Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Abstract

This chapter introduces Yuval Noah Harari, who is a young Israeli academic and an intellectual acrobat whose logical leaps have readers gasping with admiration. Harari wrote Sapiens, which presents a brief history of life on earth, starting with the big bang and ending 1,000 years in the future. It looks at Harari's prediction of the extinction of Homo sapiens because science will have replaced people with genetically engineered immortals and super-cyborgs, part human, part machine, with faculties unimaginable. The chapter talks about the prospect of the disappearance of old-style humans that Harari does not regret as humans proved to be the most destructive species ever to plague the planet. It mentions how human ancestors lived peacefully among the other animals for many millenniums until about 70,000 years ago when Homo sapiens developed superior cognitive powers and, crucially, invented language.

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