A Brief History of Humankind

开始时间: 04/22/2022 持续时间: Unknown

所在平台: CourseraArchive

课程类别: 人文

大学或机构: Hebrew University of Jerusalem(耶路撒冷希伯来大学)

授课老师: Yuval Noah Harari

课程主页: https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind

课程评论: 3 个评论

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课程简介

The course surveys the entire length of human history, from the evolution of various human species in the Stone Age up to the political and technological revolutions of the twenty-first century.

课程大纲

Part I: The Cognitive Revolution 

Lecture 1: An Animal of No Significance

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited planet Earth. Who were they? Where did they come from? Why is there today only one species of humans—Homo sapiens—and what happened to all the others? 

Lecture 2: The Tree of Knowledge

The Cognitive Revolution, about 70,000 years ago, enabled Homo sapiens to conquer the world and drive all other human species to extinction. Homo sapiens developed new cognitive abilities, which manifested in the appearance of “modern language.” How was this language different from the languages of earlier human species and of other animals? Why can we consider the appearance of this new type of language as the beginning of history? How is history different from biology? 

Lecture 3: A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve

What was life like for the people who lived between the Cognitive Revolution (c. 70,000 years ago) and the Agricultural Revolution (c. 10,000 years ago)? What did they do when they woke up in the morning? What were their societies like? Did they have monogamous relationships and nuclear families? Did they have religions, revolutions, and wars? 

Lecture 4: The Flood

Following the Cognitive Revolution, Homo sapiens spread all over the planet. While doing this, it drove numerous other species into extinction. In Australia, up to 95% of all large animal species vanished. In America, 84 of 107 large mammal species likewise disappeared. Altogether, about half of the large terrestrial mammal species that populated Earth became extinct. How could a few million individuals who possessed no more than stone-age technology have wrought such devastation? 


Part II: The Agricultural Revolution 

Lecture 5: History’s Biggest Fraud

About 10,000 years ago, people in the Middle East, China, and Central America began domesticating plants and animals. In the process, Homo sapiens, too, was domesticated, abandoning a life of hunting and gathering for the pleasures and discomforts of permanent settlements. For most people, the discomforts outweighed the pleasures. The Agricultural Revolution made the life of the average person harder and grimmer. Why, then, did it occur? 

Lecture 6: Building Pyramids

For millions of years, humans lived in intimate bands of no more than a few dozen individuals. Our biological instincts evolved as an adaptation to this way of life. Humans were therefore ill-equipped to cooperate with large numbers of strangers. This hasn’t changed much. Yet within a few millennia after the onset of the Agricultural Revolution, humans established cities, kingdoms, and empires. How did people manage to organize stable societies based on intensive cooperation between millions of strangers when our biological makeup seems to preclude such arrangements? 

Lecture 7: A Revolution in Data-Processing

One of the critical factors that enabled millions of strangers to cooperate successfully was the invention of writing. How was writing invented, and what was its historical significance? 

Lecture 8: There is No Justice in History

Another critical factor in the formation of complex societies was the division of the population into a hierarchy of groups. Agricultural and industrial societies have been built on hierarchies of class, race, ethnicity, or gender. Why was it impossible to create a just and equal society? What is the deep root of prejudice and injustice? In particular, why have almost all known societies over the past 10,000 years believed that men are superior to women? 

 

Part III: The Unification of Humankind 

Lecture 9: The Arrow of History

In the millennia following the Agricultural Revolution, humans created many different cultures. How did these cultures relate to one another? Are there universal patterns governing the interaction between them? 

Lecture 10: The Scent of Money

Commerce has played a crucial role in connecting and merging cultures. Of particular importance was the invention—and spread—of money. Money is a system of mutual trust. It is in fact the most universal, most open-minded, and most successful system of mutual trust ever devised. How did it happen that people who believe in different gods and obey different rulers nevertheless trust the same money? 

Lecture 11: Imperial Visions

The idea of empire is seen today in a very negative light, but empires have played such a central role in human history that it’s hard to regard them as solidly evil. What exactly is an empire? How have empires succeeded in uniting under their aegis different ecological regions, ethnic groups, and religious communities? How can we balance the positive contribution of empires with their record of violence and oppression? And what is the future of the imperial ideal? Is the world destined to be ruled by a new global empire? 

Lecture 12: The Law of Religion

The role of religion in history is extremely controversial. Some see religion as the root of all evil, while for others it is the primary source of happiness, empathy, and progress. Can we arrive at a balanced judgment? What were the main landmarks in the religious history of the world? In what ways did different cultures understand the universe, distinguish good from evil, and grapple with the ubiquitous presence of suffering? 

Lecture 13: The Secret of Success

Why did some religions spread like wildfire while others disappeared? Why did some empires last for centuries, yet others were as ephemeral as sand castles? Can we identify the secret of historical success, and will it help us to predict the future course of history?

 

Part IV. The Scientific Revolution 

Lecture 14: The Discovery of Ignorance

During the last 500 years there has been an explosive and exponential growth in the power of humankind, due, above all, to the formation of the modern scientific tradition and its ideal of “progress.” Humankind has become increasingly convinced that the only thing that limits its power is its own ignorance, and that the discovery of new knowledge can enable it to do almost anything. How is the modern scientific tradition different from all previous traditions of knowledge? What accounts for its sudden rise and for its unparalleled achievements? 

Lecture 15: The Marriage of Science and Empire

The modern scientific tradition developed in symbiosis with the modern imperial tradition. For many of their practitioners, science and imperialism were almost indistinguishable. The conquest of new knowledge depended upon and made possible the conquest of new territories. Why did all of this begin in Europe of all places, an area that previously had played no important role in world history? How did science help build empires, and how did empire-builders repay the scientists? 

Lecture 16: The Capitalist Creed

The close relationship of science and imperialism was in fact just one part of a ménage-à-trois. The third crucial member of this trio was modern capitalism, which financed both science and empire, and which orchestrated an unprecedented growth in the world economy. How does a capitalist economy function? How is it different from traditional economies? Is capitalism natural, or is it really a modern religion? 

Lecture 17: The Wheels of Industry

During the last 200 years, the combination of science, imperialism and capitalism gave humankind control of enormous new energy resources that revolutionized human production. How did this change the global ecology, daily life, and human psychology? 

Lecture 18: A Permanent Revolution

The industrial revolution unhinged the world, opening an era of permanent revolution. The late modern socio-political order is in constant flux, never settling into any stable pattern. The pillars of human order—most notably, the family and the intimate community—are crumbling around us. How do humans deal with the resulting vacuum and chaos? How do society and politics function without stability? Is the world becoming more violent and dangerous, or is it actually more peaceful and secure than ever before? 

Lecture 19: And They Lived Happily Ever After

Have 500 years of unimaginable discoveries, developments, and revolutions made people happier? If not, what was the point of all these changes? Most history books ignore these issues, yet these are the most important questions we can ask about history. New insights from biology, economics, and psychology are offering fascinating paths of inquiry into the history of human happiness. 

Lecture 20: The End of Homo Sapiens

Over the last few decades humans have began to bend and break the laws of natural selection—laws that have governed life on Earth for the past four billion years. Genetic engineering, cyborg engineering, and the engineering of completely non-organic life promise to dislodge natural selection—in favor of intelligent design—as the supreme principle of life. We are acquiring unprecedented abilities to design not only the world around us, but also our own bodies, our personalities, and our desires. How will this influence society and culture? Does anybody know where we are heading? What exactly do we want to become?

课程评论(3条)

0

原来昵称是不能重名的 2014-03-23 07:54 0 票支持; 0 票反对

非常好!

0

超級現實的超現實理想主義者 2014-02-01 20:48 0 票支持; 0 票反对

轮次:

Aug 2013

背景:

这门课不需要什么背景知识,只要肯花时间,剩下的就交给讲师了。(稍微”Due Diligence”了一下,讲师在中东好像是个很红的年轻学者)

因为本科专业是法学专业(传说中的“平时养老院,考前疯人院”),加上一直挺鄙视所谓学生会及其相关的活动,所以除了出去实习或者打球,剩下的时间都比较闲。大学前三年花了很多时间看了大量的纪录片、电影等资料,而且因为自学金融也看了不少金融和经济学领域的教材名著,所以自认为对于社会运作规律有了一些感觉,直到当我遇到这门课。

内容:

这门课如果要用“宏伟史诗”来形容一点也不过分,其中包含了很多学科的内容,例如考古学、生物学、物理学、经济学、宗教、社会学甚至计算机科学等等。不同于台湾大学的“秦始皇”的“说教”,这门课程里面的大部分观点都是从不同的角度进行介绍,其中很多都是经无数人严格验证过的,讲师很多时候仅仅是通过自己的表达希望尽量客观地介绍一些内容,至于每个人怎么理解并没有统一的标准了。(我不太喜欢被人说教,有些道理还是自己总结比较好,所以这门课程更符合我的口味)

正因为每个人对于这门课的看法会不同,所以对我来说这门课最核心的内容,或者说贯穿课程的主线总结就是“什么是幸福?” 毫不夸张地说,这门课重新定义了我对于“幸福”理解。其中对我来说最震撼的部分应该是:“Lesson 5 History’s Biggest Fraud”

练习:

这门课的作业和考试仅仅是走个过场,主要就是弄一张证书留作纪念。

社区:

这门课的论坛讨论还是挺激烈的,有很多非常宏大或者敏感的问题在里面也有讨论。其中不出意外的,最热闹的一个帖子是关于宗教的,看到每个不同宗教背景的人在里面讨论,感觉挺奇妙的。

总结:

总结呢…这么说吧,世界上有两种人:听过这门课的,还有没听过这门课的。

1

要有光LTBL 2013-10-17 13:21 1 票支持; 0 票反对

这么课到现在也只上了一半多,毕竟17周基本上是coursera上最长的课了吧。但是这门课真的讲得非常,非常,非常的好。
老师坐在椅子上把人类历史最精华的部分娓娓道来,有点像百家讲坛的感觉。这门课的重点不是那些历史事件,而是作为一个整体的历史。
比如,人类的其他近亲为什么消失?认知能力,农业革命,货币,帝国,宗教,科学,这些都是如何改变人类的。而且就我个人而言我觉得视野开阔了很多。
另外视频制作的很精良,总之各方面都无可挑剔。

课程详情

The course surveys the entire length of human history, from the evolution of various human species in the Stone Age up to the political and technological revolutions of the twenty-first century.

课程标签

人文 历史 人文历史 人类历史 石器时代 21世纪 人类简史 人类 耶路撒冷希伯来大学 humankind Yuval Noah Harari Hebrew University of Jerusalem 宗教

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