Though it might be oversimplification, maybe even the Schoolhouse Rock version of modern civilization, it really all boils down to numbers. As Sapiens were able to increase their numbers, centralize community, and work towards a common goal, they were able to literally take over the world. The Cognitive revolution allowed Sapiens 2 main advantages, advanced language for better communication and the ability to create shared mythology. (Harari, pp. 31-37). In combo, these 2 elements allowed the Sapiens to organize into larger groups, coordinate and communicate shared strategies, and achieve common goals; thereby overwhelming anything that stood in their way. The Agricultural Revolution allowed the Sapiens to feed the growing numbers in the growing communities. It also allowed them to settle in one place, there by establishing infrastructure, both physical and societal in which this growth could happen. (Harari, pp. 84-87)
Harari’s take on imagined orders and the role they played in the development of civilization was especially interesting. By creating imaginary order, around with we can coalesce, Harari makes the argument societal groups are cemented together. Whether it’s law, religion, or documents such as the Declaration of Independence, these myths are the rope that bind a society together (Harari, p. 105). From the beginning of the Sapien’s rise until present day history, there have been those who use these constructs to not only advance the civilization, but to in reality advance themselves. The myths, the language and the agriculture may have facilitated the dominance of the Sapien, but it was the quest for power and control of those who put these constructs into place and encouraged the masses to fall into line that was the driving engine that built civilizations. The tools may have changed allowing “modern” man to excel at unprecedented levels, but the motivation behind those tools is the same that drove the establishment of the earliest small bands of ‘man’, power and control.