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?
课程详情
One hundred thousand years ago, Homo sapiens was still an insignificant animal minding its own business in a corner of Africa. Our ancestors shared the planet with at least five other human species, and their role in the ecosystem was no greater than that of gorillas, fireflies, or jellyfish. Then, about 70,000 years ago, a mysterious change took place in the cognitive abilities of Homo sapiens, transforming it into the master of the entire planet and the terror of the ecosystem. Today it stands on the verge of becoming a god, molding not only its surroundings but also its own body and mind.
The course will explain how Homo sapiens conquered planet Earth, and what it did with its newly acquired power. How did Homo sapiens manage to drive all other human species to extinction, along with about half of the world’s large terrestrial mammals? When did money and gods appear, and why? How did empires rise and fall, and why is it possible for small minorities to lord it over vast numbers of subject populations? Why did almost all societies believe that women are inferior to men? What was the role of religion in history, and why did monotheism become the most widespread type of religion? How did science and capitalism become the dominant creeds of the modern era? Does history have a direction? Did people become happier as history progressed? And what are the chances that Homo sapiens will still be around in a hundred years?