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Cognitive revolution enabled humans to cooperate in large numbers from "summary" of Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
With the cognitive revolution, Homo sapiens underwent a transformation that enabled them to cooperate in much larger numbers than any other species. This revolution was not just about the ability to think and reason; it was about the capacity to create shared myths and beliefs that could bind together thousands, even millions, of individuals who had never met before. These shared myths allowed humans to cooperate on a massive scale, forming tribes, kingdoms, empires, and eventually, entire nations. Before the cognitive revolution, humans lived in small bands of hunter-gatherers, limited by the number of individuals who could maintain stable social relationships. The cognitive revolution changed this by allowing humans to create imagined orders that could unite strangers in common goals and beliefs. By believing in the same gods, nations, or ideologies, humans could cooperate with people they had never met, forming complex societies that could achieve feats of cooperation impossible for other species. The ability to believe in shared myths and cooperate on a large scale gave Homo sapiens a significant advantage over other species. While ants and bees could cooperate in large numbers, their cooperation was based on instinct, not shared beliefs. Humans, on the other hand, could cooperate with strangers from different tribes or nations because they shared a common belief in the same myths and ideologies. This ability to cooperate on a massive scale allowed Homo sapiens to conquer the world, spreading across continents and eventually dominating the planet. It was not their physical strength or speed that allowed humans to become the dominant species; it was their ability to believe in shared myths and cooperate with strangers. This cooperation enabled humans to build cities, invent writing, develop advanced technology, and create complex societies that would have been impossible without the cognitive revolution.- The cognitive revolution transformed Homo sapiens into a species capable of cooperating in large numbers by creating shared myths and beliefs that could unite strangers in common goals and ideologies. This ability to believe in imagined orders allowed humans to form complex societies, conquer the world, and eventually become the dominant species on Earth.
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