Posted on 02/18/2015 5:29:30 PM PST by Maelstorm
... The book’s title is Mr. Harari’s reminder that, long ago, the world held half a dozen species of human, of which only Homo sapiens—thee and me—today survives. The trajectory of our species, Mr. Harari says, can be traced as a succession of three revolutions: the cognitive revolution (when we got smart), the agricultural revolution (when we got nature to do what we wanted), and the scientific revolution (when we got dangerously powerful). Humanity, Mr. Harari predicts, will see one more epochal event. We will vanish within a few centuries, either because we’ve gained such godlike powers as to become unrecognizable or because we’ve destroyed ourselves through environmental mismanagement.
Homo sapiens came into existence more than 200,000 years ago. The term “cognitive revolution” reflects the belief, held by many anthropologists, that for most of that time the species was just a group of insignificant foraging bands wandering about east Africa. Then, Mr. Harari says, “beginning about 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens started doing very special things.” In this “Great Leap Forward,” as Jared Diamond has called it, our ancestors suddenly overcame their inertia and moved out of Africa, meanwhile inventing boats, battle axes and beautiful art. What happened? Mr. Harari suggests that a yet-undiscovered “Tree of Knowledge mutation” altered the “inner wiring” of our brains, allowing us “to communicate using an altogether new type of language,” one that allowed humans to cooperate in groups. Mutation in place, humankind exploded across the planet. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
“...We will vanish within a few centuries, either because we’ve gained such godlike powers as to become unrecognizable or because we’ve destroyed ourselves through environmental mismanagement....”
*********************************************************************************************************
As soon as I see the “mankind will destroy itself through environmental destruction” canard, I always lose interest in a person as he/she has identified themselves as an idiot and/or an agendanista.
Red dwarf star?
Is this about Nibiru or whatever it’s called? Seems kooky to me.
yup.
Click link to read without a subscription or sign-up (let google pay for it):
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fbook-review-sapiens-a-brief-history-of-humankind-by-yuval-noah-harari-1423261230&ei=1z_lVJ6HE86pyASUmoCYDw&usg=AFQjCNE1xzy0J4zdOq7cV6Wri83KNbOwtA&sig2=bZG1F6TpPRGEE7WCnUJPcg
environmental mismanagement ... Yeah, whatever he writes.
Somewhere I read that Pizarro seized inscribed golden texts from the Incas and melted them down into bullion.
Wha ...?
Genesis forbids fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
As far as we know, fruit from the tree of knowledge of self, not to mention history, math, geography, science, astronomy, music, etc., is A-Okay.
From my Christian standpoint, clinical anthropologists' proposing "cognitive revolutions" and such is interesting and entertaining, but at bottom a lot of "sound and fury, signifying nothing." We humans are what we are because we are made in God's image. It's our divine link to Him, and He gave us free choice.
What about fruit from the tree of knowledge of fairness? It's not mentioned explicitly, so Genesis allows it, obviously; our knowledge of fairness is what gives us a foundation in knowing right from wrong.
Fairness is absent in the natural world, always has been and always will be. One calf is born whole while another is born lame. One family thrives for generations, another family is wiped out at random by a tidal wave. One tree grows well and thrives, another gets frozen in its third spring because of a freak cold snap.
A person born blind has zero concept of sight or color, and doesn't even know to miss it unless informed of its existence. A person born deaf has zero concept of what it is to hear words; in a world of deaf people, knowledge of hearing would never happen. Animals can only conceive and perceive what exists in the natural world.
Yet every human perfectly understands fairness, even atheist anthropologists! It's proof of God to me, that low or high, every human has caught a glimpse of it through our merciful Almighty, and He is the only one that can deliver fruit from the tree of knowledge of fairness.
"Tree of Knowledge Mutation" -- take that!
Maelstorm: A very interesting book. Especially in light of two very special events that were occurring around 70,000 years ago. A red dwarf star was passing through our solar system and the Toba Event occurred in which a super volcano erupted in Sumatra Indonesia bringing on the closest equivalent to a nuclear winter.
House Atreides: As soon as I see the "mankind will destroy itself through environmental destruction" canard, I always lose interest in a person as he/she has identified themselves as an idiot and/or an agendanista.ConservativeInPA: environmental mismanagement ... Yeah, whatever he writes.Yeah, that's nuttery alright.FreedomStar3028: Red dwarf star? Is this about Nibiru or whatever it's called? Seems kooky to me.Nibiru doesn't exist, it is nuttery -- but the red dwarf star did go through the outer Solar System 70,000 years ago.A Formerly Proud Canadian: ..."cognitive revolution"?I don't think that author is in any danger of that particular kind of revolution.
Maelstorm: A very interesting book. Especially in light of two very special events that were occurring around 70,000 years ago. A red dwarf star was passing through our solar system and the Toba Event occurred in which a super volcano erupted in Sumatra Indonesia bringing on the closest equivalent to a nuclear winter.
House Atreides: As soon as I see the "mankind will destroy itself through environmental destruction" canard, I always lose interest in a person as he/she has identified themselves as an idiot and/or an agendanista.
ConservativeInPA: environmental mismanagement ... Yeah, whatever he writes.Yeah, that's nuttery alright.
FreedomStar3028: Red dwarf star? Is this about Nibiru or whatever it's called? Seems kooky to me.Nibiru doesn't exist, it is nuttery, and was never said to be a red dwarf or a brown dwarf -- but the red dwarf star did go through the outer Solar System 70,000 years ago.
A Formerly Proud Canadian: ..."cognitive revolution"?I don't think that author is in any danger of that particular kind of revolution.
"...reflects the belief, held by many anthropologists..."
Yup, it all comes down to 'belief's' held by people running away from God and trying to create explanations of our existence without Him.
Makes an interesting yarn, I suppose. But as you said, at the end it is all a 'tale told full of sound and fury, signifying nothing'.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
