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A Brief History of Humanity Mind Map Notes
"A Brief History of Humankind: From Animals to God" is the representative work of the emerging Israeli historian Yuval Harari. It writes the history of human development from the beginning of signs of life one hundred thousand years ago to the intertwining of capital and technology in the 21st century. It combines science and technology. History is woven together to illustrate the development of Homo sapiens on Earth from a completely new perspective.
Edited at 2022-04-05 17:15:04- One Hundred Years of Solitude Character Relationship Chart
One Hundred Years of Solitude is the masterpiece of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Reading this book begins with making sense of the characters' relationships, which are centered on the Buendía family and tells the story of the family's prosperity and decline, internal relationships and political struggles, self-mixing and rebirth over the course of a hundred years.
- One Hundred Years of Solitude Character Relationship Chart
One Hundred Years of Solitude is the masterpiece of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Reading this book begins with making sense of the characters' relationships, which are centered on the Buendía family and tells the story of the family's prosperity and decline, internal relationships and political struggles, self-mixing and rebirth over the course of a hundred years.
- Project Management Process Template
Project management is the process of applying specialized knowledge, skills, tools, and methods to project activities so that the project can achieve or exceed the set needs and expectations within the constraints of limited resources. This diagram provides a comprehensive overview of the 8 components of the project management process and can be used as a generic template for direct application.
A Brief History of Humanity Mind Map Notes
- One Hundred Years of Solitude Character Relationship Chart
One Hundred Years of Solitude is the masterpiece of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Reading this book begins with making sense of the characters' relationships, which are centered on the Buendía family and tells the story of the family's prosperity and decline, internal relationships and political struggles, self-mixing and rebirth over the course of a hundred years.
- One Hundred Years of Solitude Character Relationship Chart
One Hundred Years of Solitude is the masterpiece of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Reading this book begins with making sense of the characters' relationships, which are centered on the Buendía family and tells the story of the family's prosperity and decline, internal relationships and political struggles, self-mixing and rebirth over the course of a hundred years.
- Project Management Process Template
Project management is the process of applying specialized knowledge, skills, tools, and methods to project activities so that the project can achieve or exceed the set needs and expectations within the constraints of limited resources. This diagram provides a comprehensive overview of the 8 components of the project management process and can be used as a generic template for direct application.
- Recommended to you
- Outline
Part One The Cognitive Revolution
Chapter 1 Human: An animal with nothing special about it
Secret family history
About 2.5 million years ago, East Africa, Australopithecus
About 2 million to 10,000 years ago
Europe and Western Asia, Neanderthals
East Asia, Homo erectus (the oldest known human species)
Java, Indonesia, Solo people
Flores, Indonesia, Homo floresiensis (a dwarf man less than 1 meter tall)
Siberia, Denisovans
East Africa, Homo Rudolfus, Homo sapiens, Homo sapiens (ourselves)
In the past, human families were large, and it was normal for multiple races to coexist. Now we are the only ones left, Homo sapiens.
The cost of "thinking"
The human brain is significantly larger than other animals, and a huge brain is also a huge burden
Spend more time looking for food
Muscle degeneration and atrophy
chef's race
About 800,000 to 300,000 years ago, humans learned to use fire
Invent cooking techniques
Controlling an infinite force of nature for the first time
brother's keeper
Hybrid breeding theory, substitution theory
About 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens expanded from East Africa and swept across the Eurasian continent
Hybrid reproduction theory: Homo sapiens and other human species interbreed and merge into one
Alternative theory: Homo sapiens and other human species are incompatible with each other, causing genocide, and Homo sapiens eventually wins
Which of the two theories is correct will have a great impact on the subsequent inferences.
Chapter 2 The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
cognitive revolution
About 70,000 to 30,000 years ago, a cognitive revolution occurred in Homo sapiens
The generally accepted theory is that an accidental genetic mutation changed the way the brains of Homo sapiens are connected, bringing about unprecedented ways of thinking and communication language, laying the foundation for Homo sapiens to conquer the world.
The legend of iconic cars
The maximum number that a human group can maintain is about 150 people. Beyond this number, most people cannot truly understand and gossip about the lives of all members.
To break this boundary, the secret lies in the fictional stories of imagination
nation
religion
City
law
enterprise
Peugeot Automobile Company is a collective imagination and a legal fiction of "Limited Company"
A fast path around the genome
The fictional story allowed Homo sapiens to start a fast path to adopt "cultural evolution" instead of staying at "genetic evolution". Homo sapiens quickly left behind other human and animal species.
history and biology
The cognitive revolution is the starting point for history to separate from biology and exist independently
The relationship between biology and history
Biology sets basic limits on the behavior and abilities of Homo sapiens and defines a scope of activity within which all history occurs.
This range is very large, allowing Homo sapiens to have all kinds of amazing room for expression and the ability to create fictional stories.
To understand the behavior of Homo sapiens, we must describe the historical evolution of human behavior
Chapter 3 A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve
If you want to understand human nature, history and psychology, you need to understand what ancient hunting and gathering societies looked like
primitive affluent society
Pre-agricultural foragers had a healthy and diverse diet, relatively short working hours, and few infectious diseases. Experts define this as the "original affluent society."
talking ghost
Most scholars agree that ancient foragers generally believed in pantheistic beliefs
Pantheism believes that almost any place, any animal, any plant, or any natural phenomenon has its own consciousness and emotions, and can communicate directly with humans
Peace or war?
There are two schools of thought on the role of "war" in forager society.
Some scholars believe that war and violence did not begin until after the Agricultural Revolution, when people began to accumulate private property.
Some scholars believe that as early as the ancient gathering era, there were already various cruel and violent things
Both schools of thought are just castles in the air.
curtain of silence
The curtain of silence covers tens of thousands of years of history. Without the development of new research tools, we may never understand the history of ancient gathering societies.
Chapter 4 The devastating flood
Convicted
Homo sapiens first reached Australia about 45,000 years ago
Bringing an ecological catastrophe and the extinction of megafauna
The extinction of ground sloths
About 16,000 years ago, Homo sapiens arrived in the Americas on foot
Another greater ecological disaster, the extinction of large mammals
Noah's Ark
The First Wave of Extinction: Expansion by Foragers
The second wave of extinction: from the expansion of farmers
The third wave of extinction: from industrial activity
The only people left on Noah's Ark were humans and the poultry and livestock that served as delicacies on the dinner plate.
Part 2 The Agricultural Revolution
Chapter 5 The biggest scam in history
agricultural revolution
From about 9500 BC to 3500 BC, humans began a wave of domestication of animals and plants, known in history as the Agricultural Revolution.
Humans think they have domesticated plants, but in fact it is plants that have domesticated Homo sapiens. They manipulate Homo sapiens and use them for their own purposes.
The history of the spread of wheat is a typical example
The pitfalls of luxury living
The Agricultural Revolution made humans dependent on cereals for a living, requiring humans to spend more time working
Human beings want to pursue a more relaxed life, but end up becoming busier and more anxious
divine intervention
Southeastern Türkiye, Göbekli Tepe
Built by hunter-gatherers around 9500 BC
Domesticated wheat found in the Krakada Mountains near the stone circle
Two inferences: 1. Wheat was grown to support the construction and operation of some kind of temple; 2. A belief center was first established, and then a village was formed around it.
victims of revolution
The evolutionary perspective is not the only criterion for judging the success of a species. The evolutionary success of a species does not represent the happiness of an individual.
Chapter 6 Building the Pyramid
The coming of the future
After the Agricultural Revolution, the importance of “the future” was raised to an all-time high
The pressures brought about by agriculture were far-reaching and were the basis for large-scale political and social institutions in subsequent generations.
order constructed by imagination
All human cooperation networks are based on people believing in common fictional myths
The Code of Hammurabi, the ancient Babylonian cooperation manual, circa 1776 BC
The 1776 U.S. Declaration of Independence, a cooperative handbook for modern Americans
The principles of justice that are universally applicable and never change exist only in fictional stories.
true believer
Want to maintain the order constructed by imagination
Must continue to invest a lot of effort
Incorporate elements of violence and coercion
some true believers
prison wall
How can people believe in these orders?
First, external statements must be insisted that they are absolutely true and not fiction.
Second, the same set of principles must be thoroughly implemented in education
Three major reasons that prevent humans from discovering that order is actually imagination
The order constructed by imagination is deeply integrated with the real world
The order constructed by imagination shapes our desires
The order constructed by imagination exists in the connection of thoughts between people
It is impossible for human beings to break away from the order constructed by imagination
Chapter 7 Memory Overload
The brain is not a very good storage device
The brain has limited capacity
Human beings are bound to die, and the brain dies with it
Most importantly, the human brain has evolved to store and process only certain types of information.
Limitations of the human brain limit the scale and degree of human cooperation
Signed off by Cushing
Between 3500 BC and 3000 BC, the Sumerians invented "writing"
The first text in human history: financial documents
The Quizo language reached its peak during the Inca Empire and was later completely abandoned by the Spanish ruling forces.
The miracle of bureaucracy
Between 3000 BC and 2500 BC, complete ideographic writing was formed, including cuneiform and hieroglyphics.
Writing has changed the way human beings think and view the world. The free connection and holistic thinking in the past have transformed into divided thinking and bureaucratic system (written records → complex data → retrieval system → professionals → thinking training)
the language of numbers
Arabic numerals, an important language in the world
Another more revolutionary writing system: binary programming language
Chapter 8 There is no justice in history
The imaginary order behind human cooperation networks is neither neutral nor fair, with both hierarchical distinctions and class classifications.
vicious circle
The Indian caste system and related concepts of "cleanliness" are deeply embedded in Indian culture
The American Concept of “Cleanness”
American slave trade, rigid social system
Accidental historical events → White people control black people → Racial discrimination laws → Black people are generally poor and lack education → Cultural prejudice
him and her
What is the difference between men and women, what is truly biologically different, and what is just human pretentiousness and self-made excuses? A golden rule is "nature brings permission, culture creates closure"
sex and gender
Sex, biology concept
Male: X chromosome Y chromosome; Female: X chromosome X chromosome
gender, cultural concept
"Man" or "woman" refers to sociological rather than biological concepts
To say that someone is "man enough" or "feminine enough" is about being able to find a position in the society that conforms to the imagined order.
What's so good about being a man?
A common phenomenon, patriarchy is the norm in almost all agricultural and industrial societies
muscle theory
Men control food production with greater strength than women, which translates into political influence
The problem with this theory is that for humans as a whole, physical strength and social rights are not directly related, or even inversely proportional.
gangster theory
Men's dominance is not based on strength, but on aggressive personality, relying on war and resources to control society.
In fact, military leaders often win wars not because they are belligerent, but because they have both ability and political integrity and are able to keep both internal and external affairs in check.
paternal gene theory
During millions of years of evolution, men and women have developed different survival and reproduction strategies. Men’s genetic tendency is to be ambitious and competitive, while women’s genetic tendency is to seek good fortune, avoid disaster, and raise children.
Matriarchal society proves that this theory is not correct
Part Three: The Integration and Unification of Humanity
Chapter 9 The Direction of History
With the altitude of a spy satellite...
Observing the general direction of history, it is only temporary that the long-lasting unity will inevitably separate, and the long-lasting division will inevitably unite is the unchanging general trend.
global vision
Three possible orders to achieve the concept of one world
economic monetary order
political imperial order
global religions
Chapter 10 The Taste of Money
How to calculate this?
From specialized division of labor to the invention of the concept of “money”
shells and cigarettes
The concept of money refers to the value that humans are willing to use and can systematically represent the value of other items as an exchange for goods or services.
How money works?
Money is the most common and effective mutual trust system in history. Behind this trust is a very complex and long-term political, social and economic network.
golden gospel
The money system based on gold and silver spread to every corner of the world
price of money
Two Principles of the Money System
1. Everything is replaceable
2. Believed by all
Two principles that both promote cooperation among strangers and undermine human values and intimacy
Chapter 11 The Vision of Empire
What exactly is an empire?
Two important characteristics of an empire
The empire must rule over many different peoples, each with different cultural identities and independent territories
The territory of the empire can be flexibly adjusted and expanded almost infinitely
Empires were one of the main causes of the dramatic reduction in ethnic diversity
Evil empire?
criticism of empire
The imperial system just doesn’t work. It’s hard to conquer different peoples and rule efficiently.
Even if it can be ruled effectively, it is immoral. Empires are evil engines of all kinds of destruction and exploitation.
The first criticism is completely unreasonable, and the second criticism is also full of problems
Comments on the Empire
Bad: war, slavery, deportation and genocide
Good: The empire's political system is stable, its society is prosperous, and its culture is prosperous
This is for your own good
The idea of a unified empire
Around 2250 BC, the Akkadian Empire was established by Sargon the Great, the earliest empire with accurate data.
Around 550 BC, in the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great claimed to rule the entire world for the welfare of all mankind.
In China, the monarchy is granted by God. Ever since Qin Shihuang completed the first great cause of unification, the idea of unification has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
When "them" becomes "us"
Reasons why empires actively spread common culture
Standardization makes it easier for empires to rule
Strengthen the legitimacy of imperial rule
imperial civilization
For the empire, too many cultures were absorbed from the conquered peoples and a hybrid civilization was formed. The idea of the empire often lies in universality and tolerance. The ruling elite of the empire easily accepts different concepts, norms and traditions.
For the conquered people, being in the cultural melting pot of the empire, cultural assimilation is not necessarily easy. The process of assimilation is often painful and traumatic.
China's imperial plans were implemented more successfully and thoroughly
good guys and bad guys in history
History cannot be simply divided into good people and bad people.
The British brutally persecuted the Indians, but they also unified the complex political entities of the Indian continent and established a common national consciousness.
A new global empire
In the future, it is very likely that all humans will live under a single empire. This will be a truly global empire.
Nationalism is rapidly losing ground
Global environmental problems need to be solved
National independence is rapidly disappearing
Unifying the world is probably not far away from us
Chapter 12 The Laws of Religion
Religion is the third force that unifies mankind besides money and empire. Religion is a system of human norms and values, based on a superhuman order.
make the lamb silent
The Agricultural Revolution Begins, the Religious Revolution Follows
The original religious significance of the Agricultural Revolution was to transform animals and plants from beings equal to humans to belongings of humans.
The status of pantheism gradually decreased, and polytheistic beliefs emerged. Polytheism improved the status of gods and humans.
Benefits of Idol Worship
Polytheism is inherently enlightened, and pagans are rarely persecuted.
Polytheism believes that the highest power that dominates the world does not have any selfish motives or prejudices, and is indifferent to human worldly desires, worries and worries.
Christian persecution
The war between Catholics and Protestants that swept Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries was just a matter of disagreement over the nature of "love"
God is the only one
Spread of monotheistic religions
Christianity
After taking over the ancient Roman Empire, Paul believed that the "gospel" of Jesus should be spread to all parts of the world so that all mankind can understand it.
Islam
Conquered a vast empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to India
Monotheists are more fanatical and missionary than polytheists
Thinking that they believe in the only God and that only they can see the complete truth
Nowadays, most people outside East Asia belong to monotheistic religions regardless of their faith. The global political order is also established on the basis of monotheism.
The battle between good and evil
Dualist religion: the belief in the existence of two opposing forces, good and evil.
Dualistic religion solves monotheism’s “dilemma of evil”
The gap in the dualistic view is the "law problem", which can be easily solved by monotheism
Dualism holds that a good god created the spirit and soul, and an evil god created matter and the body
Monotheism is a kaleidoscope, inheriting monotheism, dualism, polytheism, and pantheism, all contained in the same sacred discourse
Christianity generally believes in a monotheistic God, a dualistic devil, a polytheistic saint, and a pantheistic ghost.
That is, "comprehensive photography"
laws of nature
type of religion
Belief in supernatural gods: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Manichaeism, etc.
Belief in natural laws: Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism, cynicism, etc.
Buddhism
About 500 BC, Sakyamuni founded Buddhism
Hope to find a way out of all pain
Buddha's teachings: Pain comes from desire; to be free from pain, you must let go of desire; and to let go of desire, you must train your mind and experience the nature of things
When the object of worship becomes a human being
Theistic religions focus on the worship of God; humanistic religions focus on the worship of Homo sapiens
basic beliefs of humanism
Homo sapiens has a unique and divine essence that is fundamentally different from other living things. The so-called "highest good" refers to what is good for humanity as a whole.
Humanists all worship human nature and are roughly divided into three sects based on different definitions of human nature.
liberal humanism
"Human nature" is a personal concept that exists in the heart of every wise man
The most important mission is to protect the inner freedom of every homo sapiens
social humanism
"Humanity" is a holistic concept that exists within all homo sapiens as a whole
The most important mission is to protect the equality of the species Homo sapiens
evolutionary humanism
"Human nature" is variable, it may degenerate into an inhuman, or it may evolve into a superhuman
The most famous representative: Nazis
The most important mission is to protect human beings, prevent them from degenerating into inhumans, and encourage their evolution into superhuman beings.
Chapter Thirteen The Secret of Success
The fallacy of hindsight
An iron rule of history: What seems inevitable in hindsight was never obvious at the time.
The purpose of studying history
Not to know the future, but to expand our horizons and understand that the present is neither “natural” nor inevitable
Cleo, the Blind Goddess of History
There is no evidence that history progresses for the benefit of mankind, and there is no objective measure of "interest"
Memetics Hypothesis: A so-called successful culture is one that is particularly good at replicating its memes, regardless of the cost or benefit to its human host.
The evolution of history does not care whether individual organisms are happy or not
Part 4 Scientific Revolution
Chapter 14 Discovering one’s ignorance
I don’t know that I don’t know
There are three major differences between modern science and previous knowledge systems:
Be willing to admit your ignorance: no concept, idea or theory is sacred or unchallenged
Centered on observation and mathematics: collect various observations, use mathematical tools to organize connections, and form a comprehensive theory
Acquire new abilities: Use these theories to acquire new abilities and develop new technologies
scientific dogma
Modern science has no dogma that needs to be strictly adhered to, but the research methods have a common core: collecting various empirical observations and organizing them with mathematical tools
In 1687, Newton published "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"
knowledge is power
The test of "knowledge" is not whether it is true, but whether it can enable humans to gain strength or power.
Science provides new tools for mankind
Before 1500 AD, science and technology were two completely different fields.
Although there were new technologies in the past, they were not obtained by scholars through systematic scientific research.
Progressive Ideal
Before the Scientific Revolution, most human cultures did not believe that humanity would progress any further.
When it was discovered that scientific research could give us new power, humans began to think and felt that it was indeed possible to make real progress.
Poverty, disease, war, famine, old age and death are no longer the inevitable fate of mankind, but limitations caused by ignorance
Gilgamesh Plan
defeat death
One of the major goals of the scientific revolution is to give mankind eternal life
The only modern ideology in which death remains central is nationalism
benefactor of scientific research
Scientific activities are not at a higher moral and spiritual level but are influenced by economic, political and religious interests
Scientific research must join forces with certain religions or ideologies before it can flourish.
Two forces deserve attention: imperialism and capitalism
Chapter 15 The marriage of science and empire
Why Europe?
The main reason why Europeans were able to successfully conquer the Americas and become kings of the seas was that Asian empires had little interest in these places.
Since 1850, Europe has been able to dominate the world largely due to cooperation in the military, industrial and scientific fields, as well as magical technology.
Europe's early modern years fostered two mutually reinforcing potentials: modern science and capitalism, which enabled it to dominate the world in the late modern period.
mentality of conquest
The imperialists of the past thought they already understood the entire world, and they only wanted to spread their own worldview
The common starting point of the ruling elites and intellectual elites of European empires was to admit ignorance, and they hoped to acquire new knowledge that would make them masters of the world.
blank space on map
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans had large blanks on their world maps. This could be said to be a major psychological and ideological breakthrough, showing that Europeans were willing to admit that they still knew nothing about a large part of the world.
Zheng He's voyages to the West proved that Europe did not have a technological advantage. What made Europeans win was their insatiable ambition to explore and conquer.
like invaders from outer space
Around 1517-1532, Spanish colonists destroyed the Aztec and Inca empires
Paying a heavy price for narrow vision
For 300 years, Europeans completely dominated the Americas, Oceania, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean.
It was not until the 20th century that cultures outside Europe had a truly global perspective
Rare spider, forgotten text
The driving force behind modern science and modern empire is one of dissatisfaction
In 1922, a British archaeological survey discovered the earliest great civilization in India.
Around the 1840s, British officer Henry Rawlinson deciphered cuneiform
Around the 1880s, imperialist scholar William Jones discovered the Indo-European language family
The reasons why the empire funds scientific research are: firstly, to make rule more effective; secondly, science can rationalize the empire ideologically
Chapter 16 Capitalist Dogma
The pie will get bigger
The concept of "progress"
After admitting our ignorance, thinking that everything can be better if we just invest in research
applied to economics
Trust → Credit → Economic Growth → More Trust → More Credit
1776, Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations"
The basis of all human wealth lies in the selfish desire to increase personal profits
The most revolutionary concept in human history
New ethical standards: profits should be taken out and continued investment in production
i.e. "capitalism"
The scope of capitalism's influence gradually transcends the economic field and becomes a set of ethics.
How to behave, how to educate children, how to think about problems
Columbus also needs sponsors
imperial capitalist cycle
Credit finances new discoveries → New discoveries lead to colonies → Colonies bring profits → Profits build trust → Trust translates into more credit
The financial wars of European empires
In the 16th century, since Columbus discovered the New World, Spain has become the most powerful country in Europe.
In the 17th century, the Netherlands relied on credit to replace Spain and Portugal and become the global maritime hegemon.
At the end of the 17th century, the Netherlands lost its financial dominance, and France and Britain launched a financial war.
From the 18th to the 19th century, France’s overseas hegemony fell apart, and the British Empire established the largest empire in history.
in the name of capital
Waging war for the benefit of investors
1840, the First Opium War between China and Britain
1881, Anglo-Egyptian War
The close embrace of capital and politics has a profound impact on the credit market
worship of the free market
Die-hard capitalists believe that the wisest economic policy is to keep politics out of the economy, minimize taxes and government regulations, and leave everything to market forces to allow them to develop freely.
There is no market in the world that is completely free from political influence
Capitalist Hell
The catastrophe of the slave trade was caused by unrestricted market forces
The Industrial Revolution filled the pockets of bankers and capitalists, but left millions of working people living in abject poverty
The rubber industry in the Congo Basin
Chapter 17 The Giant Ship of Industry
secrets in the kitchen
thermal energy converted into kinetic energy
The invention of the steam engine, internal combustion engine, and electricity led to the Industrial Revolution
A vast ocean of energy
The core of the industrial revolution is actually the revolution of energy conversion
Knowing how to harness and convert energy will solve the problem that hinders economic growth: the shortage of raw materials.
life on conveyor belt
The result of the industrial revolution was the explosive development of human productivity
The tragedy of industrialized agriculture is that it blindly emphasizes the objective needs of animals but ignores their subjective needs
The billions of people freed up by agriculture are absorbed by factories and offices, and new products are poured out like an avalanche.
For the first time in human history, production exceeds demand, raising a whole new question: Who will buy these products?
The age of shopping
A new ethical outlook brought about by modern capitalist economy: consumerism
The virtue of consumerism is to consume more products and services and encourage everyone to treat themselves well
The ethics of capitalism and consumerism are like two sides of the same coin
The top guiding principle for wealthy people: Invest
The supreme guideline for ordinary people: Buy
Chapter 18 An Eternal Revolution
modern modern
The Industrial Revolution brought the concepts of schedules and production lines to mankind, and extended them to almost all human life.
In 1880, the British government legislated that all timetables across the country must be based on Greenwich Mean Time.
The breakdown of families and communities
The Industrial Revolution triggered the greatest social revolution in human history: families and local communities collapsed and were replaced by the state and the market
Before the industrial revolution, there were three traditional frameworks for most people’s daily lives: nuclear family → extended family → close community
With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the power of the state and the market increased, the power of families and communities weakened, and individuals were liberated
The nuclear family has not completely disappeared and it serves human emotional needs
imagined community
The so-called imaginary community means that although the members do not really know each other, they imagine that everyone is in the same group.
Two major imaginary communities emerged in modern times
Nation: the imagined community of the state
The consuming public: the imagined community of the market
believe that we have a common past, common interests and a common future
ever-changing
The only certain characteristic of modern society is that it is constantly changing
peace of our time
In our time, the number of deaths from violence is on the decline and is even lower than the number of deaths from suicide
The incidence of violence has declined, mainly due to the establishment of national systems
abdication of empire
After 1945, most empires chose to abdicate peacefully, and the process of empire disintegration and collapse was rapid, peaceful and orderly.
British retreat from the colonies
France retreats from colonies
disintegration of the soviet union
nuclear peace
Important factors for world peace after 1945
The development of the atomic bomb led to a significant increase in the cost of war
The soaring cost of the war also meant that its profits fell
Peace became an increasingly cost-effective business, and foreign trade and investment became vital
Global political culture has undergone major structural changes
Four major factors form a virtuous cycle
Chapter 19 Live happily ever after
The biggest gap in our understanding of history: After a series of revolutions in human history, are we really happier?
How to calculate happiness?
Happiness does not lie in any objective conditions such as wealth, health or even community, but in the consistency between objective conditions and subjective expectations.
happy chemical ingredients
Biologists believe that all psychological states (including subjective well-being) are not determined by external factors (such as wages, social relations or political rights), but by nerves, neurons, synapses and various biochemical substances (such as serum hormones, dopamine, oxytocin) (i.e. biochemical mechanism)
The only reason for happiness is the sensory sensation of pleasure in the body
The result of human evolution is that we will neither be too happy nor too painful.
In addition to biology, most biologists agree that psychological and sociological factors also play a role
meaning of life
From a purely scientific perspective as we know it, human life is inherently meaningless
Any meaning we attach to life is actually an illusion
The so-called happiness is probably just the synchronization of personal illusions about meaning and the prevailing collective illusion.
Is happiness really just self-deception?
Knowing yourself
Whether it is sensory pleasure or the meaning of life, they all have a common assumption: happiness is a subjective feeling
This is exactly what modern liberalism advocates by enshrining “individual subjective feelings” as a standard
The way most religions and philosophies look at happiness is very different from liberalism. The one that attaches most importance to the issue of happiness is Buddhism.
Buddhism believes that happiness is neither a subjective feeling of pleasure nor a subjective feeling that life is meaningful, but rather lies in letting go of the pursuit of subjective feelings.
Chapter 20 The end of Homo sapiens
Three possible ways for intelligent design to replace natural selection: bioengineering, bionic engineering and inorganic life engineering
mice and men
The so-called bioengineering refers to the intentional intervention of humans at the biological level, with the purpose of changing the appearance, ability, needs or desires of organisms in order to realize certain preset cultural concepts.
Such as castration, sex change, mice with human ears
Bringing Neanderthals back
Geneticists not only want to modify existing organisms, they even want to reintroduce extinct animals
bionic life
Biomimetic engineering combines organic and inorganic tissues to create "biochemical humans"
Change our abilities, desires, personalities, and identities
The most revolutionary thing is to construct a direct brain-computer two-way interface, allowing the computer to read the electronic signals of the human brain and at the same time input back the electronic signals that the human brain can understand.
Memory can be read
another life
Inorganic life, such as computer programs and computer viruses
In 2005, the Blue Brain Project hoped to build an artificial brain in a computer
singularity
Singularity in physics: the Big Bang, before the singularity, the laws of nature and time do not exist
A singular point in human history: Gilgamesh's plan and the creation of superhuman beings, before which the present world becomes irrelevant, and anything after which is beyond what we can imagine now
frankenstein prophecy
1818, Mary Shelley "Frankenstein"
Scientists create artificial creatures, but they lose control and cause chaos
A deeper meaning: The end of Homo sapiens is not far away
The only thing we can do now is influence the direction they take
Perhaps the real question to ask is: What do we really hope we want?
"A Brief History of Humankind" Mind Map Notes Author: Yuval Harari Translator: Lin Junhong