng the social and political divisions and have exploited by many ruling class. Jati, untouchables

Purity in America

16-18th centure europeans conquerors imported african slaves to work the mines and plantations in America. Why not asians/eurpoe ? 1. Africa was closer and cheaper to import slaves rather than senegal or vietnam. 2. In Africa there was already a system of slave trade. 3. Africans had acquired over generation partial genetic immunity to the disease such as malaria and yello fever.The American plantaiotn were plagued by these diseases. genetic sup transalted into social inf. But people justified this by -Theologians argued blacks were cursed to be served as slave; Biologists - less intelligent and less developed moral sense. Doctors - filthy and spread disease. Due to these sitgmas it bacama vicous circle - Black not good so no education, see they are not educated becase they are less intellgent.

He and She

The H of gender, women were property of men. Biologically they are same, but culture forbids them. Culture tends to forbid only that which is unnatural, - Natural is something that is in accordance to the intention of GOd who created nature. But natural is everything that is possible, mouth was created to eat, but now kisses, speaks, screams and these are not unnatural acts then why homosexualuty etc. 

Sex and Gender

Whats so good about men ?

Why almost all the societies are patriarchial and prefer manhood over women hood? We dont know. There are plenty of theories but non very convinceing

Muscle Power

Women are genrally more resistant to hunger, disease and fatigue than men. And if excluded based on this then they should have been included in the activities that required less physical effort EX- Priest hood, law, politics etc. There is no direct relation between the physical strength and social power among humans. In foragers societies, political dominance generally resised with the person possessing the best social skills rather than muscles. Organized crime boss does not even move but asks his sub to do the job. Hard to believe that the most influential and most stable social hierarchy in history is founded on men's ability physically to corce women.

The Scum of Society

mAsculine dominance results not from strength but aggression. But ones managing the war are not fighting. In war much better is a cooperative person who knows how to appease, manipulate and see things from different perspective. Women are often sterotyped as better at these, hence women should have made an excellent politicians and empre builders.

Patriarchial Genes

Men - masculine genes that made to the next gen were those belonging to the most ambitious, agression and competetive men who outperform others for women. On other hand women did not have this, but next gen belonged to women who were more submssve cartakers. This should make them dependent on men. But in other societies of animals this does not happen rather matriarchial. Since they need external help so they are develop a better social skills and learn how to cooperate and appease. Why did this happen - no good ans. May be men have superior social skills and greater tendency to coperate, We dotn know. 

Part 3 

The Unification of Humankind

9. The Arrow of History

After the AR human societies grew ever larger and more complex, while the imagined constructs sustaining the social order also became more elaborate. Myths and fiction accustomed people, nearly from the moment of birth, to think in certain ways, to behave in accordance with certain standards, to want certain things, and to observe certain rules. They thereby created artificaial insticncts that enabled mn of strangers to cooperate effectively. This network of artificial instincts is called culture. Cultures undergo constant flux. Every man made order is full or contradictions. C are constantly tryijng to reconcile these contradictions and this process fuels change.  Ex - Equality and Indi freedon contradict each other. E only if you curb the freedon of those better off. IF creates unequality. Democrats - E society by raising tax - curbes freedom to spend own money. Republicans - I Freedom but encourages income divide and many will not be able to afford health care.

The Spy Satellite

Human culture is moving towards unity. Different human worlds are decreasing on earth. There in s nothing as authentic culture. Chllies are mexican but now famous in India etc. 

The GLobal Vision

Last few centuries the unification has increased . From a culture of Us and Them all were Us.  The first universal order to appear was economic the mo monetary order, 2- political - the imperial order, 3 - Religion. Merchants, prohets and conquerors were the first who managed to transcend the division of us and them.

10. The Scent of Money

How much is it ?

In villages there were no full time specializations for jobs as it were small and economies limited. But rise of cities and kingdoms and imprvement in transport infrastructure brought new oppertunities for specialisation. Densely populated cities provided full time - employment for all professions. But it created problem how do you manage the exchange of goods between the specialists ? An economy of favours and obligations does not work when large numbers of strangers try to cooperate.There is limitation to barter system. Everyday the shoemaker and apple grower have to learn a new the relative price of dozen of commodities. Some socities tried to solve this by establishing a central barter system - but failed miserably. Hence many societies found a more easy way - they developed money.

Shells and Cigarettes

Money was created many times in many places. Its development required no technical breaktrhoughs - it was purely mental revolution. It invlved the creation of new inter-subjuctive reality that exist's in peoples shared imagination. Money is not coins and banknotes. Money is anything that people are willing to use in order to represent systematically the value of other things for the purpose of exchanging goods and services. In prisons cigarettes serve as money. In fact today coins and banknotes are rare form of money - $60 trillion total money, total sum of coins and banknotes $6 trillion remaining appear in our bank accounts on servers. Everyone wants money because everyone else wants money. Because money can convert, store and transport wealth easily and cheaply, it made a vital contribution to the appearance of complex commercial network and dynamic markets.

How does money work ?

Money is physhological construct and works by converting matter into mind. Trust is the raw material from which all types of money are minted. MOney is the most universal and most efficient system of mutual trust ever devised. What created this trust was a very complex and long-term network of political, social and economic relations. Why do we believer because ou neighbours believe in it, and why do they because we do. And we all believe bec our kings/govt believes in them and demands it in form of taxes. Bec priests believe in it. We accept the dolla payment bec we trust in god and the US sec of treasury. The crucial role of trust excplains why outr financial systems are so tightly bound with the political, social and ideological systems, why the fin crisises are so often triggered by political dev abd why free markets can rise or fall depending on the way traders feel on a particular morning. The real breakthrough happened when money was easier to store and transport - silver shekel. First coin struck arounf 640 BC by king of Lydia. Mark on the coin of king guarantees the coin's value - i king give my personal word that this metal disc contaisns exactly 5 gms of gold and if anyone dares to counterfiet the this coin, will be punished. Thats why counterfieting money has always been considered a much serious crime than other acts of deception. 

The Gospel of God

Once the trade connects the two different areas, the forces of supply demand tend to equalize the prices of transportable goods. (Prices of gold woule eventually stabilize between India and Other countries. Money is also the apogee of human tolerance. Money is more open minded than language, state laws, cultural codes, religious beliefs and social habits. Money is only trust system created by humans that can bridge almost any cultural gap and does not descriminate based on caste, religion, gender.

The Price of Money

Money has 2 univeral principles.- 1. Universal convertibility 2. Universal trust. Downside of 1. when everything is convertible and when trust depends on anonymous coins, it corrodes local traditions, intimate human relations and replace them with cold laws of demand and supply. 

Imperial Visions

What is an empire ?

1. Rule over a significant number of people. 2. Flixible borders and potentially unlimited appetite. Empires were one of the mail reasons for reduction in human diversity.

Evil Empires ?

The truth is that empire has been the world's most common form of political organisation for the last 2500 years. Also many imperial elites used the profits of conquest to finance not only armies and forts but also philosophy, art, justice and charity. 

It's for your own Good

The presemption to rule over the entire world for the benefit of all its inhabitants was startling. Evolution has made HS, like other social mammals, a xenophobic creature. Sapiens instinctively divide humanity into 2 parts, us and them. 

When They Become Us

Empires have played a decisive part in alagamating many small cultures into fewer big cultures. Ideas, people, goods and technology spread more easily within the borders of an empire that in a politically fragmented region. Standardisation was a boon to emperors.  The benefits were soemtime salient - law enforcement, urban planning, standardidization of weights and measures - and sometimes questionable - taxes, cosncriptions, emperor worship. The mandate of heaven was bestowed upon the emperor not in order to exploit the world, but in order to educate humanity. The imperial cycle - Stage - 1. A small group establishes a big empire 2. An imperial culture is forged 3. The imperial culture is adopted by the subject peoples. 4. The subject peoples demand equal status in the name of common imperial values. 5. The empires's founders lose their dominance 6. The imperial culture continues to flourish and develop. 

Good Guys and Bad guys in History

All the human cultures are at least in part the legacy of empires and imperial civilisation, and no academic or political surgery can cut out the imperial legacies without killing the patient. 

The New Global Empire

As the 21st century unfolds, nationalism is fast losing ground. More and more people believe that all of humankind is the legitimate source of political authority, rather than the members of a particular nationality, and that safeguarding human rights and protecting the interests of the entire human specis should be the guiding lights of politics. 

The Law of Religion

Today religion is often considered a source of discrimination, disagreement and disunion. Yet, in fact religion has been the third great unifier of humankind, alongside money and empires. Since all social orders and hierarchies are imagined, they are all fragile, and the larger the society the more fragile it is. The crucial historical role of religion has been to give superhuman ligiticimacy to these fragile structures. Religions assert that our laws are not the result of human caprice, but are ordained by absolute and supreme authority. Religion can this be defined as a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order. Religion hold that there is superhuman order, whihc is not produt of humans whims or agreements. In order to unite under its aegis a large expanse of territory inhabited by disparate groups of human beings, a religion must possess 2 further qualitues - 1. It must espouse a univeral superhuman order that is true always and everywhere. 2. It must insist on spreading this belief to everyone. In other words it must be universal and missionary. Ex - Islam, Buddhism. In fact, majority of ancient religions were local and exclusive. Universal and Miss R bagan to appear only in the 1st millenium BC and their emergance was one of the most important revolutions in history, and made a vital contribution to the unification of humankind. 

Silencing the Lambs

First religious effect of the AR was to tuen plants and animals from equal members of a spiritual round table into property. How to make sure that plants grow, animal breed healthy lambs - A leading theory about the origin of gods argues that gods gained importance bec they offered a solution to this problem. Much of the ancient mythology is in fact a legal contract in which humans promise everlasting devotion to gods in exchange for mastery over plants and animals. As long as people lived  their entire lives within limited territories most of their needs could be met by local gods. But once kingdoms and trade network expanded, people needed to contact entities whose power and authority encompassed an entie kingdom of an entire trade basin. The attempt to answert these led to appearance of polytheistic R - these R understood the world to be controlled by grouop of powerful gods, fertile god, rain god, war god. Yet the greatest impact of the risr of great gods was not on sheep or demons, but upon the status of HS. Animists thought that humans were just one of many creatures inhabitign the world. P, on other hand, increasingly saw the world as a reflection of relationship bw god and humans. Our prayers, deeds, sins, sacrifices determine the fate of the entire ecosystem. P thereby not only exalted the status of gods, but also that of humankind. Other members of the old animist system became extras in the great drama of man's relationship with the gods.

The Benefit of Idolatry

2k year of Monotheistic brainwashing have caused most westeners to see P as childish and ignorant idolatry. P does not neccessarily dispute the existance of single power or law governing the entire universe. In fact most P and even animist R recongnized such a supreme power that stands behind all the other gods, demons and holy rocks. Hindu - Atman. The fundamental difference between P and M is that - P believes that supreme power governign the world is devoid of interests and biases, and therefore it is unconcerned with the mundane desires, cares and worries of humans. The Greek did not waste any sacrifice on Fate and Hindus did not built any temple for Atman. But for Ganesha, Lakshmi etc. The devotees of P does not have any problem is accepting the existance of other gods. P is inhereanlty open minded, and rarely persecutes 'heretics'  and 'infedels'. P did not send missionaries to foreign lands to spread the worship of their Gods. Ex - Romans. The only god that the Romans long refused to tolerate was the M and evangelising god of the Christians. The Romans did not require the Chr to give up their faith but it did expect them to pay respect to the empire's protector gods and to the divinity of the empreror. This was seen as a declaration of political loyalty. When Ch vehemantly refused to do so, and went on to reject all attempts to compromise, the Romans reacted by executing what they understood to be politically subversive faction. And even this was done half-heartedly. In 300 yrs from the crucifixion of Ch to the conversion of Empreror Constantine, P roman empires initiated no more than 4 general persecutions of Christians - no more than few thousands. In contrast, over the course of the next 1500 yrs Ch slaughtered Ch by the mns to defend slightly different interpretations o fthe R of love snd compassion. The religious wars between the Catholics and Protestants that swept Europe in 16th -17th century- All those involved accepted Christ's divnity and His gospel of compassion and love. However they disagreed about the nature of love. P - Beleived that that the divine love is so great that God was incarnated in flesh and allowd hiself to be tirtured and cricified, thereby redeeeming the original sin and opening the gates of heaven to all those who professed faith in Him. C- maintianed that the faith while essential was not enough. To enter heaven, believers had to participate in church rituals and do good deeds. P refused to accept this as this belittles god's greatness and love. Whoever thinks that entry to heaven depends upon his or her own good deeds magnifies his own importance, and implies that the Christ's suffeing on the the cross and God's love for mankind is not enough. More C were killed by fellow C than P roman empires.

God Is One

With time some followers of P gods became so fond of their particular patron that they drifted away from the basic P insight. They began to believe that their God was the only G. and that he is the supremem power of universe. Yet at the same time they continued to view Him as possessing interests and bias, and believed that they could strike deals with him. The first M religion appeared in Egypt when Pharoah Akhtenaten declared that one of the minor dieties was the supreme power. P continued t give birth to M R but they remained marginal. Judaism - argued that supreme power of the universe has interest and biases, yet His chief interest is in tiny Jeweish nation and obscure land of Israel. J has little to offer other nations and throughout its existance has not been missionary. This stage is called the stage of 'local M'. The big breakthrough came with Ch. Their faith began as an esoteric Jewish sect that sought to convicne Jews that the Jesus of Nazareth was their long-awaited messiah. However one of sects leader Paul of Tarsus, reasoned that If He has botherred to incarnate himself in flesh and to die for salvation then this is something everyone should know about Jesus. It was thus necc to spread the good word - the gospel - about Jesus throughout the world. Paul's argument felt on fertile ground and widespread missionary activities began aimed at all humans. In one of history;s strangest twist, this esoteric Jeweish sect took over the mighty Roman Empire.  Islam too began as a small sect. Hence forth the M idea played a central role in world history. M believed that they are in the possession of the message of one and only one G, they have been compelled to discredit all other R. Today most people outside East Asia adhere to one M R or another, and global political orde ris built on M foundation. Yet there have been a chasm bw thelogical theories and historical realities. Most people have found it difficult to digest the M idea fully. They continue to divide the world into us and them. and continued to see the supreme power of the universe as too distant and alien for their mundane needs. C for ex developed its own pantheon of Saints, whose cults differed little from those of the P gods. The Ch saints did not merely resembles the old P gods, often they were these very same gods in disguise. 

The Battle of Good and Evil

P gave birth to not only P but also Dualistic ones. D espouse the existence of two opposing powers - good and evil. D explains that the entire universe is the battleground bw these 2 forces  and that everything that happens is the part of their struggle. Why there is evil ? Why suffering ? Why bad things happen to good people ? M cant explain it well. One explanantion is that this is G way of allowing for free will. But D explains it better as world is not only governe dby good forces but also evil. The evil does bad things. D drawback - it is unnerved by the Problem of Order. If good and bad battle for control then who enforces the laws of nature and why world is so orderly place where everything obeys the same law of physicc. M explains it better. M explains order but mystified by evil and D vice versa. There is only one logical way of solving this riddle - There is only one gos who create dthe universe and he is evil. But no body has stomach to such a belief. D- example Zorastrianism. Nevertheless the rising tide of M did not really wipe out the D. Jewish, Ch , Islam all believe in powerful evil forces - Satan who can act independently of god's will and wreck havoc. How can M beleive in D ? Logically impossible but humans have wonderful capacity to believe in contradictions. Countless Ch and Muslims have gone so far to suggest that even god needs our help in its struggle against Devil, which inspires - Jihad/Crusades. Another key D concept - Gnosticism and Manichaeanism - wa the sharp distinction bw body and spirit. Belief in Heaven and Hell is also D which finds to trace in old testament, which also never cliams that the soul continues to live after death of the body. In fact M is umbreall of all beliefs. It's called syncretism. 

The Law of Nature

The newcome R such as Jainism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism were characterised by their disregard for Gods. B that superhuman order governing the world is the product of natural laws rather than divine wills and whims. Gods were subject to the laws of nature no less than humans, animals and plants were. G had their niche in the system but could no more change the laws of nature. Central figure of B is not God but Gautam Buddha. - GB - The suffering is caused by the behaviour pattern's of one's own mind. G's insight was that no matter what the mind experiences, it usually reacts with craving, and craving always invlves dissatisfaction. There fore mind is always diddatisfied and restless. G found that there was a way to exit this vicious circle. If, when the mind experiences something pleasant or unpleasant, it simple understands things as they are, then there is no suffering. If you experience sadness without craving that the sadness grows away, you continue to feel sadness but do not suffer from it. There can actually be richness in the sadness. If you expericene joy without craving that the joy lingers and intensify, you continue to feel joy without losing your peace of mind. G developed a set of meditation techniques that train the mind to experience reality as it is, without craving. These practise train the mind to focus all its attention on the question 'what am i experiencing now' rather than on 'what would i be experiencing ?' its difficult to achieve this state of mind but not impossible. When flames of craving are extinguished, craving is replaces by a state of perfect contentment and serenity, known as nirvana. They expericne reality with utmost clarity, free of fantasies and delusion. They still encounter pain and suffering but no misery. A person who does not crave cannot suffer. Only way is to train mind to experience relaity as it is. The law is knows as Dharma. Belief in G is of minor importance to them.

The Worship of Man

The last 300 yrs are often depicted as an age of growing secularism, in which R have increasingly lost their importance. The modern age has witnessed the rise of many natural - law R - Communism, liberalism, capitalism, nationalism, nazism etc. They do not like to be called R but ideologies. Humanist R worship humanity. The supreme good is the good of HS. The most imp humanist sect is liberal humanism, which believes that humanity is a quality of individual humans, and the individual of I is therefore sacrosanct. Acc to liberals, the sacred nature of humanity resides within each and every individual HS. These commandments are collectively called human rights. But without recourse to eternal G and a creator G, it becomes difficult for liberals to explain what is so important about I sapiens. Another imp sect is socialist humanism. S believe that the humanity is collective rather than I. Species HS is sacred as whole. Acc to S inequality is the worst blasphemy against the sanctity of humans. It is revamped version of M convicetion that all sould are equal before G. Evolutionary humanish - Nazism-N believed that humankind is not something universal and eternal, but rather a mutable species that can eveolve and regenerate. Man can evolve to superhuman or subhuman. The main ambition of N was to protect humankind from degeneration and encourage its progressive evolution. N - Aryan race, the most advanced form of human race; degenerated- Jews, Roma, homo, mentally ill to be quarantied and exterminated. Aryan race had finesh Q - rationalism, beauty, integrity and diligence. Jews would adulterate human population if allowed to breed and marry N. Even western scholars from prestigious wester universities, using orthodox scientific methods, allegedly proved that white race was superior, more ethical and skilled than Africans and Indians. N fought liberal h, huam rights and communism bec they admired humanity and believd in great potential of human species. Survival of fittest. Scientists studying the inner workings of human organism have found no solu there. They increasingly argue that human behaviour is determined by hormones, genes, and synapses rather than free will - the same forces that govern the behaviour of chimps, wolves and ants. 

The Secret of Success

Commerce, empires and Universal R eventually brought very S on every continent into the global world we live in today. Why global society, why not other outcomes ? We dont know, but examination of 2 crucial characteristics of history can provide some clues

The Hindsight fallacy

Why did emperor Constantine chose Ch over all other R including Buddhism to follow, to avoid the civil war and unify the fargmanted empire. We cant say. Historians can describe how but cant why. Its an iron rule of history that what looks obvious in hindsight was far from obvious at the time. Had the Byantine army been abel to repel the initial onslaught, Islam would have remain an obscure cult. The conclusion disappoints people who assume history to be deterministic. To ack that history is not deterministic is to ack that it is just a coincidence that most people today believe in nationalism, communism and human rights. History/Politics is level 2 chaotic system-that reacts to the predictions made about it. Level 1 - Wheather - no impacr of prediction. 2. Outcome changes basen on prediction.  We study history to widen our horizon, to understand our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable, and consequanlty we have many oppertunities before us than we imagine.

2. Blind Clio

History's choices are not made for the benefit of humans. There is no proof that the human well being improves as history rolls along. There is no proof that Ch was a better choice. We lack objective scale to measure such benefits. Scholars see cultures as a kind of mental infection or parasite, with humans as unwitting host. Arms race also spread like virus from one country to another.

4. The Scientific Revolution

The Discovery of Ignorance

In the last 500 yrs, human population has increased 14 times, production 240 times, and energy consumption 115 fold. In 1945 the defining moment of the past 500 years, as the humans had the capacity of not only to change the course of t history but to end it too. 

Ignoramus

Our ancestors have put a grat deal of effort in understanding the rules that govern the natural world but modern science differs in from all previous traditions of knowledge in 3 critical ways - 

a. The willingness to admit ignorance - modern science is based on 'we dont know' - no idea, concept or theory is sacred or beyond challenge.

b. The criticality of observation and mathematics

c. The acquitions of new power - not content with only creating theories, but uses the thories to acquire new power and new techlnologies.

The scientific revolution has been above all a revolition of ignorance. The great discovery that launched the the Scientific Revolution was the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions. Ancient traditions of knowledge admitted only two kinds of ignorance - 1- am individual might be ignorant of something important and to obtain the neccessary information was to ask somebody wiser, there was no need to discover something that nobody yet knew. 2- An entire tradition might be ignorant of unimportant things - whatevve the great gods and wise peope did not tell was unimportant. Few people who tried to discover new things were marginalised or persecuted or founded a new traditions and argued that they knew everything there is to know Ex - Muhammad , conemned the fellow Arabs for living in the ignorance of divine truth. Yet M quickly began arguing that he knew everything and his followes began calling him 'the seals of prophets' henceforth there was no revelations beyond those given by M. Modern science openly admits collective ignorance regarding most imp questions. The willingness to admit ignorance has made Moders science more supple, dynamic and inquisitive than any previous tradiitons of knowledge. But every science itself has to rely on R and ideological beliefs to justify and finance its research. 

The Scientific Dogma

Earlier traiditons uses stories for theories, moder mathematics. In 1867 Issac Newton published the The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philisophy argubly the most important book in modern history - the greatness was in the ability to explaint the movement of all bodies in universe, from falling apples to shooting stars. Later relativity and quantum mechanics. Newton showed that book of nature is written in the language of mathematics. Some sholars tired who tried to reduce biology, economics and physchology to neat Newtonian equations have found it to be futile. But did not gave up on mathematics, a new branch of mathematics was developed to deal with more complex aspects of relaity -  statistics. Statistics is required to be studied everywhere.  Buddha, Jesus would have been bewildered if you'd told them that in order to understand the human mind and cures its illness you must first study statistics. 

Knowledge is Power

Most people have hard time digesting modern science bec its mathematical language is difficult for our minds to grasp, and its findings often contradict common sense. Sceince nevertheless enjoys immense prestige bec of the new power it gives us. Truth is a poort test of knowledge, the real test is utility. a theory that enables us to do new things constitutes knowledge. The world's military force initiaties, fund and steer a large part of humanities scientific research and technological deveopment. Today many Americans believe that the solution to terrorism is technological rather than political. Just give mn dollars to nano technology industrym they believe, and the US could send bionic spy-flies into every Afghan cave, these will pass vital information back to HQ. Allocate mn more to brain research, and every airport could be equipped with ulta-sophisticated FMRI scanners that could immediately recognize angry and heateful thoughts in brain. These tech development is rather recent phenomenon. Most empires did not rise due to tech advancements. Superior advantage lied in efficient organization, iron discipline and huge manpower reserve. The most important invention in the history of China was gunpowder. Only after 600 years did gunpowder became a decisive force . Why ? Bec none of the kings thought that new military technology can make them rich or powerful. Sceince, industry and militarytechnology intertwined only with the advent of capitalist system and the industrial revolution. 

The IDeal of Progress

Until scientific revolution most human cultures did not believe in progress. They thought golden age was in the past and the world was stagnant if not detoriarating. If even Buddha, Jesus, Mohd could not abolish famine, disease, poverty and war from the world, how could we expect to do so ? Many Faiths believed that a massiah will come someday and abolish all war, famine and even death. But the notion of humankind doing the same was worse than ludicrous. For modern science poverty, sickness tc were not inevitable fate of humankind but simply the fruits of ignorance. Its common wisdom that policies based on latest findings in agronomy, economics, medicine and sociology can eliminate poverty. There are 2 kinds of poverty - social and bolological. Social - beholds some people from oppertunities available to others. Social poverty can never be eradicated but biological poverty can be. 

The Gilgamesh Project

One of mankind's ostensible problems has been the problem of death itself. Before modern era, most religions and ideologies took it for granted that death was out inevitable fate. Moreover most faith turned death into the main source of meaning of life. These cfreeds taught people that theu must cpome to term with the death and pin their hopes on the afterlife, rather than seek to overcome death. Bext mids were busy finding meaning of life rather than trying to escape it. For modern men death is not an inevitable destiny but merely a technical problem. Our best minds are busy investigating the psychological, hormonal and genetic systems responsible for disease and old age. Nanotechnology experts are creating  a bionic immune system composed of mn of nano-robots, who would inhabit our bodies, open blok blood vessels, fight viruses and bacteria, eliminate cancerous cells and even reverse ageing.

The Sugar Daddy of Science

Science is a very expensive affair. Why did bn started flowing from the government and business coffers into labs and universities ? Most scientific studies are funded bec somebody believes that they can help attain some political, economic or rligious goal. Ex - 16th century kings and bankers funneled enormosu resorve into geographical expeditions rather than child psychology, bec this woudl enable them to conquer new lands and set up trade empires. 1940s - US and USSR funded nuclear physics bec that would enabe them to build nuclear weapons. Scientific research can flourish only in alliance with some religion or ideology. The ideology justifies the cost of research.

15. The Marriage of Sience and Empire

Truganini - the last Tasmanian. The SR and Modern imperialism were inseparable. MI funded lot of expeditions with not just sailors but lot of varied scientists. 

Why Europe ?

In 1775 Asia accounted for 85% of the world economy. The combined economy of India and China alone represernted 2/3 of global prduction,. In comparison Europe was economic dwarf. The global power shifted to Europe only bw 1750 - 1850 when europens humiliated the Asian powers in a series of war and conquered large part of Asia. Under the Europen ageis a new global order appeared and culture appeared. Today many would be fiercely anti-european in their rhetoric, but everyone on the planet views politics, economics, medicine, war and music through European ways. Chinese economy which could regain its global primacy, is built on European model of production and finance. How did European's managed to rule the entire world ? Europe's scientists are often given the credit. Its unquestionable that from 1850 onwards European domination rested to a large extent on the military-industrial-scientific complex and technological wizardy. Many scientists spent most of their time working on arms, medicines and machines for their imperial masters - built machine gun. Civilan technology was no less important - canned food for soldiers, railroads and steamships transported soldiers and arms while new medicines cured soldiers, saliors and locomotive engineers. These logistical advantages played a significant role in the European conquest of Africa than did machine guns. Why did it blossom in Europe and not in India, when all the technology was same till 1750. Why did other nations fail to quickly follow the technological advancements ? Afterall the technology was fairly simple. Because they lacked the values, myths, judicial apparatus and sociopolitical structure that took centuries to form and mature in the West and which coukd not be copied and internalised rapidly. The Chinese and Persian could not catch up quickly coz they thought and organised thei societies differently. The continent built up a unique potential from 1500-1850, whose importnce suddenly became obvious around 1850. The apparent equality of all nations till 1750 was a mirage. What potential did they develop ? 1. Modern Science 2. Capitalism. Europeans were used to thinking and behaving in a scientific and capitalist way even before they enjoyed any tech advantage.

The Mentality of Conquest

Modern science flourished thanks to European Empires, it obviously owes a huge debt to India, China,  Greece and Islam, yet its unique character began to shape only in the early modern period, hand in hand with the imperial expansion of Spain, Portugal, Britain, france, Russia and Netherlands. During early modern periods all nations were making scientific discoveries, but until the mid-twentieth century, the people who collated these myriad scientific discoveries, creating sceitific discipline in the process, were the ruling and intellectual elites of the global European empires. None other nations between 1500-1950 did produce anything that comes even close to Newtonian Physics. That does not mean there genes were different or unique.The key factor was that the plant seeking botanist and colony seeking naval officer shared a similar mindset. Both sceintists and conquerer began by admitting ignorance - they both said - 'i dont know whats out there'. Others conquered new lands in search for power and wealth in contradt the European imperialists set out to distant shores in the hope of obtaining new knowledge along with new territories. In the 18th and 19th century almost every important expedition that left Europe for distant lands had on board scientists that were not to fight but to make new scintific discoveries. Even Charles Darwin as a geologists went on Royal Navy ship Beagle and rest is history. 

Empty Maps

The modern 'explore and conquer' mentality is nicely illustrated by the development of world maps. Many cultures drew world maps, and obviuosly none of then knew the entire world but unfamiliar areas were simplyleft out or filled with imaginary monsters, the maps has no empty spaces. They gave the impression of a familiarity with the entire world. During 15-16 century, Europeans begand ot draw the world maps with lots of emplty spaces - a physhological and ideological breakthrough, a clear admission that Europeans were ignorant of the world. Ameria is named after Amerigo Vespucci and Italian sailor after a well renowned map maker mistooked him for finding the nation. The discovery of America was foundation event of Scientific Revolution. It taught E not only to favor present observation over past traditions, but to search for knowledge about flaura, fauna, language, culture, history at breakneck speed and old geographical books and ancient oral traditions were of litle help. E established the first truly gloabal empires and knitted together the first global trade network. E did not enjoy any outstanding tech edge but what made them exceptional was their unparalled and insataible ambition to explore and conquer. 

Invasion from Outer Space

Only in 20th centure did the E hegemony collapsed and non E adopted a truly global vision.

Rare Spiders and Forgotten Scripts

Modern Science was Empires were motivated by the restless feeling that somthing important awaited beyond the horizon - something they has better explore and master. When Muslims conquered India they did not bring along scientists, historians, anthropoligists, geologits. E deciphered the cuneiform script. This was the main script used throughout the MIddle East for close to 30k years.Without the efforts of modern Europeans imperialists such as Rawlinson, we would not have known much about the fate of ancient Middle Eastern empires. Another noted imperialists scholar was William Jones, he founded the Asiatic Society in India. He published surprising similarity between different languages such as Sanskrit, Greek and Latin (Mother). Jones surmised that all these languages must share a common origin, developing from a now-forgotten ancient ancestor. He was thus the first to identify what later came ti be called the Indo-European family of languages. The Europeans believed that in order to govern effectively they must know the language and culture of their subjects. Thanks to the work of such people - without such knowledge, it is unlikely that a ridiculously small number of Britons could have succeeded in governing, oppressing and exploting so many hundreds of mn of Indians for centuries. The Europeans did so many things that there are lot of examples to support whatever you want to say about them. Evil (spread death, oppression and injustice) or Good (new medicine, better economic situation, secutity). Science was also used by imperialists in more sinister ends - Biologists, anthropologists and even linguists provided scientific evidence proof that E were superior to all other races and consequently have right to rule over them. After William Jones argued that all the Indo-European languages descend from a single ancient language many scholars were eager to know who the speakers to this language were. The noticed thta the earliest Sanskrit speakers, who had invaded India from Central Asia more thn 3000 years ago, has called themselved Arya. Of Persian language - Airiia. Hennce the people who gave rise to both languages must have called themselves Aryans (founded the most magnificient Indian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires) Next British, French and German scholars wedded the linguistic theory with the Darwin's theory. Aryans were superior in all respect - tall, light-haired, blue-eued, hard working and super rational. They Invaded India and Persian, intermarried with local natives and losing their light complexion and blond hair along withrationality and diligence. Hence these civilisations declined but E Aryans managed to preserve their racial purity.

16. The Capitalist Creed

Money has been essential for both building empires and for promoting science. But is money the ultimate goal of these undertaking, or perhaps a dangerous necessity ? Money has founded and destroyed many kingdoms, opened new horizons and enslaved millions. moved the wheels of industry and drove hundredes towards extinction. Yet to understand moders exconomic history we need tp understand one single word 'growth'. For better ot wrose the modern economy has been growing. Banks are allowed to loan $10 for every dollar they actually possess, which means that 90% of all the money in our bank account is not covered in actual coin and notes. If all account holders suddenly demanded their money back, banks will collapse. It sounds like a great ponzi scheme but if its fraud then entire economy is fraud. The fact is its not an deception, but rather a tribute to the amazong abilities of human imagination. What enables the entire economy to survive and flourish is our trust in future. However before the modern era the money could convert and represent things that actually existed in the present, this made it real hard to fiance new enterprises. Humankind was trapped in this predicament for thousands of years, as a result economy remained frozen. The way out was discovered only in moder era wutht he special kind of money - Credit. Credit enables us to build the present at the expense of the future. If credit is such awesome why did nobody think of this earlier ? Bec people did not think that the future would be better than present. They generally believed that the times past has been better than their own times. To put that in economic terms,they believed that total amount of wealth was limited in not dwindling. Profits of one might increases but at the expense of other. Pie size was same and could be cut in different ways. That's why many cultures considered making bundles of money was sinful. Credit is the difference between today's pie and tomorrow's pie. In old times the crediut was small, short term and high interest rates.

A Growing Pie

 Then came the SR and the idea of progress. The idea of progress is built upon the notion that if we admit our ignorance and invest resources in research, things will improve. New research tech advancement, geogrpaphical disc etc. can increase the total sum of human production, trade and wealth. Adam Smith published in 1776 Wealth of Nations that more profit is better. Smith'c s claim that the selfish human urge to increase private profits is the basis for collective wealth in one of the most revolutionary ideas in human history - R not just from economic perspective, but even more from so from a moral and political perspective. He threw open the gates of heaven for rich. Bein rich meanth being moral. In the capitalist creed, the first and most sacred commandment is :'the profits of production must be reinvested in increasing production'. That's why capitalism is called capitalism. C distinguishes 'capital' from mere 'wealth'. Capital consists of money, goods and resources that are reinvested in production. C began as theory but it has become far more than just an economic doctrine. It now encompasses an ehic - a set of teaching about how people should behave, educate their children and even think. Its principle tenenat is that economic growth is the supreme good, because justice, freedom and even happiness depends upon the economic growth. Ask a capitalist how to solve the problem of Zimbabwe or Afghanistan. C has influence on development of modern science too. Everything depends on the people in the labs.New discoveries in the field of biotech or nanotech could create entire new industry.

Columbus Searches for an Investor

C played decisive role not only in the rise of modern science but also of European imperialism. And it was E imperialism that created the Capitalist Credit system in the first place. In the sociopolitical systems of China, India and Muslims world, credit played only a secondary role. Kings and Generals in palaces and forts tended to despise merchants and mercantile thinking. They cared little about the interests of bankers and investors and financed wars through taxes and plunder. In E the kings and generals adopted mercantile way of thinking, until merchants and bankers became the ruling elite. The E conquest of the world was financed through the credit rather than taxes and was directed by capitalists who wanted better return on their investment. Nobody wanted to pay taxes but wanted to invest. Chistopher Columbus reached many kings and countries for finance but no body helped except Queen Isabella and hit the jackpot. The magi circle of imperial C - Credit fiance new discoveries, disc led to colonies, colonies provided profits, profits built trust, trust translated into more credit. In order to reduce risk (since many ships did not come up with anything, or never came back) E turned to limited liability joint stock co. The Dutch overcame the Spanish rulers due to credit. D had rules - 1. Timely payment of loans 2. Judicial system enjoyed independence from imperial and protected private rights (enforced the payment of loans). The Missisippie bubble was history's most spectacular fianancial crisis. Frech R because of this many years later. East India company/may co hired armies for the battle in India and Indonesia and ruled over them. Later they were nationalised. 

17. The Wheels of Industry

Economic growth also requires energy and raw material, and these are finite. What will happen when they run out ? Humans have produced not only efficient ways of exploiting exisitng resources, but also completely new types of materials. Ex - Vehcile industry - made out of wood and iron, now has at its disposal and cornucopia of new-found materials such as plastics, fiber, Al, Titanium which our ancestors didnt even knew about. We call it Industrial Rev. In the previous era the bigger problem was that people did not know how to convert energy from one type to another. 

The Secret in the Kitchen

People did not paied attention to the pan lid when the water was boiling. Nobody saw the real potential. Invention of steam engines and hence forth people becamce obsessed with the idea that one could convert one type of energy into another, if we could just invent the right machine. Ex - Physicists relaized the energy stored in atoms and they imm started thinking how this energy could be tapped to make electricity, power submarines etc. Internal C engines. Electricity. 

An Ocean of Energy

The Ir has been a revolution in energy conversion. It has demonstarted that the there is no limit to the amount of energy at disposal, the only limit is set by our ignorance. Learning how to harness and convert energy solved many problems that slowed economic growth - the scarcity of raw material etc. Chemists discovered Al only in 1820s but the extraction from metal was very costly. For many decades it was costlier than gold. During 1st WW, Germany suffered from the severe shortage of saltpetre an essential ingredient for gunpowder and other explosives. The deposits were in Chile and India. Jewish chemist names Fritz Haber had discovered in 1980s process for making ammonia (subs for saltpetre) out of thin air. Germans invested in the technology and prepared Ammonia. Fritz Heral won Nobel in 1918 (also pioneered the usage of poisonous gas during war)

Life on the Conveyor Belt

Today we treat animals as living creatures that could feel pain and distress and instead treat them as machines. Ex -Hens, Pigs, Cows. Scientists have proved beyond reasonable doubt that the mammals and birds have a complex sensory and emotional make-up. They not only feel physical pain, but can also suffer from emotional distress. Basic lesson in evolutionary psychology - a need shaped in the wild continues to be felt subjectively even if it is no longer necc for survival and reproduction. The tragedy of Ind Agriculture is that it takes great care of the objective needs (food etc) neglecting subjective needs. Monkey Experiement - harlow's (mother monkey). Without the industrialization of agriculture the urban IR could never have taken place - there would have not not been enough hands and bran to staff factories and offices. For the first time supply outstrip demand. New Q who is going to buy this stuff ?

The Age of Shopping

a new kind of ethics appeared- consumerism. Most people throughout history remained under conditions of scarcity. Frugality was their watchword. But now F is a disease to be cured. Consumerism has worked very hard with the help of popular psychology (Just do it) to convince people that indulgence is good for you. Every year US spend more money on diet than the amount required to feed all hungry people in the rest of the world.

18. The Permanent Revolution

The IR opened up new ways to convert energy and liberated humans from the dependence on the surrounding eco system. Rather than resource scarcity the ecological degradation is severe. The ecological turmoil might endanger the survival of HS itself. Global warming, rising oceans and widespread pollution could make the earth less hospitable to our kind. Many call this distrcution of nature but actually is change. Rats and cockroaches are in their haydays, in case of nuclear armagaddon, they will will creep from beneath the rubble and spread their DNA. Perhaps 65 mn years from now, intelligent rats will look back gratefuly on the decimated wrought by humankind, just as we today can thank to that dinosaur-busting asteroid.

Modern Times

The IR turned the timetable and the assembly line into a template for almost all human activities. Before that the sun, seasonal cycle of plants  were the natural time. Shortly after factories imposed their time frames on human behaviour, so did schools too adopted the same, followed by hospitals, governements offices and grocery stores. A crucial link in the spreading the timetable system was public transportation. In 1880s the British gvt legislated that all timetables must follow the Greenwich. Before there were local times of Manchester, liverpool etc. First time in history, a country adopted a national time and obliged its population to live according to an artificial clock rather than local ones or sunrise-to-sunset cycle. IR bought many upheavals in human society including adopting timetable - urbanisation, dissappearance of peasantry, rise of industrial proletariat, empowerment of common perspon, democratisation etc. Yet all thesea re dwarfed by most momentous revolution tht ever befell humankind - the collapse of the family and the local community anf their replacement by the state and market. During CR, AR Families and comm remained the basic building blocks of all human societies but within little more than 2 centuries IR has managed to break these blocks and handed them over to the states and markets.

The Collapse of the Family and the Community

Prior ot the IR the daily life of the most humans ran its course within 2 frames - the nuclear family, extanded family and the local intimate community. The state did not interfere in the community or famly matters. Most rulers did not develop mass welfare schemes such as health care or education. Community and family took care of these. Kingdom only collected taxes and provided protection against any other tribe attack. The kimgs or pashas did not intervene in the community clashes as long as violence remained within acceptable limits. Life in the bosom of family and community was far from ideal -they would oppress their members no less than modern states. A person who lost her family was as good as dead. She would get no support in time of sickness, job, money. The only alternative was to quickly find a family or community. Boys and girls who ran away from their homes could expect at best to become servants in some new family. At worst, there was the army or the brothel. All this changed dramatically over the last 2 centuries. Over time, states used and markets used their growing power to weaken the traditional bonds of family and community. The state sent its policemen to stop family vendettas and replace them with court decisions. The state and market approached people with an offer that could not be refused. 'Become individual' they said. Marry whomever you liked w/o asking permission from your parents, take whatever job suits you, even if community elder frown at it. Live whereever you like. You are no longer dependent on your family or your community. We, the state and market will take care of you instead. Will provide food, shelter, education, health, welfare and employment. The state and market at the father and mother of an individual. Ex- Schools, banks, construction company, police etc. The court sees us as an individual and never punishes us for the crimes of our cousins which was not case earlier. But it comes at the cost many of us feel loss of strong families and communities feel alienated.

Imagined Communities

Like nuclear family state must provide the material needs and emotional needs. Markets and States do so by fostering 'imagined communities' - a comunity of people who don't really know each other but imagine they do. The two most important examples of the rise of such imagined communities are the nation and the comsumer tribe. Consumerism and nationalism work extra hard to make us believe that mn of strangers belong to the same community as ourselves, that we all have common past, interests and futures. Mn gets excited seeing their national flag etc.  and are ready to sacrifice money, time and limbs for the nation. Madonna fans, ManU fans etc.

Perprtuum Mobile

Pre moders focus was to bring the old order of golden age but modern about destroy the old and build a better place. The late modern era has seen unprecendented levels of violence and horror but also of peace and tranquility.

Peace In Our Time

Most people dont appreciate just how peaceful an era we live in. None of us were alive as thousand years ago, so we easily forget how violent the world used to be. In yr 2000, 1.5% died due to violent crimes, 2.25% in car accident, and 1.45% committed suicide. So more chances of killing ourselves than being killed. The decline in violence is largely due to rise of the state. Throughout history most violence resulted from local feuds bw families and communities.

Imperial Retirement

No body can deny that international violence has dropped to an all time low. Britishers handed over the reigns peacefully of India. Once communists in Sovier realized they were bankrupt they went home peacefully.

Pax Atomica

The independent states that came after the empires were remarkably less interested in war. Such conquests had been the bread and butter of political history since time immemorial. Real peace if not absence of war, but implausibility of war. There are several contributing factors such as - 1. Price for the war has gone up dramatically. The Nobel Peace Prize should go to Robert Oppenheimer for creating nuclear bombs and making it impossible to seek world dominance through arms. 2. Profits have declined as there are no material things to loot. Today wealth is mainly human capital and organisational know-how. 3. Tectonic shift in the political culture. No one wants war. It has become a global empire. Where are we hading is a metter of timing.

19. And They Lived Happily Ever After

Despite the SR and IR, are we happy ? If not, then what was the point of developing  agriculture, cities, writing etc. It is also wrong to consider only the happiness of humans but also other beings.

Counting Happiness

If happiness is determined by expectations, then mass media and advertising industry may unwittingly be depleting the globe's reservoir of contentment.

Chemical Happiness

Some scholars compare human biochemistry to an air-conditioning system that keeps the temprature constant, come heat wave or snowstorm.

The Meaning of LIfe

Know Thyself

New age culture - happiness does not depend on the external conditions. It depends only on what we feel inside. People should stop pursuing external achievements and connect instead with their inner feelings. Buddha's recommnedation was to stop not only the pursuit of external achievements, but also the pursuit of inner feelings.

20. The End of HS

The dawn of 21st century, HS are breaking the law of natural selection, replacing them with intelligent design. The first crack in regime appeared about 10k years ago when people realized if they mate the fattest hen with the slowest cock some of their offspring would be both fat and slow. The replacement of natural selection by intelligent design could happen in 3 ways - biological engg, cyborg engg, or the engg of in-organic life.

Of Mice and Men

The Return of Neanderthals

Neanderthal Genome Project. Why stop at just N. Why not go back to God's drawing board and design a better Sapien ? If genetic engg can create intelligent mice then why not humans.

Bionic Life

Cyborg Engg - Cyborgs are beings which combine organic and inorganic parts, such as human with bionic hands.

Another Life

Virus which can exist on its own.The Human Brain Project.

The Singularity

The Frankenstein Prophecy

What do we want to become ?or What do we want to want ?

Afterword

Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods who dont know what they want ?