Written by Yuval Noah Harari
ISBN-10: 0099590085
『Most researchers
believe that these unprecedented accomplishments were the product of a
revolution in sapiens’ cognitive abilities.
They maintain that the people who
drove the Neanderthals to extinction, settled Australia, and carved the Stadel
lion-man were as intelligent, creative and sensitive as we are.
If we were to
come across the artists of the Stadel Cave, we could learn everything we
know-from the adventures of Alice in Wonderland to the paradoxes of quantumphysics- and they could teach us how their people view the world.
The appearance of new ways of thinking and
communicating, between 70000 and 30000years ago, constitutes the Cognitive
revolution.
What caused it? We’re not sure. The most commonly believed theory
argues that accidental genetic mutations changed the inner wiring of the brains
of sapiens, enabling them to think in unprecedented ways and to communicate
using an altogether new type of language.
We might call it the Tree ofKnowledge mutation.
Why did it occur in sapiens DNA rather than in that of
Neanderthals? It was a matter of pure chance, as far as we can tell. But it’s
more important to understand the consequences of the Tree of Knowledge mutation
than its causes. What was so special about the Sapiens language that it enabled
us to conquer the world?
It was not the
first language.
Every animal has some kind of language. Even insects, such as
bee and ants, know how to communicate in sophisticated ways, informing one
another of the whereabouts of food.
Neither was it the first vocal language.
Many animals, including all ape and monkey species, have vocal language. For
example, green monkeys use calls of various kinds to communicate.
Zoologists
have identified one call that means Careful! An eagle! A slightly different call
warns Careful! A lion! When researchers played a recording of the first call to
group of monkeys, the monkey stopped what they were doing and looked upwards in
fear. When the same group heard a recording of the second call, the lion
warning, they quickly scrambled up a tree. Sapiens can produce many more
distinct sounds than green monkeys, but whales and elephants have equally
impressive abilities.
A parrot can say anything Albert Einstein could say, as well
as mimicking the sounds of phones ringing, doors slamming and sirens wailing.
Whatever
advantage Einstein had over a parrot, it wasn’t vocal. What, then, is so
special about our language?
The most common
answer is that our language is amazingly supple. We can connect a limited
number of sentences, each with a distinct meaning.
We can thereby ingest, store
and communicate a prodigious amount of information about the surrounding world.
A green monkey can yell to its comrades, Careful! A lion! But a modern human
can tell her friends that this morning, near the bend in the river, she saw a
lion tracking a herd of bison.
She can then describe the exact location,
including the different paths leading to the area.
With this information, the
member of her band can put their heads together and discuss whether they should
approach the river, chase away the lion, and hunt the bison.
A second theory agrees
that our unique language evolved as a means of sharing information about the
world.
But the most important information that needed to be conveyed was about
humans, not about lions and bison.
Our language evolved as a way of gossiping.
According
to the theory Homo sapiens is primarily a social cooperation is our key for
survival and reproduction.
It is not enough for individual men and women to
know the whereabouts of lions and bison. It’s much more important for them to
know who in their band hates whom, who is sleeping with whom, who is honest,
and who is cheat. 』
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