No More Monkey Buisness

The Cognitive and Agricultural Revolutions were two of the most profound developments in human history and led to the development of what has become modern human culture. The Cognitive Revolution occurred 70,000 years ago when human culture began to evolve and become more complex. The discovery of fire led to the idea of cooking the gathered food over its heat changing its chemical bonds and making it easier to digest allowing the body to use less energy to consume it. This allowed the brain to grow in size and cognition ability eventually leading to complicated languages, social hierarchy’s, government, relationships, technology and everything you see in human culture today. The Agricultural Revolution took place 12,000 years ago when humans stopped foraging and hunting in favor of settling down and farming crops and livestock. The agricultural lifestyle completely shifted the way humans ate and lived. No longer did they enjoy a diverse and balanced meal but rather relied heavily on the crops such as wheat, rice and corn that humans had domesticated or as Harari suggests domesticated humans. This new source of food led to humans creating settled communities that produced food in bulk to store for tough years and led to humans having new roles in their communities. The Agricultural Revolution sped up the process of environmental destruction but also gave way to the development of modern culture so it is fair to say that it can be viewed in many different ways.

Harari believes that the human invention of myths are to blame for why humans have become so power hungry and looking to be dominant. He shares that in order for there to be order and control the people must really believe that there are real reasons that life is the way it is. For centuries peasants would give money and labor to religious or political organizations because they believed it was the right thing to do and that it was even something they must do. In my opinion of his argument I find he makes a good case that these human created belief systems played a role in the creation of the social orders that we have had for thousands of years. Religion and politics are both somewhat dividing aspects of human culture that can lead to violence and war. People are only willing to fight for their faith, country or party because they believe in these ideas so deeply that it is worth the possibility of injury or even death. People are tribal by instinct and will always find certain groups they embrace and have passion for. These mythological ideas that are human created such as christianity, capitalism and democracy have led to people devoting their lives to these ideas and that shows just how much power these ideas have.