Analysis Of Yuval Noah Harari 's ' Sapiens : A Brief History Of Humankind '

Religion is a universal term that is widely used for a human’s belief system. The views on how religions compare to one another can be defined differently. One view explains religions using a united belief system by their common goals. Another view explains that different religions are just a shared essence and have vast differences between their specific traditions and customs. This shared essence, but vastly different theory, is explained by Stephen Prothero, using the term “pretend pluralism”. There are many major and minor religions that have guided people in their morals and beliefs. Religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. All five of these current, major religions have vast differences, but may have common goals in their morals, traditions, etc. Two of the most practiced religions, of these five, are Christianity and Islam. These two religions are constantly at battle with one another, but what many people don’t see is that there are just as many similarities between these two religions as there are differences. Through this paper we will discover the underlying similarities and differences between these two religions and, hopefully, conclude that supports either the common goal theory or the “pretend pluralism” theory.

Since the beginning of human development humans have been revolving around agriculture. It is known that, “Archaeologists and palaeontologists have traced the origins of farming to around 10,000 years ago” (Mason). This is truly remarkable to believe that the revolution as a whole may pivot on this period so long ago. Once this happened agriculture began popping up all around the ancient world spreading like wildfire. This planting of crops and domestication of animals allowed people to develop specialization because not everyone had to forage anymore. This allowed

The Scientific Revolution was a time of scientific questioning in which tremendous discoveries were made about the Earth. It has been referred to as “the real origin both of the modern world and the modern mentality” (Mckay, 596) and caused the foremost change in the world-view. This revolution occurred for many reasons. Universities were established in Western Europe in order to train lawyer’s doctors and church leaders and philosophy became a major study alongside medicine, law, and theology. The Renaissance stimulated scientific progress because mathematics was improved, texts were

Few revolutions throughout history have surpassed the Scientific Revolution and the Neolithic Revolution, in terms of importance and impact on humanity. The Scientific Revolution was, arguably, started by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543, and was when thinkers in Europe stopped allowing the Church to hinder their scientific ideas, and began using the scientific method (O.I.). The Neolithic Revolution was when humans began to domesticate plants and animals, and began to live together in villages and towns, as opposed to being hunter gatherers, which started about 12,500 years ago (O.I.). The Scientific Revolution was sparked by the surge of new ideas spread around Europe, due to the printing press (doc 4). The Scientific Revolution also allowed

Evolution has been a topic for many years in the field of science. According to the Theory of Evolution, humans have been once apes and are still categorized as descendants of the ape family. This evolution was caused by variations and mutations in `order to fit into the environment and to survive. However, in the story “Devolution” by Edmond Hamilton, there is a completely different and opposite view of how humans have changed after millions of years. Whether humans were once a higher form of life and have been degrading into lesser beings or have derived from a more advanced type of being is a large discussion to take into consideration. Clifford D. Simak and Edmond Hamilton emphasize how changes evolution have caused an increase or decrease effect on human beings.

The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, which spanned from the late 1500’s to 1700’s, shaped today’s modern world through disregarding past information and seeking answers on their own through the scientific method and other techniques created during the Enlightenment. Newton’s ‘Philsophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ and Diderot’s Encyclopedia were both composed of characteristics that developed this time period through the desire to understand all life, humans are capable of understanding the Earth, and a sense of independence from not having to rely on the nobles or church for knowledge.

2. The agricultural revolution was a decisive turning point in human history because of many reasons. Agriculture supported larger populations because it was possible to domesticate enough food for everyone. Another bonus of the agricultural revolution was that it led into a explosion of technological innovation which provided us with more technologies and techniques such as pottery and weaving.

Joseph Henrich began, A Puzzling Primate, by describing how physically inept human beings are when compared to the rest of the animal kingdom. He continues with this logic when he demonstrates, that humans in this era, would not be able to survive if placed in the wild forest environment. Due to the biological weakness of humans, culture became a necessary defense mechanism and a form of protection. Culture became a unique way for humans to adapt. Despite the obvious physical weakness of humans, through culture we have rose to be the dominant species.

When looking through animal history, we humans have praised ourselves for our exceptional ability to communicate in an advanced manner. Whether we are listening or speaking, humans have crafted language into a powerful tool that is boundless and flexible against other arts. Moreover, through the perspective of building civilizations, communication has been the foundation of community. As Language is our most advanced form of communication; to what degree of value do we hold it in our society? Throughout the seminars, groups of people explored the history and significance of how we perceive language and the hidden advantages or disadvantages it provides.

In the book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies” by Jared Diamond, one of the World History Thinking Skills shown was Skill Two: Chronological Reasoning. A specific example of this skill is represented in the quote, “Besides permitting sedentary living and hence the accumulation of possessions, food production was decisive in the history of technology...it became possible...to develop economically specialized societies consisting of non-food-producing specialists feed by food-producing peasants” (250). Diamond reasons that transitioning from a nomadic hunter-gathers lifestyle to a food producing sedentary lifestyle led to the advancement of technology and thence a more centralized and well structured society; all of which

Between the fourteenth and seventeenth century, two major events happened in world history. One of these events was the global spread of Christianity, and the other was the emergence of the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution was often seen as an immense intellectual and cultural transformation and arguably one of the most important events that happened between 1450 and 1750. However, the spread of Christianity proved to be more beneficial and benevolent than the Scientific Revolution.

In relation to the previous three revolutions, the transhuman revolution will share many similarities in the patterns that occurred in each revolution. The main foundation of any revolution is cooperation, curiosity, and creativity by the people, and that serves to be true for the agricultural, cognitive, and scientific revolutions and will be a main platform for the transhuman revolution as well. Along with this, each past revolution has undergone an increase in collective intelligence. Bostrom proves this when he states, “Humanity has gained enormously in collective intelligence over the course of history and prehistory. The gains come from many sources, including innovations in communications technology, such as writing and printing, and above all the introduction of language itself…” (Kindle Locations 1443-1446).

Humans are the most unique species on Earth. We have gained the ability to things never accomplished before on Earth. We can control our environment, domesticate other species, and more importantly, form complex connections and societies with one another. However, it is widely debated about how we evolved from simple ape-like foragers to the meat-eating, community-building species we are today. In this paper, we will be looking at three authors: Richard Wrangham, Pat Shipman, and Frans de Wall. Each of which approach this question from different directions.

Revolutions happen because of the need to change the present. As a result, the transformation could favor one team or help a group of people in the positive cases. The revolution in medicine, especially the germ theory of disease was a huge wake up call for most people. Germ theory was quite possibly the most important part of the revolution of medicine. It informed the people of the existence of germs and the importance of hygiene. There were many revolutions in history. Most were bloody, but the outcome of this revolution was eternal and the stepping-stone of medicine and surgery. Robert Koch, Louis Pasteur, and Joseph Lister contributed to the ever-changing germ theory that started many profound discoveries and understandings. It takes

There is evidence to suggest that Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens had coexisted for approximately 35-40,000 years, (Fagan 2010) from around 60,000 years ago to 25,000 years ago when they finally went extinct (Gibbon 2001). Anthropologists are still uncertain what the cause of their extinction was. This paper will analyze three main theories of Neanderthal extinction. The first theory is the competition theory, which claims that the Homo sapiens and Neanderthals had to compete for resources, ultimately leading to their demise. The second theory I will discuss is the climate change theory, which claims that Homo sapiens lived while Neanderthals died because they were better adapted to the climate. The last theory I will discuss is