According to Harari, the state and market started to take over the spotlight during the Industrial Revolution. During the Cognitive and Agricultural Revolution, family relationships were strong and local communities were dedicated to the success of one another. During the Industrial Revolution, that shifted to individual success becoming more dependent on technology and inventions rather than familial support and success. With this movement, the state and market began to take lead. A major factor in this power shift came from state and market utilizing “imagined communities” to replace the literal family and community support (Harari 362). This idea brought people together, thinking they had the support of thousands or even millions of people supporting them, just like their family once had. Religion was a popular method of “imagined community.” State and market are not always agreeable with the individual but as time goes on, individual strength is shifting away from a familial foundation.
Moving forward to the success or fall of Homo sapiens, historians will, or at least should, play and active role. I believe historians should not only make sure we don’t make the same mistakes we have in the past, but also play Devil’s Advocate in recognizing that at the time of mistakes in the past, we didn’t realize they were actually mistakes. People of tomorrow could look at something totally differently than today, just like we already do about certain historical events. Anyways, historians should play a guiding role going forward on major societal shifting decisions. They should make sure the concentration is not always on the scientific progress, but also the social. Today, science can easily be made the center of attention but it shouldn’t be forgotten that many issues could be more effectively solved on the social side.