Teach history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His bestselling book ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’ has caused quite a stir recently. The book has already been translated into about 30 languages. In the book, the author has described the various aspects of the economic and political revolution of the modern era, starting from the evolution of the human race. The most interesting thing is that he has used various conclusions of evolutionary biology in various analyzes. I have started the Bengali translation of the book. I am seeking everyone's opinion on the translation. This chapter has previously been published in two episodes on the Sachalayatan blog.
- Sajedul Wahid Nitol
সেSepience: A Brief History of Humankind by Euval Noah Harari
Chapter: 1
An insignificant animal
About 13.5 billion years ago today, a cosmic event called the Big Bang gave rise to matter, energy, time, and space. The branch of knowledge that explains these basic natural features of our universe is called physics.
About three million years after the Big Bang, the interaction of matter and energy began to form a complex structure called the atom; Some atoms later combine to form molecules. This tells the story of atoms, molecules and their interactions - chemistry.
About 3.6 billion years ago, on the planet Earth, some large and complex structures were formed by the reaction of certain molecules; The soul was born. The story of life and creatures is biology.
About 60,000 years ago, a species called Homo sapiens began to develop a broader social structure; Which is called culture. History has developed the evolution of human culture.
Three important revolutions have shaped the course of history: (1) the intellectual revolution; 60,000 years ago, which is the beginning of modern human history. (2) the agricultural revolution; Which began 12,000 years ago; (3) the scientific revolution; What happened just 500 years ago, a revolution that could bring about the end of history or give birth to something completely different. This book tells the story of how the three revolutions or movements in question have affected the human species and its accompanying fauna.
Man has been on earth since long before history began. The first humanoid creatures appeared about 2.5 million years ago. But primitive humans have shared their habitat with thousands of species over thousands of generations, but not one very different from the rest.
If you travel to East Africa 2 million years ago today, you may encounter some familiar human characters, including: a worried mother holding a baby in her arms; Naughty children playing in the mud; A troubled young man in the dominion of society; Tired old men who want to live in a little peace; Muscular men patting the breasts of an attractive woman; And the old lady who saw all of life. These primitive humans loved, played, and made friends; Again they competed among themselves for power and dignity. But chimpanzees, baboons and elephants did the same. There was nothing extraordinary about it. No one in the world of that era had the slightest idea that the descendants of these prehistoric humans would one day walk on the moon, split the atom, perceive the genes, and write history books. Even primitive humans may not have had such ambitions for themselves. The most important thing to know about prehistoric humans is that they were insignificant and minor groups of animals who could not have much more influence on their environment than any gorilla, firefly or jellyfish.
Biologists classify the living world into different species. Animals that can produce fertile offspring through sexual intercourse are considered to belong to the same ‘species’. Horses and donkeys, for example, have common ancestors and many physical similarities can be found between them. But they are not interested in having sex with each other. But if forced, they will meet - but will give birth to infertile children. That is why mutations in donkey DNA can never be mixed with horse DNA. These two species are considered to be members of two completely different species because they have been separated from each other for a long time following the course of evolution. On the other hand, no matter how different a bulldog and a spaniel look, they are but animals of the same species; They are partners in similar DNA sets. They will happily mate with each other and their puppies will grow up with other dogs to produce more offspring.
Species that have evolved over time from a common predecessor in the past are included in the group called ‘Genus’. Although tigers, lions, cheetahs and jaguars are all different species, each belongs to the genus Panthera. Biologists have given each organism a binary Latin name; The first indicates the mass, the latter the species. For example, the scientific name of the lion is ‘Panthera leo’, where ‘Panthera’ and ‘leo’ refer to masses and species, respectively. Naturally, everyone who reads this book is a Homo sapiens species. Here ‘Homo’ (human) is the name of the genus and ‘sapiens’ (wise) is the species.
Again, animals of several genera come together to form a 'family'; Such as- cat tribe (lion, cheetah, common cat), dog tribe (wolf, jackal, fox), elephant tribe (elephant, mammoth, mastdon) etc. Each member of the tribe has evolved from a common ancestor at some point in the past. For example, from the common cat living in our home to the terrifying lion of Africa, everyone has a common ancestor who roamed the earth 25 million years ago.

The correct representation of the evolution-tree. It shows the millions of years of evolutionary history of the living world. Click on image to enlarge. (Photo courtesy - Leonard Eisenberg)
Homo sapiens also belongs to a certain tribe. But this general information was one of the most secret mysteries in human history. We, the people, have always considered ourselves to be a nation entirely separate from the animal kingdom; As if we are fatherless orphans, we have no relatives or distant relatives. But in reality, the matter is not true. Whether you like it or not, we are all animals belonging to a huge and especially noisy tribe; The name of the tribe is 'The Great apes'. Among our closest relatives are still surviving chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Among the surviving relatives, the chimpanzee is our closest. Just 6 million years ago, a woman gave birth to two daughters in Ape; One of whom became the forerunner of all chimpanzees, the other is the ancestor of all of us.
Hidden fossils
Homo sapiens hid another thrilling piece of information. Not only do we have some distant relatives, but we also had a few siblings a long time ago. We generally think that we are the only human species on earth, because for 10,000 years only our species have roamed the earth. Although the word ‘human’ literally means “animals belonging to the genus Homo”. Therefore, in addition to Homo sapiens, other species belonging to that genus also existed on Earth at one time. Furthermore, in the last chapter of this book, we will see that in the near future, we may have to contend with a different human species, the Sepians. Let me be clear - from now on I will often use only the word "sapiens" to refer to Homo sapiens; And with ‘human’ or ‘human’ I will refer to other human species belonging to the genus ‘Homo’.
About 2.5 million years ago, primitive humans first appeared on Earth, evolving from a group of tailless apes called Australopithecus living in East Africa. About 2 million years ago, a group of these prehistoric humans left their homeland and began to travel to different parts of North Africa, Europe, and Asia. Since the characteristics needed to survive in the snow-covered regions of northern Europe differ from those required in Indonesia's flooded forests, the evolution of human groups living in different regions has taken a different turn. Which resulted in the emergence of some individual human species. Scientists have assigned different scientific names for each of them.

Neanderthal male. The image has been reconstructed using a computer model, from fossils found in the Shanidar Cave. This male Neanderthal lived about 60,000 years ago. (Photo source - Wikipedia)
The group of primitive humans that settled in various parts of Europe and the Middle East evolved over time into the species ‘Homo neanderthalensis’ (‘Neanderthal humans’). They are commonly referred to simply as ‘Neanderthals’. The Neanderthals of Eurasia were able to adapt very well to the cold climate of the Ice Age. They were bigger and more muscular than Sepiens. On the other hand, another species of human was settled in East Asia - ‘Homo erectus’, which means ‘steep human’. Homo erectus is the longest surviving human species on earth; They have roamed the earth for about 2 million years. This record will most likely remain intact. Because there is considerable doubt as to whether our own species, Homo sapiens, will survive the next 1,000 years; It is beyond our power to traverse 2 million years.
The island of Java, Indonesia, is home to a human species that has been able to adapt to the tropical climate. They have been dubbed "Homo soloensis". In Flores, another small island in Indonesia, a group of primitive humans had to go through a process that caused them to become short. Sea level was much lower when the first group of primitive humans arrived on the island of Flores. Later, when the sea level rises, some people are trapped on that uninhabited island. Huge-bodied people, who needed more food to survive, died first. Relatively small people survive. The same process continues in later generations. Thus, after many generations, the people of Flores Island became "inferior". This unique species of human, named ‘Homo floresiensis’ by scientists, had a maximum height of one meter and weighed no more than 25 kg. Despite their short stature, they could make a variety of stone tools, and sometimes even hunt island elephants. In fact, the island's elephant species was also short.
In 2010, scientists rescued another of our lost siblings from oblivion when they found a petrified finger bone in a cave on the island of Denisova in Siberia. Genetic analysis proves that these bones do not belong to any known human species. This unknown human species is called ‘Homo denisova’. Who knows, how many more of our lost relatives are waiting to be discovered on an island, cave or terrain!
While people living across Europe and Asia were evolving, the wheel of evolution did not stop in East Africa. The maternity ward of mankind has given birth to many new species; Such as "Homo rudolfensis" ("Lake Rudolph's human"), "Homo ergaster" or "hardworking human", and finally our own species, which we very shamelessly named "Homo sapiens", or "wise human".
Some of the members of this species were huge in size and others were short in size. Some were fierce hunters, while others were innocent fruit collectors. Some lived on an island, others across the continent. But all of them were species belonging to the genus Homo. They were all human beings.
It is a common misconception to imagine the order of origin of species as linear; For example, Ergaster gave birth to Erectus, Erectus gave birth to Neanderthals, and Neanderthals evolved. Such a linear model provides an erroneous hypothesis that at one point in history only one human species lived on Earth. The fact is that from about two million years ago to about 10,000 years ago, we had multiple human species inhabiting the earth at the same time. And why not? At present we see more than one species of fox, bear or pig; Then why not people? At least six different species of humans roamed the earth at the same time a million years ago. But not the multi-species past, the present dominance of our species is rather strange, and perhaps even faulty. Soon we will see that there were some good reasons behind the retention of the memory of our siblings.
The charge of thinking
Despite all the differences, some notable features existed in all human species. Most notably, the human brain is unusually large compared to other animals. Mammals that weigh 80 kg have an average brain size of 200 cubic centimeters. Two and a half million years ago, the brain size of the oldest human males and females was about 600 cubic centimeters. The average brain size of modern sapiens is 1200 to 1400 cubic centimeters. Neanderthals had larger brains.
We may think that the wheel of evolution has chosen the big brain এতে no wonder. We are so fascinated by our higher intelligence that we naturally assume that the larger the size of the brain and the greater the power, the better. But if that were true, it would be evident that cats could evolve from cats that could do calculus. So why has such a huge ‘thought-machine’ been born in the whole animal kingdom, only among the species of the genus Homo?
The fact is, tens of thousands of brains are a big problem for the body. This is not an easy task to carry, especially when it is confined to a huge skull. It is also very difficult to supply fuel to it. The brain of Homo sapiens weighs only 2-3 percent of its total body weight, but the brain occupies at least about 25 percent of the energy produced by the body, even when at rest. On the other hand, the brains of other apes consume 8% of the energy produced by their bodies during rest. Prehistoric humans had to pay the price for this huge brain in two ways. First, they had to spend more time looking for food. Second, their muscles gradually deteriorated. Just as the government shifts the allocated money from the education sector to the military sector, so too does man move the energy produced by his body from muscle to neurons instead of from face to face. It is very difficult to pre-decide whether it was a very good strategy to survive in the grasslands at that time. Because a chimpanzee can't win an argument with a Homo sapiens, but can pull people off like a doll if they want to.
Today our brains are a great help in survival, because with the help of this organ we can build cars and weapons with which we can run faster than a chimpanzee, and shoot from a safe haven, without going into any kind of wrestling. But cars and weapons - all these were just inventions of that day. For nearly two million years, the size of the human brain's nervous system has only grown and increased, but mankind has not been able to do anything very special with it, except for a handful of shiny knives and sharp spears. So what is the reason for this evolution of the huge human brain over two million years? Honestly, we don't know.

A comparative figure of the brain sizes of different human-species.
Another unique feature of humans is that we can walk on two legs. Standing upright makes it easier to find prey or predators in the grasslands. And since the two front arms are no longer used for movement, they can be used for other purposes, such as throwing stones or giving signals. Those who were more adept at using hands were more successful than others. So evolutionary pressure has brought about the assembly of nerves in the fingers and palms of our hands and brought harmony to the muscles. As a result, people can perform complex tasks with their hands. In particular, they can make and use all the complex machinery. The earliest evidence of the use of rock tools is about two and a half million years old. Anthropologists can distinguish ancient people from the use of rock tools and signs of production.
However, there are some difficulties in walking upright. For millions of years the skeletal system of our predecessor primates has evolved for four-legged animals that have relatively small heads. Standing upright in this situation was a big challenge, especially when you had to carry an unusually shaped skull around your neck. Mankind has had to pay the price for getting better eyesight and working hands by accepting back pain and inflexible neck.
Women have paid the most. To move straight, a narrower posterior part was required, which gradually narrowed the genital tract. This is exactly what happened at a time when the heads of newborn babies were getting bigger and bigger. Maternal infant mortality becomes a major hazard for women. Women who gave birth early, when the baby's brain and skull were relatively small and flexible in shape, were more likely to survive and give birth to more children. Natural selection favors relatively rapid births. And to be honest, humans are born prematurely compared to other animals, when not all the vital organs of the body are fully developed. A cub can walk shortly after birth; A kitten leaves its mother just a few weeks old and goes out in search of food. Human children, on the other hand, remain absolutely helpless; They have to depend on adults for food, security and education year after year.
This factor has at the same time played a big role in building the extraordinary social skills of the people and creating its unique problems. Mothers alone could never provide enough food for themselves and their children. The support of family and neighbors was needed to raise the child. A whole tribe is needed to make a child human. Naturally, evolution favored those who were able to build strong social bonds. In addition, since humans are born imperfectly developed, it is possible to make them more educated and socialized than any other animal. Most mammals are born much like earthenware pots, which can be scratched or broken if bent. Man is born much like molten glass; They can be twisted or stretched as desired and shaped as desired. That is why today we can raise children as Christians or Buddhists, or raise them as capitalists or communists; Even as peace-loving or war-loving.
***
We generally assume that advantageous qualities, such as the large brain, the use of rocky tools, the high ability to learn anything, and the complex social structure, have taken us many steps further than other animals. It may seem self-evident that because of all these advantages, humans have become the most powerful creatures on earth. But all these qualities have been enjoyed by human beings for almost 2 million years, yet the whole time man has survived as a weak and marginal species. Primitive humans millions of years ago, despite having huge brains and sharp rocky weapons, were constantly approached for fear of predators. They could rarely hunt large animals; They survive mainly by eating fruits and insects, occasionally by hunting small animals, and by eating the remains of prey left by other predators.
The most common of the ancient stone tools used was to break bones and remove bone marrow. Some researchers believe that this is a basic human invention. Just as woodpeckers were skilled at extracting insects from tree trunks, so the primitive people were skilled at extracting bone marrow from bones. But the question is - why did they eat out the bone marrow? Imagine yourself in the context of that time. You see, a group of lions have hunted a giraffe and are eating it. You patiently waited for them to finish eating. But even if they leave, your chances will not come, because then the hyenas and foxes turn, and if you are smart, do not dare to compete with them. They will lick the rest of the prey left by the lion. After they leave, it will be your turn and the turn of your tribe. You proceeded very carefully towards the fallen remains and saw that there was nothing left, only some bones; Then you broke the bone and started eating out the bone marrow.
This is a key to understanding our history and psyche. Even some time ago, the position of ‘Homo’ animals in the food chain was in the middle. For millions of years, man has been the smallest creature on earth - eating whatever he could get; On the other hand, they were often preyed upon by other large predators. Only 4 million years ago, a few species of humans began to regularly hunt large animals, and only 1 million years ago - after the rise of Homo sapiens - mankind jumped to the top of the food chain.
The effect of suddenly reaching the peak from the middle position of the food chain was quite deadly. Other animals that were at the very top of the food chain, such as lions and sharks; They have achieved that position very slowly, after millions of years of evolution. So the surrounding ecosystem has been able to adapt over time and maintain the balance of the environment, so that neither the lion nor the shark could wreak much havoc. Over time, lions have gradually become more dangerous predators, while deer herds have evolved and learned to run faster, hyenas have taken on the role of helpers, and rhinos have become more moody. On the other hand, mankind has risen to the top of the food chain so fast that the surrounding ecosystem has not had time to adapt properly. In addition, people have not been able to adapt properly to the environment. Most of the world's top predatory species seem to be individual royal animals. Millions of years of domination have brought them impossible confidence. Compared to that, Homo sapiens is like the dictator of a Benana Republic. Not long ago we were a helpless animal in Savannah; From there, we suddenly rise to today's position, as if we are scared and worried about our position, which has made us twice as violent and terrifying. This catastrophic leap has been blamed on countless catastrophes in history, from bloody wars to environmental catastrophes.
Cooking species
Fire control was a significant step on the way to the top. Few human species occasionally used fire 600,000 years ago. From about 300,000 years ago, however, the ancestors of Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and Homo sapiens began to use fire regularly. As a result, people found a reliable source of light and warmth, and a deadly weapon to escape from lions roaming in search of prey. Shortly after the grandchildren, people started burning the surrounding forests on purpose. With very carefully managed fires it was possible to turn a barren forest into a grassland that would be full of prey. In addition, when the fire was extinguished, enterprising people could go around the burnt forest and pick up burnt animals, nuts and tubers. But the most extraordinary thing that happened as a result of controlling the fire was the invention of cooking.
Foods that people could not eat in their natural state - such as wheat, rice, potatoes - have become the staple food, thanks to cooking. Fire not only changed the chemistry of food, it also changed the biology of food. Cooking destroys the germs and parasites that cause food infestation. Fruits, nuts, insects and meat were boiled and eaten, so people had to spend much less time chewing and digesting food than before. Where chimpanzees chew only raw food for at least five hours a day, humans only need to spend an hour cooking.
The advent of cooking gave people the opportunity to eat a variety of foods in a short period of time, and helped in the contraction of teeth and intestines. Some scientists believe that the advent of cooking is directly related to the shrinkage of the human intestine and the increase in the size of the brain. Since both the giant brain and the long intestine consume a lot of energy, it is difficult to take care of both at the same time. As the intestines became smaller and energy was reduced, the advent of cooking paved the way for Neanderthals and Sepians to acquire huge brains without any purpose.
Fire was the first significant dividing line between humans and other animals. The strength of almost all animals depends on their body, such as the strength of their muscles, the size of their teeth, and the spread of their wings. Although some people know how to harness wind and currents, no one can control these natural forces, and they are always confined to the wall of their physical capacity.