Part 2 - Sapiens - brief history of humans

Fiction based view

     In his famous book "Sapiens"Yuval argues that main reason for humanity's progress is its ability to create stories. Religions, nationalisms, money based economies and joint stock corporations are all behind tbe success of humans. Humans cooperate and coexist in large numbers unlike animals which cannot live in large numbers. No doubt this is a new and creative way of interpreting reasons for human progress.Yuval says that every concept that facilitated humans to cooperate each other in big numbers are all based on fiction or stories.

      Nations, money based economic models, corporate entities are really products of imaginations is agreeable to a large extent. Even in the case of religions, when it is a broadbased view, it is an acceptable point in my opinion. But to dismiss all religious doctrines as figment of someone's imagination is like stretching this  argument a little too far. But, yes,Yuval is spot on in macro analyzing religions. As far as organized religions are concerned they are largely based on some stories woven behind prophets or in some cases, books or in incidents.

      Moreover, the fictional view of the author applies only to Abrahamic religions which are based on God concept. Indic religions are not exactly god centric. Concepts like Buddhism ignores god and Jainism is also not based on god. There are philosophies in sects of Hinduism which are not belief based but subjective experience based. There is no question of having faith or belief. You are allowed to be skeptical and there is exploratory freedom. So, when Yuval says religions are all fiction, we might say that he means only Abrahamic/organized religions.

All Economic structures and nations are imaginary

       Yuval's view is Economic Concepts like Money and corporate entities are products of human imagination. No one can have any argument with this. True that they are the success stories which led to massive expansion of economies. Yuval's opinion here is that of a person who sees it from a capitalist prism. Industrial revolutions happened not just because of new breakthroughs in science and technology in Europe but also due to scope of large expansions in capitalistic structure of economy. Unhindered permission to speculation and taking risks in lending also contributed, according to the author. This kind of scope for inflating the economy and growth prospects are lacking in Marxist based economies where there is no space for expanding the economy beyond actual means. Everything is concrete structure, unelastic and so as there is no scope to stretch it.,  This was why the economies of soviet bloc collapsed at one point, in my view. Though capitalist economies also face crises every now and then, it regains its strength sooner due to this scope for growth. Chinese leadership realised this at one point and they allowed free enterprises and saved themselves from collapse.

       Thus, I completely agree with the author when it comes to the growth prospects of capitalist and the lack of it in communist economies. But I am of the opinion that the author is not giving any credit for communism where it is due. Communism brought the issues of common men and women to the discussion rooms of ruling elite for the first time in the history of humans. There was realization that working masses are humans and they also do need decent and civilized living. It brought the thinking of equality and liberty. Proper distribution of wealth was talking point only after communist struggles. A thriving middle class and Democratic societies were born. Ignoring the forces behind these achievements will not give wholesome view of history of humans, in my view. May be, the author does this deliberately to please western audiences, I don't know. As for the decline of communist ideas in this 21st century and lack of interest among young generation, my take would be to revisit or reinterpret the concepts in such a way that gives ample scope for new imaginations. And elasticity or flexibility in the case of economies should also be given thought of.

       One cannot allow the world to be one idea centric. There must be play of all ideas in all spheres. There must be clash of different ideologies in the world. The suffering masses and ordinary working people need communists to succeed in this age of Artificial intelligence.

       We may agree or disagree with Yuval on some aspects of his wrtings. But he cannot be ignored. With all the shortcomings and lack of good words for the achievements of communists, this could be one of most important books written in this century.

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