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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...
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