factual

Cognitive Revolution Made Sapiens Significant

Until about 70,000 years ago humans were ecologically insignificant animals, but in East Africa Homo sapiens suddenly began cooperating in larger numbers and producing art, religion, and large-scale politics, then spread worldwide—reaching Australia ~50,000 years ago and the Americas ~15,000 years ago—within an evolutionarily short time.

factualpending

Speaker

Yuval Harari

Evidence Quote

Up until that time, human beings were not very significant animals... their impact on the ecological system, on the world, was not much greater than that of gorillas or of bees or jellyfish.

Source

Yuval Harari on SapiensEconTalk
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:18:45 AM

My Notes

Loading notes...