You are going to love reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.
Thanks . That's what Jared Diamond sez, as well. I have my doubts:
Sapiens goes on to retell the history of our species from a completely fresh perspective. It explains that money is the most pluralistic system of mutual trust ever devised; that capitalism is the most successful religion ever invented; that the treatment of animals in modern agriculture is probably the worst crime in history; and that even though we are far more powerful than our ancient ancestors, we aren’t much happier...
- We rule the world because we are the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in our own imagination, such as gods, states, money and human rights.
- Sapiens are ecological serial killers – even with stone-age tools, our ancestors wiped out half the planet’s large terrestrial mammals well before the advent of agriculture.
- The Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud – wheat domesticated Sapiens rather than the other way around.
- Money is the most universal and pluralistic system of mutual trust ever devised. Money is the only thing everyone trusts.
- Empire is the most successful political system humans have invented, and our present era of anti-imperial sentiment is probably a short-lived aberration.
- Capitalism is a religion rather than just an economic theory – and it is the most successful religion to date.
- The treatment of animals in modern agriculture may turn out to be the worst crime in history.
- Individualism was fostered by states and markets as a way of breaking up families and communities.
- We are far more powerful than our ancestors, but we aren’t much happier.
- Sapiens will soon disappear. With the help of novel technologies, within a few centuries or even decades, Sapiens will upgrade themselves into completely different beings, enjoying godlike qualities and abilities. History began when humans invented gods – and will end when humans become gods.