Homo Sapiens: Destroyers of the World

I am reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. It’s taking me some time because it is dense with thought-provoking ideas that need digesting. I am about halfway through and the premise is already clear; homo sapiens are the most successful species on earth because they have destroyed everything in their path since appearing on the planet a couple of hundred thousand years ago. Ok, maybe a bit hyperbolic?

Not really according to Harari and according to the museum displays at The Cradle of Humankind, a Unesco World Heritage site about 50kms from Johannesburg. I visited the Cradle yesterday with a friend and the world of the book and the physical evidence of our evolution converged.

Sapiens developed big brains, learned to communicate, to love and hate, and to eventually desire more than they ever needed to survive (like our hunter/gatherer ancestors). As a result, we have evolved into a relentlessly greedy and divided species determined to destroy ourselves.

One area that did not evolve over the millennia is our species distrust for anyone that looks or acts different. Despite our magnificent evolution, we remain as tribal as dark-skinned Homo Erectus, the first hominin to roam Africa. It’s a strange and curious thing - our evolution. It’s debatable for sure. And, of course, not everyone is a self-serving, greedy, racist. But if we look around, what do we see?

Every day we hear about climate change, racism, poverty, all sorts of oppression, deforestation, and, well, the list goes on and on. If it’s not about money, it’s about our allegiance to those that look like us.

It begs the question, what has the evolution of our bigger brain done for us?

It’s easy to become despondent about humankind because of the crazy, insurmountable issues we see every day. But, let’s not fall into that trap. Let’s continue to evolve - our brains don’t need to be any bigger, our brains simply need to ignite and release whatever part holds compassion, kindness, and love.

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