Story Of Our Lives The Homo Sapiens Secrets Of Success

We are a restless, world-changing species. We are the only organism that combines a multitude of abilities to harness the rules of nature, continuously manipulating our environment, its resources and even our own bodies to fit our ever-changing needs and desires. What is it that enables us to share some 99 percent of DNA as well as some basic behaviors with other organisms, yet at the same time be so different and powerful?Coalescing understandings driven from biology, psychology, anthropology, history and more, Ben David addresses the above question using a new paradigm: The Gordian knot between five human traits — imagination, creative making, complex communication, change and intergenerational transfer — evolutionary developed and co-amplified as the ultra-complex system called Homo sapiens. Weaving personal stories with professional experience, Ben David narrates innovative definitions of technology, education, science and their co-dependence; emphasizes their roles in the development of human societies; deliberates their implications on everyday life; discusses the crucial role of science education; and offers a fresh look at who we are as the leading species on this planet.Dr Liat Ben David is the CEO of the Davidson Institute of Science Education, the educational arm of Israel's acclaimed Weizmann Institute of Science. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and has more than 30 years of experience in the field of STEM education. Ben David teaches regularly in various spheres, including academia and TEDx; she is an accomplished author who has published numerous articles and books.This book is a 2023 Nautilus Book Awards winner.This book is an INDIES Award-Winning Finalist.

"Coalescing understandings driven from biology, psychology, anthropology, history and more, Ben David addresses the above question using a new paradigm: The Gordian knot between five human traits - imagination, creative making, complex communication, change and intergenerational transfer - evolutionary developed and co-amplified as the ultra-complex system called Homo sapiens. Weaving personal stories with professional experience, Ben David narrates innovative definitions of technology, education, science and their co-dependence; emphasizes their roles in the development of human societies; deliberates their implications on everyday life; discusses the crucial role of science education; and offers a fresh look at who we are as the leading species on this planet"--

A powerful, counterintuitive new theory of human nature arguing that our evolutionary success depends on our ability to be friendly--from a pair of trailblazing scientists and New York Times bestselling authors. For most of the approximately 200,000 years that our species has existed, we shared the planet with at least four other types of humans. They were smart, they were strong, and they were inventive. Neanderthals even had the capacity for spoken language. But, one by one, our hominid relatives went extinct. Why did we thrive? In delightfully conversational prose and based on years of his own original research, Brian Hare, professor in the department of evolutionary anthropology and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University, and his wife Vanessa Woods, a research scientist and award-winning journalist, offer a powerful, elegant new theory called "self-domestication" which suggests that we have succeeded not because we were the smartest or strongest but because we are the friendliest. This explanation flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Since Charles Darwin wrote about "evolutionary fitness," scientists have confused fitness with strength, tactical brilliance, and aggression. But what helped us innovate where other primates did not is our knack for coordinating with and listening to others. We can find common cause and identity with both neighbors and strangers if we see them as "one of us." This ability makes us geniuses at cooperation and innovation and is responsible for all the glories of culture and technology in human history. But this gift for friendliness comes at cost. If we perceive that someone is not "one of us," we are capable of unplugging them from our mental network. Where there would have been empathy and compassion, there is nothing, making us both the most tolerant and the most merciless species on the planet. To counteract the rise of tribalism in all aspects of modern life, Hare and Woods argue, we need to expand our empathy and friendliness to include people who aren't obviously like ourselves. Brian Hare's groundbreaking research was developed in close collaboration with Richard Wrangham and Michael Tomasello, giants in the field of cognitive evolution. Survival of the Friendliest explains both our evolutionary success and our potential for cruelty in one stroke and sheds new light onto everything from genocide and structural inequality to art and innovation.

How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. Our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. Later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. Henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory. Tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, The Secret of Our Success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.

The complex story of human evolution is a tale seven million years in the making. Each new discovery adds to or revises our story and our understanding of how we came to be the way we are. In this eBook, The Human Odyssey, we explore the evolution of those characteristics that make us human. The first section, “Where We Came From,” looks at our family tree and why some branches survived and not others. Swings in climate are emerging as a factor in what traits succeeded and failed, as we see in “Climate Shocks;” meanwhile in “Human Hybrids,” DNA analyses show that Homo sapiens interbred with other human species, which played a key role in our survival. Section Two, “What Makes Us Special,” examines those traits that separate us from other primates. Recent data indicate that our hairless skin was important to the rise of other human features, and other research is getting closer to illuminating how humans became monogamous, as shown in “The Naked Truth” and “Powers of Two,” respectively. In the final section, “Where We Are Going,” we speculate on the future of human evolution in a world where advances in technology, medicine and other areas protect us from harmful factors like disease, causing some scientists to claim that humans are no longer subject to natural selection and our evolution has ceased. Far from that, in “Still Evolving,” author John Hawks discusses how humans have evolved rapidly over the past 30,000 years, as seen in relatively recent traits like blue eyes or lactose tolerance, why such rapid evolution has been possible and what future generations might look like. Like us, our story will continue to evolve.

Where did we come from? Where are we going? Homo sapiens is the most successful, the most widespread and the most influential species ever to walk the Earth. In the blink of an evolutionary eye we have spread around the globe, taken control of Earth's biological and mineral resources, transformed the environment, discovered the secrets of the universe and travelled into space. Yet just 7 million years ago, we were just another species of great ape making a quiet living in the forests of East Africa. We do not know exactly what this ancestor was like, but it was no more likely than a chimpanzee or gorilla to sail across the ocean, write a symphony, invent a steam engine or ponder the meaning of existence. How did we get from there to here? Human Origins recounts the most astonishing evolutionary tale ever told. Discover how our ancestors made the first tentative steps towards becoming human, how we lost our fur but gained language, fire and tools, how we strode out of Africa, invented farming and cities and ultimately created modern civilisation - perhaps the only one of its kind in the universe. Meet your long-lost ancestors, the other humans who once shared the planet with us, and learn where the story might end. ABOUT THE SERIES New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us. We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens?

EXTENDED SUMMARY: SAPIENS - A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND – BASED ON THE BOOK BY YUVAL NOAH HARARI Are you ready to boost your knowledge about "SAPIENS"? Do you want to quickly and concisely learn the key lessons of this book? Are you ready to process the information of an entire book in just one reading of approximately 20 minutes? Would you like to have a deeper understanding of the techniques and exercises in the original book? Then this book is for you! BOOK CONTENT: The Cognitive Revolution: From Anatomically Modern Humans to Cognitive Revolutionaries Homo Sapiens: The Story of Our Species The Agricultural Revolution: Taming Plants and Animals The Birth of Civilizations: From Hunter-Gatherers to City Dwellers The Unification of Humankind: The Role of Money and Empires The Scientific Revolution: From Alchemy to Modern Science The Capitalist Revolution: The Rise of Market Economies Imperialism and Colonialism: The Global Expansion of European Powers The Industrial Revolution: Transforming Societies and Economies The Ideological Revolutions: From Religion to Nationalism The Information Age: How Data and Technology Shape Our World The Biotechnological Revolution: Redefining Life and Humanity The Future of Homo Sapiens: Challenges and Possibilities Sapiens in the Anthropocene: The Impact of Humans on the Planet Beyond Sapiens: Exploring the Future of Human Evolution

Where did we come from? Where are we going? Homo sapiens is the most successful, the most widespread and the most influential species ever to walk the Earth. In the blink of an evolutionary eye we have spread around the globe, taken control of Earth's biological and mineral resources, transformed the environment, discovered the secrets of the universe and travelled into space. Yet just 7 million years ago, we were just another species of great ape making a quiet living in the forests of East Africa. We do not know exactly what this ancestor was like, but it was no more likely than a chimpanzee or gorilla to sail across the ocean, write a symphony, invent a steam engine or ponder the meaning of existence. How did we get from there to here? The Story of Human Origins recounts the most astonishing evolutionary tale ever told. Discover how our ancestors made the first tentative steps towards becoming human, how we lost our fur but gained language, fire and tools, how we strode out of Africa, invented farming and cities and ultimately created modern civilization - perhaps the only one of its kind in the Universe. Meet your long-lost ancestors, the other humans who once shared the planet with us, and learn where the story might end.

Becoming Human: Our Past, Present and Future by the Editors of Scientific American We humans are a strange bunch. We have self-awareness and yet often act on impulses that remain hidden. We were forged in adversity but live in a world of plenty. How did we get here? What is to become of us? To these age-old questions, science has in recent years brought powerful tools and reams of data, and in this eBook, Becoming Human: Our Past, Present and Future, we look at what these data have to tell us about who we are. We know, for instance, that three million years ago, a group of primates known as the australopithecines was walking capably on two legs—the better to navigate the African savanna—and yet still had long arms suited to life in the trees. In Section One, "Becoming Us," we search for how and why this and other transitions occurred. In "Lucy's Baby," author Kate Wong discusses what the oldest juvenile skeleton tells us about how early humans walked the Earth. Another article, "The Naked Truth," examines why humans lost their hair and how hairlessness was a key factor in developing other human traits. Section Two covers "The Secrets of our Success," and we see that human evolution and culture are often related. In "The Evolution of Grandparents," Rachel Caspari shows us that as humans started to live longer, grandparents played a role in family life, which in turn made possible more complex social behaviors. In Section Three, "Migration and Colonization," we look at how scientists are studying the minuscule bits of DNA that differ from one individual to another for clues to our origins and settlements. "The First Americans" illustrates the findings that have pushed back the date at which hunter-gatherers colonized the Americas. And in Section Four, "Vanished Humans," the discovery of "hobbits"—a human species of small stature—has turned the science of human origins on its ear. Where is evolution taking us? We present two points of view in Section Five, "Our Continuing Evolution." In "How We Are Evolving," Jonathan K. Pritchard argues that selection pressure typically acts over tens of thousands of years, which means we probably won't evolve much anytime soon. But stasis is only one possible future, says Peter Ward in "What May Become of Us." In adapting to new environments—say, a colony on Mars—our human species may eventually diverge into two or more. Or we could go the cyborg route and merge with machines. Whichever option you prefer, there is plenty to ponder.