9 Key Takeaways From Sapiens by Yuval Harari

Last Updated on September 26, 2024 by The Unbounded Thinker

‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,’ by Yuval Harari, delves deep into our past, navigating the factors that have shaped our species into what it is today. In the book, Yuval Harari discusses several topics, including the lifestyle of ancient humans to the dawn of capitalism, as he attempts to discover why we embrace certain behaviors.

Recently, I shared the most enlightening quotes from the book. Here, I’ll share 9 main topics or lessons of the book.

Lesson 1. Trade Cannot Exist Without Trust

Ancient trade only occurred after strangers established trust. Today, international trade is only possible because we trust banks and fictitious entities such as the dollar.

Lesson 2. We Were Hardwired to Eat Large Quantities of High-Calorie Foods

Today, we wonder why we love high-calorie foods even though we know that they are harmful to our health. Yuval Harari reveals that we do so because ancient humans were hardwired to eat large quantities of high-calorie foods because these foods were scarce in the ancient world. In the book, he shares an example of an ancient woman who stumbles upon a fig tree and eats as many figs as possible, knowing that she might not eat a single fig if a troop of baboons finds the tree.

Lesson 3. The Pursuit of an Easier Life Always Results in Hardships

Ancient humans experienced many hardships when they left a nomadic life for an easy agricultural life. This agricultural life led to the spread of many diseases due to man’s closeness to animals. It also increased child mortality because it resulted in overpopulation.

Today, people take demanding jobs, believing that they’ll have an easy life because they’ll work hard and retire in their mid-30s. However, by the time they are 35, they realize that they can’t leave their jobs because they must afford their lifestyle. For this reason, they keep slaving away.

Lesson 4. Most of us Think in a Way that was Forced on Our Ancestors

Today, many people across the world believe in principles such as human rights, nationalism, and liberalism because these ideas were forced on their ancestors during colonialism. These ideas are not necessarily right because they came from people who imagined them and forced them on our great-grandparents to create a structured culture.

Lesson 5. The Mind is Always Dissatisfied and Restless

When you have a painful experience, your mind will want the pain to go away. When you have a pleasurable experience, the mind will still be dissatisfied and restless because it will want the pleasure to linger or intensify.

Lesson 6. The Importance of Studying History

Studying history enables us to realize that the world’s present situation was avoidable and man-made. For instance, studying colonization enables us to realize that the current situation in Africa was man-made and avoidable. This situation could have been different if Africa was not colonized.

Lesson 7. The Value of Admitting That You Don’t Know

If you admit that you don’t know anything about a particular topic, you’ll gain new knowledge because you’ll have to conduct further research and think deeply about it. By the way, scientific knowledge came into existence when human beings realized that they knew nothing. This willingness to accept ignorance resulted in the search for knowledge through experiments, leading to the birth of science.

Lesson 8. There is a Direct Relationship Between Modern Science and European Imperialism

Unlike other imperialists who mainly conquered new lands to acquire power and wealth, Europe conquered nations to acquire knowledge and territories. European imperialists were always eager to discover something they did not know. For instance, when Napoleon invaded Egypt, he took hundreds of researchers to study Egypt and its people. This approach enabled Europe to make important contributions to modern science.

Lesson 9. More Money Only Brings Happiness to the Poor

A poor person will experience a significant and long-term surge in their subjective well-being if they suddenly win $500,000 in the lottery because they will be able to comfortably provide for their family. Conversely, if a rich man wins $1,000,000, their surge in their subjective well-being will be short-term because they’ll purchase items that they will quickly get used to.