Sapiens a Graphic History, Volume 2: The Pillars of Civilization
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Date: 2021-10-27T17:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Comics & Graphic Novels; Nonfiction; General; Young Adult Nonfiction; Science & Nature; Social Topics; History; Social Science; Anthropology; Cultural & Social; Physical; Science; Life Sciences; Evolution; Customs; Traditions; Anthropology; History of Science; People & Places; World; Civilization; Social History
Description: The second volume of an epic, beautifully illustrated graphic history of humankind, based on Yuval Noah Harari's internationally bestselling phenomenonWhen nomadic Homo sapiens settled to live in one place, they started working harder and harder. But why didn't they get a better life in return?In The Pillars of Civilization, Yuval Noah Harari and his companions including Prof. Saraswati and Dr. Fiction travel the length and breadth of human history to investigate how the Agricultural Revolution changed society forever. Discover how wheat took over the world, how war, famine, disease and inequa
Publisher: Random House

This book tackles difficult subjects, including historic and
contemporary public discourse about race, religion, and social
hierarchy, with the intent of encouraging open conversation based
on science and critical thinking. Much research and thought have
been put into presenting this subject matter, with the awareness
that certain aspects of the presentation may prove challenging or
unsettling for some audiences. Nevertheless, it is important to the
authors to address pressing social and global issues such as those
discussed within.

Adapted under the coordination of Sapienship and Albin Michel
Publishing (France) from Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari.

First published in Hebrew in 2011 by Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir.
First English language edition published in 2015 by HarperCollins
Publishers.

SAPIENS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY, THE PILLARS OF CIVILIZATION (VOL. TWO).
Copyright © 2021 Yuval Noah Harari. All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees,
you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read
the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,
downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any
information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether
electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express
written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business,
or sales promotional use. For information, please email the
Special Markets Department at SPsales@harpercollins.com.

Quote from “Uncle Sam Says,” Southern Exposure album,
by Josh White, Folk-Blues Music Co./ASCAP, 1941.

First U.S. edition

Cover design by Harold Peiffer
Cover illustration by Daniel Casanave

Creation and co-writing: Yuval Noah Harari
Adaptation and co-writing: David Vandermeulen
Adaptation and illustration: Daniel Casanave
Colors: Claire Champion

Albin Michel:
Editor: Martin Zeller
Editing and coordination: Lauren Triou

Sapienship Storytelling:
Production and management: Itzik Yahav
Management and editing: Naama Avital
Marketing and PR: Naama Wartenburg
Editing and coordination: Nina Zivy
Translation and editing: Adriana Hunter
Diversity consulting: Slava Greenberg
www.sapienship.co

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been
applied for.

Digital Edition OCTOBER 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-321224-4
Version 10072021
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-321223-7
ISBN 978-0-06-321222-0 (library edition)

To the ancestors who laid the pillars, and the better
ancestors we must become.
—YUVAL NOAH HARARI

This book tackles difficult subjects, including historic and
contemporary public discourse about race, religion, and social
hierarchy, with the intent of encouraging open conversation based
on science and critical thinking. Much research and thought have
been put into presenting this subject matter, with the awareness
that certain aspects of the presentation may prove challenging or
unsettling for some audiences. Nevertheless, it is important to the
authors to address pressing social and global issues such as those
discussed within.

Adapted under the coordination of Sapienship and Albin Michel
Publishing (France) from Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari.

First published in Hebrew in 2011 by Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir.
First English language edition published in 2015 by HarperCollins
Publishers.

SAPIENS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY, THE PILLARS OF CIVILIZATION (VOL. TWO).
Copyright © 2021 Yuval Noah Harari. All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees,
you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read
the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,
downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any
information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether
electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express
written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business,
or sales promotional use. For information, please email the
Special Markets Department at SPsales@harpercollins.com .

Quote from “Uncle Sam Says,” Southern Exposure album,
by Josh White, Folk-Blues Music Co./ASCAP, 1941.

First U.S. edition

Cover design by Harold Peiffer
Cover illustration by Daniel Casanave

Creation and co-writing: Yuval Noah Harari
Adaptation and co-writing: David Vandermeulen
Adaptation and illustration: Daniel Casanave
Colors: Claire Champion

Albin Michel:
Editor: Martin Zeller
Editing and coordination: Lauren Triou

Sapienship Storytelling:
Production and management: Itzik Yahav
Management and editing: Naama Avital
Marketing and PR: Naama Wartenburg
Editing and coordination: Nina Zivy
Translation and editing: Adriana Hunter
Diversity consulting: Slava Greenberg
www.sapienship.co

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been
applied for.

Digital Edition OCTOBER 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-321224-4
Version 10072021
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-321223-7
ISBN 978-0-06-321222-0 (library edition)

To the ancestors who laid the pillars, and the better
ancestors we must become.
—YUVAL NOAH HARARI

Timeline of History

Number of years ago

13.8 billion

Matter and energy appear. Beginning of physics.
Formation of atoms and molecules. Beginning of chemistry.

4.5 billion

Formation of planet Earth.

3.8 billion

Emergence of organisms. Beginning of biology.

6 million

Last common grandmother of humans and chimpanzees.

2.5 million

Humans evolve in Africa. Use of stone tools.

2 million

Humans spread from Africa to Eurasia.
Evolution of different human species.

400,000

Neanderthals evolve in Europe and the Middle East. Regular use of fire.

300,000

Homo sapiens evolves in Africa.

70,000

The Cognitive Revolution. Emergence of storytelling.
Beginning of history. Sapiens spread out of Africa.

50,000

Sapiens settle across Australia. Extinction of Australian megafauna.

30,000

Extinction of Neanderthals. Homo sapiens the only surviving human
species.

15,000

Sapiens spread across the Americas. Extinction of American megafauna.

12,000

The Agricultural Revolution. Domestication of plants and animals.
Permanent settlements.

5,000

First kingdoms, script and money. Polytheistic religions.

4,250

First empire—the Akkadian Empire of Sargon.

2,500

Invention of coins—a universal money.
The Persian Empire—a universal political order.
Buddhism in India—a universal teaching.

2,000

Han Empire in China. Roman Empire in the Mediterranean. Christianity.

1,400

Islam.

500

The Scientific Revolution. Humankind admits its ignorance and begins to
acquire unprecedented power.
Europeans begin to conquer America and the oceans. The entire planet
becomes a single historical arena. The rise of capitalism.

200

The Industrial Revolution. Family and community are replaced by state
and market.
Massive extinction of plants and animals.

The Present

Humans transcend the boundaries of planet Earth.
Nuclear weapons threaten the survival of humankind.
Organisms are increasingly shaped by intelligent design rather than
natural selection.

The Future

Intelligent design becomes the basic principle of life?
First nonorganic life-forms?
Humans become gods?

Timeline of History

Number of years ago

13.8 billion

Matter and energy appear. Beginning of physics.
Formation of atoms and molecules. Beginning of chemistry.

4.5 billion

Formation of planet Earth.

3.8 billion

Emergence of organisms. Beginning of biology.

6 million

Last common grandmother of humans and chimpanzees.

2.5 million

Humans evolve in Africa. Use of stone tools.

2 million

Humans spread from Africa to Eurasia.
Evolution of different human species.

400,000

Neanderthals evolve in Europe and the Middle East. Regular use of fire.

300,000

Homo sapiens evolves in Africa.

70,000

The Cognitive Revolution. Emergence of storytelling.
Beginning of history. Sapiens spread out of Africa.

50,000

Sapiens settle across Australia. Extinction of Australian megafauna.

30,000

Extinction of Neanderthals. Homo sapiens the only surviving human
species.

15,000

Sapiens spread across the Americas. Extinction of American megafauna.

12,000

The Agricultural Revolution. Domestication of plants and animals.
Permanent settlements.

5,000

First kingdoms, script and money. Polytheistic religions.

4,250

First empire—the Akkadian Empire of Sargon.

2,500

Invention of coins—a universal money.
The Persian Empire—a universal political order.
Buddhism in India—a universal teaching.

2,000

Han Empire in China. Roman Empire in the Mediterranean. Christianity.

1,400

Islam.

500

The Scientific Revolution. Humankind admits its ignorance and begins to
acquire unprecedented power.
Europeans begin to conquer America and the oceans. The entire planet
becomes a single historical arena. The rise of capitalism.

200

The Industrial Revolution. Family and community are replaced by state
and market.
Massive extinction of plants and animals.

The Present

Humans transcend the boundaries of planet Earth.
Nuclear weapons threaten the survival of humankind.
Organisms are increasingly shaped by intelligent design rather than
natural selection.

The Future

Intelligent design becomes the basic principle of life?
First nonorganic life-forms?
Humans become gods?

Little Crop
of Horrors

I can guess
where you’re
taking me,
Uncle Yuval.
I bet we’re
going to the
theater!

9

Little Crop
of Horrors

I can guess
where you’re
taking me,
Uncle Yuval.
I bet we’re
going to the
theater!

Ha ha...

Ok, so you guessed the surprise....
It was Professor Saraswati’s idea.

Was it,
Professor?

Hehe.
Yes.

I heard this show was on when I happened
to be in Tel Aviv, so I suggested the
three of us come to see it.

It’s exactly what
we need to satisfy our
curiosity—it’s all about
what happened next in the
story of Sapiens.

I
can’t
wait!

10

After they’d spread all over
the world, humans walked
right into a real tragedy.

They tried
to gain ever more
power....

And that didn’t
work out?

Let’s just say they
were hoping for
something better....

And their idea of
better very soon
turned out to be
worse....

As if they’d
made a pact
with the
devil.

It’s
starting!

More, more, more... they
always wanted moooooore....

11

Ha ha...

Ok, so you guessed the surprise....
It was Professor Saraswati’s idea.

Was it,
Professor?

Hehe.
Yes.

I heard this show was on when I happened
to be in Tel Aviv, so I suggested the
three of us come to see it.

It’s exactly what
we need to satisfy our
curiosity—it’s all about
what happened next in the
story of Sapiens.

I
can’t
wait!

After they’d spread all over
the world, humans walked
right into a real tragedy.

They tried
to gain ever more
power....

And that didn’t
work out?

Let’s just say they
were hoping for
something better....

And their idea of
better very soon
turned out to be
worse....

As if they’d
made a pact
with the
devil.

It’s
starting!

More, more, more... they
always wanted moooooore....

Lalali lalala... Poor
Farmer Faustus...

He always wanted
moooore....

More free time and more wealth...
Fewer struggles, better health...

work less,
and eat all
daaaaaay....

Oops, were
you there
all along?

I was singing my favorite
little ditty, “Little
Crop of Horrors.” Do you
know it?

Let me tell
you, you should
know...

Human
fate
was sealed
long ago....

twing

twing

12

I’d been watching humans since forever, to tell the truth
they weren’t very clever! I mean, all those different human
species spent more than two million years hunting animals
and gathering plants, but they NEVER THOUGHT
TO CONTROL THEM!!!

Like these tedious
Neanderthals hunting
their wild sheep...

Or this dreary Denisovan picking her figs... It
was handy—nay idyllic—for so many years... but,
let’s be honest, it bored me to tears....

Uugh-aaah!

The whole thing
was UNBEARABLE!

But some of the humans weren’t like the rest.
Especially the sapiens—they wanted to be best....

Yes, they hunted, yes they foraged,
but they were pushy, they couldn’t
waaaait.

So much
easier for me to
ma-nip-u-laaaate!...

13

Lalali lalala... Poor
Farmer Faustus...

He always wanted
moooore....

More free time and more wealth...
Fewer struggles, better health...

work less,
and eat all
daaaaaay....

Oops, were
you there
all along?

I was singing my favorite
little ditty, “Little
Crop of Horrors.” Do you
know it?

Let me tell
you, you should
know...

Human
fate
was sealed
long ago....

I’d been watching humans since forever, to tell the truth
they weren’t very clever! I mean, all those different human
species spent more than two million years hunting animals
and gathering plants, but they NEVER THOUGHT
TO CONTROL THEM!!!

Like these tedious
Neanderthals hunting
their wild sheep...

Or this dreary Denisovan picking her figs... It
was handy—nay idyllic—for so many years... but,
let’s be honest, it bored me to tears....

Uugh-aaah!

The whole thing
was UNBEARABLE!

But some of the humans weren’t like the rest.
Especially the sapiens—they wanted to be best....

Yes, they hunted, yes they foraged,
but they were pushy, they couldn’t
waaaait.

So much
easier for me to
ma-nip-u-laaaate!...

twing

twing

with the sapiens busy lighting their fires and making their
tools... I thought they were itching to be MASTERS OF THE
WORLD!! Perhaps, I thought to myself, they’d like to master
goats?

BaAAaa?

I tried to liven things up but they ignored me.

BaAAaa?

I popped back to see them when they
started systematically exterminating
large animals and the other humans.

BaAAaa?

but Nope... they’d kill me before they
even thought to capture me and put
me to work. Even after everything
they’d done to the other humans and
all those animals, they still weren’t
interested in REAL power.

BaAAaa?

Oh, no! I thought, this is Tyrannosaurus Rex
all over again!

BaAAAa!!!

They’re killers alright, but they’re
not planning to reduce anybody to
slavery....

Finally—FINALLY!—about 12,000 years ago I had
an unexpected breakthrough in the Middle East....

Incarnated in a humble
ear of wheat, I set out
to tempt a poor sapiens
called Faustus....

14

Good day to you,
Faustus, you look
troubled.

Oh! Is that
you talking,
little ear?!?

Fear not, I’m a
good friend....

I am troubled,
you’re right....
I’ve been thinking
about my life for
a long time, but
I can’t see how
to improve it!

How could
a fragile
plant like
you help me?

Tell me what you’d like
to change. You never know,
I may be small, but I could
prove useful....

I’m tired of chasing prey for
hours, clambering up trees and
setting up new camps every
few weeks....

And never knowing if I’ll find
enough food in the forest.

My friends laugh
at me and say
I shouldn’t make
such a big deal
of it.

“Calm down,
Faustus!” they say.
“Get over it, life’s a
party!” But I worry
I’ll go hungry one of
these days. I really
wish I had some way
to ensure I’d have
enough.

I think I have the
answer to your
wish....

Don’t be shy,
come closer.

Domesticate me!

15

with the sapiens busy lighting their fires and making their
tools... I thought they were itching to be MASTERS OF THE
WORLD!! Perhaps, I thought to myself, they’d like to master
goats?

BaAAaa?

I tried to liven things up but they ignored me.

BaAAaa?

I popped back to see them when they
started systematically exterminating
large animals and the other humans.

BaAAaa?

but Nope... they’d kill me before they
even thought to capture me and put
me to work. Even after everything
they’d done to the other humans and
all those animals, they still weren’t
interested in REAL power.

BaAAaa?

Oh, no! I thought, this is Tyrannosaurus Rex
all over again!

BaAAAa!!!

They’re killers alright, but they’re
not planning to reduce anybody to
slavery....

Finally—FINALLY!—about 12,000 years ago I had
an unexpected breakthrough in the Middle East....

Incarnated in a humble
ear of wheat, I set out
to tempt a poor sapiens
called Faustus....

Good day to you,
Faustus, you look
troubled.

Oh! Is that
you talking,
little ear?!?

Fear not, I’m a
good friend....

I am troubled,
you’re right....
I’ve been thinking
about my life for
a long time, but
I can’t see how
to improve it!

How could
a fragile
plant like
you help me?

Tell me what you’d like
to change. You never know,
I may be small, but I could
prove useful....

I’m tired of chasing prey for
hours, clambering up trees and
setting up new camps every
few weeks....

And never knowing if I’ll find
enough food in the forest.

My friends laugh
at me and say
I shouldn’t make
such a big deal
of it.

“Calm down,
Faustus!” they say.
“Get over it, life’s a
party!” But I worry
I’ll go hungry one of
these days. I really
wish I had some way
to ensure I’d have
enough.

I think I have the
answer to your
wish....

Don’t be shy,
come closer.

Domesticate me!

Domesticate? What’s that?

Never heard
of it...

Ah, Faustus, it means being in
control! It means you can
take on the role—of master!
You can tell me where to
grow...

and make more of me than
you’ll ever know! I’ll do
whatever you say, obeying your
orders every day!

Just imagine whole
fields full of wheat...
more than enough
for your family
to eat!

Are you telling the truth, little ear?
You’ll do as you’re told? And reproduce
so we can eat for a year?

My friend,
to that I’ll
swear!

But what’s in it for you?

The pleasure of
helping you.

I’m just a grass, a weak,
insignificant thing...

and I have a humble
dream to serve an
all-powerful king....

Plentiful food—my salvation!
now my children will
never know starvation!

Well, put
it there,
little ear!

Having made his pact, Faustus
started to toil.

Work, work,
working the soil!
Grow, grow, thicker and
thicker! Eat, eat, quicker
and quicker!

From dawn to dusk they sowed the seeds, protected the
plants and pulled up weeds. They harvested the crop and
ground the grain...More and more, again and again.

16

It was the biggest upheaval in
humans’ way of life—ever. And it
goes by the name of...

THE
AGRICULTURAL
REVOLUTION

Domesticate? What’s that?

Never heard
of it...

Ah, Faustus, it means being in
control! It means you can
take on the role—of master!
You can tell me where to
grow...

and make more of me than
you’ll ever know! I’ll do
whatever you say, obeying your
orders every day!

Just imagine whole
fields full of wheat...
more than enough
for your family
to eat!

Are you telling the truth, little ear?
You’ll do as you’re told? And reproduce
so we can eat for a year?

My friend,
to that I’ll
swear!

But what’s in it for you?

The pleasure of
helping you.

I’m just a grass, a weak,
insignificant thing...

and I have a humble
dream to serve an
all-powerful king....

Plentiful food—my salvation!
now my children will
never know starvation!

Well, put
it there,
little ear!

Having made his pact, Faustus
started to toil.

Work, work,
working the soil!
Grow, grow, thicker and
thicker! Eat, eat, quicker
and quicker!

From dawn to dusk they sowed the seeds, protected the
plants and pulled up weeds. They harvested the crop and
ground the grain...More and more, again and again.

It was the biggest upheaval in
humans’ way of life—ever. And it
goes by the name of...

THE
AGRICULTURAL
REVOLUTION

Of the THOUSANDS of species that
ancient humans hunted and
gathered, only a handful were
right for the domestication game.

These rare species lived in a select few places,
and it was in these places that agricultural
revolutions took place.

To this day, half of the calories
that feed you voracious humans
come from just THREE plants—
wheat, rice and corn—and TWO
animals—cows and pigs...

...all of them domesticated
more than 9,000 years ago!

Peas and lentils (–10,000)

Camel (–5,000)

Sheep
(-10,500)

Llama (-5,000)

Goat (–10,000)

Hen (-8,000)

Pig (-10,500)

Horse (-5,500)

Cow (-10,500)

CAT (-8,000)

Zebu (-8,500)

pistachios (–8,000)

Vines (–8,000)

Olive tree (–6,500)

Wheat (–12,000)

18

What a story! I went
from rags to riches!

12,000 years ago, I was
just a humble middle eastern
grass. Even in my native country
people walked roughshod over
poor stringy little me....

It was a struggle just finding
a quiet corner to grow.

In those days there wasn’t a single stalk of
wheat in the Great Plains of North America.

But now, only a few millennia later, it’s
all me, me, me—you won’t find another
plant for hundreds of miles!

The grain-growing
land where I flourish
now covers more than
seven million miles²! That’s
the equivalent of almost
all of western Europe!

That’s right!
I’m the MOST
SUCCESSFUL
PLANT IN
HISTORY!

Fake news!
Corn is King,
sweethearT!

Move
aside,
imposter!
Sugar rules!

And how did I
manage this
jolly jape?

By tricking that
arrogant, upstart
ape! Mwa-ha-ha-
ha-haaaa!

19

Of the THOUSANDS of species that
ancient humans hunted and
gathered, only a handful were
right for the domestication game.

These rare species lived in a select few places,
and it was in these places that agricultural
revolutions took place.

To this day, half of the calories
that feed you voracious humans
come from just THREE plants—
wheat, rice and corn—and TWO
animals—cows and pigs...

...all of them domesticated
more than 9,000 years ago!

Peas and lentils (–10,000)

Camel (–5,000)

Sheep
(-10,500)

Llama (-5,000)

Goat (–10,000)

Hen (-8,000)

Pig (-10,500)

Horse (-5,500)

Cow (-10,500)

CAT (-8,000)

Zebu (-8,500)

pistachios (–8,000)

Vines (–8,000)

Olive tree (–6,500)

Wheat (–12,000)

What a story! I went
from rags to riches!

12,000 years ago, I was
just a humble middle eastern
grass. Even in my native country
people walked roughshod over
poor stringy little me....

It was a struggle just finding
a quiet corner to grow.

In those days there wasn’t a single stalk of
wheat in the Great Plains of North America.

But now, only a few millennia later, it’s
all me, me, me—you won’t find another
plant for hundreds of miles!

The grain-growing
land where I flourish
now covers more than
seven million miles²! That’s
the equivalent of almost
all of western Europe!

That’s right!
I’m the MOST
SUCCESSFUL
PLANT IN
HISTORY!

Fake news!
Corn is King,
sweethearT!

Move
aside,
imposter!
Sugar rules!

And how did I
manage this
jolly jape?

By tricking that
arrogant, upstart
ape! Mwa-ha-ha-
ha-haaaa!

Before they fell
into my trap, these
insignificant apes had
a rather pleasant
life hunting
and foraging....

But in trying
to control me
they had their
work cut out
for them.

A few thousand years
later...

they were tending
me morning,

Noon and
night...

Look at poor
Faustina, hunched
over day in and
day out,

as more and more of
me piled up high.

There’s nothing
to smile about, little
ear! The pact you made
with my forefather
was a total SCAM!

Maybe old Faustus’ foraging life was
sometimes tough, demanding and
dangerous...

...But my life as a farmer
is definitely worse!!!

Hee! Hee!
She’s not
wrong
there!

20

I have to confess, I do love
having someone to take care
of me....

Generations of kind
sapiens have broken
their backs for my
sake....

I’m fragile by nature.
without love and
attention I go
into freefall....

Stony ground and pebbles,
they won’t do.

Sweet of you,
kind sir...

to clear
the field
for me....

And I’m frightfully reserved,

I don’t like to socialize.

I won’t Share
my field with
any other
plant.

I need my personal space
weed-free or I get into
a state.

Phew!
Just the
memory’s
making me
hy-per-ven-
ti-laaAte!

Don’t even mention rabbits
and locusts, please!

I NEED
A FENCE!!!

When there isn’t enough rain, poor
me could die of thirst!

Darling of you to
give me a bucket,
but wouldn’t an
irrigation ditch be
more appropriate?

But then when there’s too much, being
waterlogged is the worst!

I’M
SOOOOOaked!!!

And did I mention my
delicate constitution?

All those
molds and mites
could spell the
end of me.

21

Before they fell
into my trap, these
insignificant apes had
a rather pleasant
life hunting
and foraging....

But in trying
to control me
they had their
work cut out
for them.

A few thousand years
later...

they were tending
me morning,

Noon and
night...

Look at poor
Faustina, hunched
over day in and
day out,

as more and more of
me piled up high.

There’s nothing
to smile about, little
ear! The pact you made
with my forefather
was a total SCAM!

Maybe old Faustus’ foraging life was
sometimes tough, demanding and
dangerous...

...But my life as a farmer
is definitely worse!!!

Hee! Hee!
She’s not
wrong
there!

I have to confess, I do love
having someone to take care
of me....

Generations of kind
sapiens have broken
their backs for my
sake....

I’m fragile by nature.
without love and
attention I go
into freefall....

Stony ground and pebbles,
they won’t do.

Sweet of you,
kind sir...

to clear
the field
for me....

And I’m frightfully reserved,

I don’t like to socialize.

I won’t Share
my field with
any other
plant.

I need my personal space
weed-free or I get into
a state.

Phew!
Just the
memory’s
making me
hy-per-ven-
ti-laaAte!

Don’t even mention rabbits
and locusts, please!

I NEED
A FENCE!!!

When there isn’t enough rain, poor
me could die of thirst!

Darling of you to
give me a bucket,
but wouldn’t an
irrigation ditch be
more appropriate?

But then when there’s too much, being
waterlogged is the worst!

I’M
SOOOOOaked!!!

And did I mention my
delicate constitution?

All those
molds and mites
could spell the
end of me.

Poor sapiens... Sometimes I almost
feel remorseful.... They work so
hard....

They think my side of the bargain
is to spare them from hunger and
disease....

Ha! Ha! Stupid apes! My gift to them instead is
famine and chronic health issues!

Rather than improved quality of
life, this agricultural revolution
of theirs produced a population
explosion! Yes, farming brought
them a lot more food...

But they also had more
children! Which meant there
were more mouths to feed.

Come on, kids, get
to work!

... And the first
pampered elites.

Plus their bodies hadn’t developed to tend me with such
care.... Humans were adapted to climbing fig trees and
running after gazelles....

Their knees, elbows, backs and necks paid the price.
If you have a good look at ancient skeletons, you
can see the agricultural revolution spelled out
in ruined joints and spines.

Slipped discs

Arthritis

Hernia

22

And who was responsible
for all this?

Well... rice,
potatoes...

AND
ME!

But we’re
coming to the
moral of our
story....

twing

twing

With all these agricultural tasks
to do, people had less free time on
hand.They could no longer
roam around, and were tied to
their villages and land.

This utterly changed their way
of life.And as a result
of all this strife, they wondered
exactly who domesticated whom.
The moral of the
story is: wheat domesticated
yoooooooou!

Surely “domesticate”
comes from a Latin
word? Yes, “domus”
means house—well,
how absurd!

Me or
you?

Who
lives
in a
house?

You wanted
more....

You got
more!

Please, sir,
I want some
more....

23

Poor sapiens... Sometimes I almost
feel remorseful.... They work so
hard....

They think my side of the bargain
is to spare them from hunger and
disease....

Ha! Ha! Stupid apes! My gift to them instead is
famine and chronic health issues!

Rather than improved quality of
life, this agricultural revolution
of theirs produced a population
explosion! Yes, farming brought
them a lot more food...

But they also had more
children! Which meant there
were more mouths to feed.

Come on, kids, get
to work!

... And the first
pampered elites.

Plus their bodies hadn’t developed to tend me with such
care.... Humans were adapted to climbing fig trees and
running after gazelles....

Their knees, elbows, backs and necks paid the price.
If you have a good look at ancient skeletons, you
can see the agricultural revolution spelled out
in ruined joints and spines.

Slipped discs

Arthritis

Hernia

And who was responsible
for all this?

Well... rice,
potatoes...

AND
ME!

But we’re
coming to the
moral of our
story....

twing

twing

With all these agricultural tasks
to do, people had less free time on
hand.They could no longer
roam around, and were tied to
their villages and land.

This utterly changed their way
of life.And as a result
of all this strife, they wondered
exactly who domesticated whom.
The moral of the
story is: wheat domesticated
yoooooooou!

Surely “domesticate”
comes from a Latin
word? Yes, “domus”
means house—well,
how absurd!

Me or
you?

Who
lives
in a
house?

You wanted
more....

You got
more!

Please, sir,
I want some
more....

clap

clap

clap

clap

What a
terrible story!

So I take
it you
liked it...

Of course I did!
But it was a show.
I can’t see how all
that could have
happened in the real
world....

Why did Homo sapiens give up
an ok kind of life for such a
horrible one?

What was in it
for them?

Very little,
actually...

And that
show doesn’t
even describe
the full
extent of the
tragedy....

Let’s talk about this
over a drink in the park?

Good idea, Yuval.
Goodness, it’s still
so warm this time
of year....

So, what
the show said
is true, then?

Yes. Well, the
main point is, at
least.

24

Of course, it wasn’t as simple as in
the show. In reality, The Agricultural
Revolution wasn’t a single sudden
event, and it involved more than
just one person and one plant.

It was a long process that took
thousands of years.

There wasn’t just one Faustian pact or a
single Agricultural Revolution in the Middle
East that spread all over the planet....

boing!

TURKEY

boing!

IRAN

boing!

JORDAN

Agriculture actually emerged
independently in different parts
of the world.

But not everywhere.
For example, in
Australia, South
Africa and Alaska,
there were no plants
or animals suitable
for domestication....

Hey look! The latest
Bill and Cindy is out!

ARCHAIC
BILL AND CINDY
25

clap

clap

clap

clap

What a
terrible story!

So I take
it you
liked it...

Of course I did!
But it was a show.
I can’t see how all
that could have
happened in the real
world....

Why did Homo sapiens give up
an ok kind of life for such a
horrible one?

What was in it
for them?

Very little,
actually...

And that
show doesn’t
even describe
the full
extent of the
tragedy....

Let’s talk about this
over a drink in the park?

Good idea, Yuval.
Goodness, it’s still
so warm this time
of year....

So, what
the show said
is true, then?

Yes. Well, the
main point is, at
least.

Of course, it wasn’t as simple as in
the show. In reality, The Agricultural
Revolution wasn’t a single sudden
event, and it involved more than
just one person and one plant.

It was a long process that took
thousands of years.

There wasn’t just one Faustian pact or a
single Agricultural Revolution in the Middle
East that spread all over the planet....

boing!

TURKEY

boing!

IRAN

boing!

JORDAN

Agriculture actually emerged
independently in different parts
of the world.

But not everywhere.
For example, in
Australia, South
Africa and Alaska,
there were no plants
or animals suitable
for domestication....

Hey look! The latest
Bill and Cindy is out!

In Alaska...

Cindy, I just
had the
idea of the
century!

What else is new!
Another idea...
Great!

We’re going to
open the first
restaurant in
Alaska!

Mammoth Steak House

We’ll call it
the Mammoth
Steak house!

And we’ll have just
one item on the menu:
mammoth steak for
everyone!!

Mmyeah... Fantastic, Bill. But
where will you find enough
mammoths?

We’ll raise
’em, Cindy!

Ugh

Why
didn’t
I think of
that....

A little
later...

Who’s this nice
treat for?

Nooo...
You
have to
shake
your
paw
first....

That
hurt.

Would you take woolly mammoth off
the list of potential domestications
please, Kurt.

Ha! ha! That’s
excellent!

Speaking of
restaurants,
how about
some dinner?

Before the Agricultural
Revolution, grains were just a
small fraction of Homo Sapiens’
diet. Humans are omnivores;
they feed on a wide variety
of foodstuffs.

TONIO ’ S

WHOLE-WHEAT PASTA

A diet based on grains is low in vitamins and minerals.
It’s also difficult to digest and it ruins your teeth
and gums.

Wheat didn’t actually
provide sapiens a better
diet.

Thank
you.

And it certainly didn’t give them economic
security.

Because of unpredictable weather
conditions, Life as a wheat farmer was
less secure than as a hunter-gatherer.

I think they’re
checking up on me.
They must be
restaurant
critics.

27

In Alaska...

Cindy, I just
had the
idea of the
century!

What else is new!
Another idea...
Great!

We’re going to
open the first
restaurant in
Alaska!

We’ll call it
the Mammoth
Steak house!

And we’ll have just
one item on the menu:
mammoth steak for
everyone!!

Mmyeah... Fantastic, Bill. But
where will you find enough
mammoths?

We’ll raise
’em, Cindy!

Ugh

Why
didn’t
I think of
that....

A little
later...

Who’s this nice
treat for?

Nooo...
You
have to
shake
your
paw
first....

That
hurt.

Would you take woolly mammoth off
the list of potential domestications
please, Kurt.

Ha! ha! That’s
excellent!

Speaking of
restaurants,
how about
some dinner?

Before the Agricultural
Revolution, grains were just a
small fraction of Homo Sapiens’
diet. Humans are omnivores;
they feed on a wide variety
of foodstuffs.

A diet based on grains is low in vitamins and minerals.
It’s also difficult to digest and it ruins your teeth
and gums.

Wheat didn’t actually
provide sapiens a better
diet.

Thank
you.

And it certainly didn’t give them economic
security.

Because of unpredictable weather
conditions, Life as a wheat farmer was
less secure than as a hunter-gatherer.

I think they’re
checking up on me.
They must be
restaurant
critics.

Mammoth Steak House

Foragers ate dozens of different species,
and this meant they could get through the
tough years without reserves of food—if one
species was in short supply they could always
pick or hunt another.

Mmmm...
It’s hard to
choose....

TONIO

Until very recently, most farmers got almost
their entire calorie intake from just a few
domesticated plants. In lots of places there was
only one staple food: wheat, potatoes or rice.

TONIO
Spaghetti
TONIO
Gnocchi
Risotto

If the rains failed or there was
a swarm of locusts or a fungus
infected their plants, peasants
could die in the thousands—
millions, even.

In 1847 a tiny mold destroyed
potato crops in Ireland. A million
Irish people starved to death, and a
million more immigrated to America.

On top of this, farmers lived in crowded
villages in close contact with lots of
animals and waste products, so a virus just
had to jump from a chicken to a person
and could wipe out a whole village.

agriculture not only resulted
in more epidemics, but also more
violence!

With the advent of farming, there were
suddenly many more reasons for conflict. If
neighbors came and raided your grain store, you
couldn’t leave it to them and move somewhere
else. You had to fight for it or die of hunger....

28

Hey, you! Foragers!
Can’t you read?!?

Read? Um, no...

Kurt’s Place.
Private Property

Kurt’s new way of life looks
nice. We should take a shot
at it too....

What do
you say?

We should
make signs?

No,
farming,
you idiot!

THE NEW ADVENTURES

Episode One: A Terrible Start!

Episode One: A Terrible Start!

A little while later...

Did you
see this, Cindy?
Our capital’s
increased
1,000%!

Hmm...

Later still...

Howdy. I sure do like
your ranch.
I’m gonna take it
for myself.

Wh...what?
What the heck!

He’s stronger than you. Come on,

Bill... Let’s get out of here!

Seriously, Cindy?
I only just finished
building the garage....

We’ll get the Neighboring
Field to invite us over!

We can’t
hand it over
to him just
like that!

Even later...

Oh no!
Don’t start
that again!

Howdy...

Come on, Bill,
there are too
many of them!

Never!
This time
I’m defending
my land to
the death!

29

Foragers ate dozens of different species,
and this meant they could get through the
tough years without reserves of food—if one
species was in short supply they could always
pick or hunt another.

Mmmm...
It’s hard to
choose....

Until very recently, most farmers got almost
their entire calorie intake from just a few
domesticated plants. In lots of places there was
only one staple food: wheat, potatoes or rice.

If the rains failed or there was
a swarm of locusts or a fungus
infected their plants, peasants
could die in the thousands—
millions, even.

In 1847 a tiny mold destroyed
potato crops in Ireland. A million
Irish people starved to death, and a
million more immigrated to America.

On top of this, farmers lived in crowded
villages in close contact with lots of
animals and waste products, so a virus just
had to jump from a chicken to a person
and could wipe out a whole village.

agriculture not only resulted
in more epidemics, but also more
violence!

With the advent of farming, there were
suddenly many more reasons for conflict. If
neighbors came and raided your grain store, you
couldn’t leave it to them and move somewhere
else. You had to fight for it or die of hunger....

Hey, you! Foragers!
Can’t you read?!?

Read? Um, no...

Kurt’s Place.
Private Property

Kurt’s new way of life looks
nice. We should take a shot
at it too....

What do
you say?

We should
make signs?

No,
farming,
you idiot!

A little while later...

Did you
see this, Cindy?
Our capital’s
increased
1,000%!

Hmm...

Later still...

Howdy. I sure do like
your ranch.
I’m gonna take it
for myself.

Wh...what?
What the heck!

He’s stronger than you. Come on,

Bill... Let’s get out of here!

Seriously, Cindy?
I only just finished
building the garage....

We’ll get the Neighboring
Field to invite us over!

We can’t
hand it over
to him just
like that!

Even later...

Oh no!
Don’t start
that again!

Howdy...

Come on, Bill,
there are too
many of them!

Never!
This time
I’m defending
my land to
the death!

THE NEW ADVENTURES

OF FARMER

BILL AND CINDY

Episode One: A Terrible Start!

Your magazine’s absolutely
right, plenty of studies have
proven it.

Archaeological and anthropological evidence
suggests that in a lot of agricultural societies
about 25% of all deaths were the result of
violence.

At first there were peaceful farmers and violent ones. Take
the archaeological digs in Southern Levant, for example: they
found that for thousands of years towns and villages in the
region had no walls and people hardly ever went to war.

But more violent farmers gradually extended
their territory and people had to adopt their
bad habits or keep out of their way.

Large-scale warfare isn’t a
universal human characteristic.
It was invented in a number of
primitive farming societies.

Then it
spread like
the plague!

Sadly, there’s no natural
balance between war
and peace. It takes two
tribes to make peace,
but it only takes one
to start a war.

Violence, hunger, disease...
But, Uncle Yuval, don’t you think
living in villages had some advantages
for those first farmers?

They must have been
protected from wild animals,
and the cold and rain, right?

That’s true, but for the average person like Bill and
Cindy, there were often many more downsides than
upsides....

Well, I’m an average person
too, and I don’t get the feeling
farming’s a bad thing for me. If
we didn’t have farming, how could
I be eating spaghetti in this
restaurant?

You seem to like farming a lot, but then again you don’t
have to work the land! You’re happy just eating the
produce that comes from farming. The Agricultural
Revolution seems like a wonderful idea to people living
in prosperous modern societies.

30

But our point of view isn’t representative. Think about
the ancestors of this restaurant’s owners.... They may
have been poor Sicilian peasants. If they had a bad harvest
or the local aristocrat raised their taxes, their children
starved to death.

Aaah... I’m going to die
of hunger.... But my suffering’s
a worthwhile sacrifice because
in a few centuries...

that nice Zoe will
be able to eat
delicious spaghetti....

Ave, Zoe, Morituri
te salutant!

Well then, what did wheat
do for the early farmers
in the Middle East or
for that poor starving
Sicilian girl?

For each individual... nothing
at all! Ha! ha!

Aaargh!

Ha! Ha! Just a little
joke for you on
the house!

Really? Are you sure
about the price?

Si, si... 50% off. A special gift from us
to such wonderful customers!

Well,
thank you
very
much....

Grazie mille! Buona
serata!

My, those Italian
restaurant owners
were so nice!

And funny!

They must
have really
liked us....

31

Your magazine’s absolutely
right, plenty of studies have
proven it.

Archaeological and anthropological evidence
suggests that in a lot of agricultural societies
about 25% of all deaths were the result of
violence.

At first there were peaceful farmers and violent ones. Take
the archaeological digs in Southern Levant, for example: they
found that for thousands of years towns and villages in the
region had no walls and people hardly ever went to war.

But more violent farmers gradually extended
their territory and people had to adopt their
bad habits or keep out of their way.

Large-scale warfare isn’t a
universal human characteristic.
It was invented in a number of
primitive farming societies.

Then it
spread like
the plague!

Sadly, there’s no natural
balance between war
and peace. It takes two
tribes to make peace,
but it only takes one
to start a war.

Violence, hunger, disease...
But, Uncle Yuval, don’t you think
living in villages had some advantages
for those first farmers?

They must have been
protected from wild animals,
and the cold and rain, right?

That’s true, but for the average person like Bill and
Cindy, there were often many more downsides than
upsides....

Well, I’m an average person
too, and I don’t get the feeling
farming’s a bad thing for me. If
we didn’t have farming, how could
I be eating spaghetti in this
restaurant?

You seem to like farming a lot, but then again you don’t
have to work the land! You’re happy just eating the
produce that comes from farming. The Agricultural
Revolution seems like a wonderful idea to people living
in prosperous modern societies.

But our point of view isn’t representative. Think about
the ancestors of this restaurant’s owners.... They may
have been poor Sicilian peasants. If they had a bad harvest
or the local aristocrat raised their taxes, their children
starved to death.

Aaah... I’m going to die
of hunger.... But my suffering’s
a worthwhile sacrifice because
in a few centuries...

that nice Zoe will
be able to eat
delicious spaghetti....

Ave, Zoe, Morituri
te salutant!

Well then, what did wheat
do for the early farmers
in the Middle East or
for that poor starving
Sicilian girl?

For each individual... nothing
at all! Ha! ha!

Aaargh!

Ha! Ha! Just a little
joke for you on
the house!

Really? Are you sure
about the price?

Si, si... 50% off. A special gift from us
to such wonderful customers!

Well,
thank you
very
much....

Grazie mille! Buona
serata!

My, those Italian
restaurant owners
were so nice!

And funny!

They must
have really
liked us....

THE DAILY BUSINESS NEWS

Agricultural Revolution was a trap!

YUVAL NOAH HARARI
DROPS A BOMBSHELL
THAT COULD ROCK
GLOBAL MARKETS.

Milton Goldmine: Agriculture still greatest deal ever

Famous economics professor Milton Goldmine challenges
Professor Harari’s statement.
Prof. Goldmine, speaking exclusively to DBN:

MG : “ Granted, from each indi- vidual’s point of view, agriculture may not have been such a great idea.... But for the Homo Sapi- ens Corporation it was a hell of a success story! Cereal cultivation guaranteed far more food per unit of territory. And that’s how Homo sapiens enjoyed exponential pop- ulation growth!”

YOUR FAVORITE COLUMN: Fibs, Lies and Statistics

Approximately
13,000 years ago

When foragers ate wild plants and animals, the area around Jericho in Palestine could sustain a nomadic band of some 50 people.

About 9,000 years ago

When fields of wheat re- placed wild plants, the oasis could support a big, crowded village with per- haps 1,000 inhabitants.

DBN: Should we, as Professor Harari is claiming, see agriculture as a ter- rible idea for Homo sapiens?

Milton Goldmine: Professor Harari is wrong; he’s not see- ing this from a management standpoint! I mean... a bit of common sense, for God’s sake! We don’t rate a company’s suc- cess by measuring how happy its employees are—so far as I know! We look at its dividends! And the
__________

numbers prove that agriculture did wonders for humanity’s bottom line! The currency of evolution isn’t hunger or suffering, but genes!
__________

DBN: Do you mean that the success of a species in evolutionary terms is measured by the number of copies of its DNA?

MG: Why yes, exactly that! Everyone knows that! And Professor Harari should know it too! If there are no copies of its DNA left, the species is __________

extinct, just like a company with no money is bankrupt. If a species has more and more copies of its DNA, it’s a huge evolutionary success!

DBN: So are 1,000 copies always bet-
ter than 100?

MG: Well, of course! Here’s the basic premise of the Agricultural Revolu- tion: keeping more people alive on the same area of territory. That’s pro- gress!

FLASH INTERVIEW WITH YUVAL NOAH HARARI
Three questions for Prof. Harari:

DBN: What do you say to Professor Goldmine’s challenge of your analysis?

YNH: Yes, thanks to agriculture there were more people on earth, but they were also more miserable! Why would any sensible person lower their standard of living just to mul- __________

tiply the number of copies of the Homo sapiens genome? It would be ridiculous. Nobody agreed to this deal! It was a trap! And it closed so slowly that humans fell into it before they under- stood what was happening!

(Interview continued on page 12.)

32

On the timescale of
evolution, the transition
to farming was
extremely quick.

But on the scale of a single
human life, it was very slow.

Hunter-gatherers didn’t turn
into farmers overnight.

clack!

Every generation
made only a few
small changes...

...one step at a time...

Pff... Pff...

Woof! Woof!

Over time,
a lot of
small changes
accumulated
into a big
revolution....

33

THE DAILY BUSINESS NEWS

Agricultural Revolution was a trap!

YUVAL NOAH HARARI
DROPS A BOMBSHELL
THAT COULD ROCK
GLOBAL MARKETS.

Milton Goldmine: Agriculture still greatest deal ever

Famous economics professor Milton Goldmine challenges
Professor Harari’s statement.
Prof. Goldmine, speaking exclusively to DBN:

MG : “ Granted, from each indi- vidual’s point of view, agriculture may not have been such a great idea.... But for the Homo Sapi- ens Corporation it was a hell of a success story! Cereal cultivation guaranteed far more food per unit of territory. And that’s how Homo sapiens enjoyed exponential pop- ulation growth!”

YOUR FAVORITE COLUMN: Fibs, Lies and Statistics

Approximately
13,000 years ago

When foragers ate wild plants and animals, the area around Jericho in Palestine could sustain a nomadic band of some 50 people.

About 9,000 years ago

When fields of wheat re- placed wild plants, the oasis could support a big, crowded village with per- haps 1,000 inhabitants.

DBN: Should we, as Professor Harari is claiming, see agriculture as a ter- rible idea for Homo sapiens?

Milton Goldmine: Professor Harari is wrong; he’s not see- ing this from a management standpoint! I mean... a bit of common sense, for God’s sake! We don’t rate a company’s suc- cess by measuring how happy its employees are—so far as I know! We look at its dividends! And the numbers prove that agriculture did wonders for humanity’s bottom line! The currency of evolution isn’t hunger or suffering, but genes!

DBN: Do you mean that the success of a species in evolutionary terms is measured by the number of copies of its DNA?

MG: Why yes, exactly that! Everyone knows that! And Professor Harari should know it too! If there are no copies of its DNA left, the species is __________
extinct, just like a company with no money is bankrupt. If a species has more and more copies of its DNA, it’s a huge evolutionary success!

DBN: So are 1,000 copies always bet-
ter than 100?

MG: Well, of course! Here’s the basic premise of the Agricultural Revolu- tion: keeping more people alive on the same area of territory. That’s pro- gress!

FLASH INTERVIEW WITH YUVAL NOAH HARARI
Three questions for Prof. Harari:

DBN: What do you say to Professor Goldmine’s challenge of your analysis?

YNH: Yes, thanks to agriculture there were more people on earth, but they were also more miserable! Why would any sensible person lower their standard of living just to mul- __________
tiply the number of copies of the Homo sapiens genome? It would be ridiculous. Nobody agreed to this deal! It was a trap! And it closed so slowly that humans fell into it before they under- stood what was happening!

(Interview continued on page 12 .)

On the timescale of
evolution, the transition
to farming was
extremely quick.

But on the scale of a single
human life, it was very slow.

Hunter-gatherers didn’t turn
into farmers overnight.

clack!

Every generation
made only a few
small changes...

...one step at a time...

Pff... Pff...

Over time,
a lot of
small changes
accumulated
into a big
revolution....

Woof! Woof!

Homo sapiens reached
the Middle East
tens of thousands
of years ago.

For numerous generations our ancestors
did pretty well there without
agriculture.

They sometimes ate wild wheat, but it was
only a tiny part of their diet. They had
plenty of other things to eat.

It’s true, there
weren’t many of us and
the region’s resources
were enough for us.

In times of plenty our
ancestors had more
children.

When times were hard,
they had fewer.

Like many mammals, humans have hormonal
and genetic mechanisms that help control
procreation.

When food
is scarce,
puberty is
delayed and
fertility
decreases.

Age 14

When food is abundant, girls reach puberty
earlier and they have a higher chance of
conceiving.

Age 12

34

As well as these natural forms of population
control, a number of cultural mechanisms
evolved. Isn’t that so, Faustus?

Yep! I
think
that’s
how it
was,
Ma’am.

When we were still just nomadic
foragers, we couldn’t carry lots
of babies and young children.

So we tried to keep
births about three or
four years apart.

One of our methods of birth control then was for
women to breastfeed children till they were
three or four.

Yes, breastfeeding reduces the
chances of getting pregnant
again as well as helps babies
grow strong and healthy.

There must have
been other methods,
surely?

Perhaps cultural taboos
encouraged total or partial
abstinence....

Oh! For sure, yes! And then
there was abortion...

And tragically,
infanticide, in
especially difficult
circumstances...

35

Homo sapiens reached
the Middle East
tens of thousands
of years ago.

For numerous generations our ancestors
did pretty well there without
agriculture.

They sometimes ate wild wheat, but it was
only a tiny part of their diet. They had
plenty of other things to eat.

It’s true, there
weren’t many of us and
the region’s resources
were enough for us.

In times of plenty our
ancestors had more
children.

When times were hard,
they had fewer.

Like many mammals, humans have hormonal
and genetic mechanisms that help control
procreation.

When food
is scarce,
puberty is
delayed and
fertility
decreases.

Age 14

When food is abundant, girls reach puberty
earlier and they have a higher chance of
conceiving.

Age 12

As well as these natural forms of population
control, a number of cultural mechanisms
evolved. Isn’t that so, Faustus?

Yep! I
think
that’s
how it
was,
Ma’am.

When we were still just nomadic
foragers, we couldn’t carry lots
of babies and young children.

So we tried to keep
births about three or
four years apart.

One of our methods of birth control then was for
women to breastfeed children till they were
three or four.

Yes, breastfeeding reduces the
chances of getting pregnant
again as well as helps babies
grow strong and healthy.

There must have
been other methods,
surely?

Perhaps cultural taboos
encouraged total or partial
abstinence....

Oh! For sure, yes! And then
there was abortion...

And tragically,
infanticide, in
especially difficult
circumstances...

About 18,000 years ago the last ice age gave way to
a period of global warming.

18,000 years ago

As temperatures rose, so did
rainfall—the ideal climate for
wheat and other middle eastern
cereals, so they started to
proliferate and spread.

Tell me, Faustus, do you
remember when you started
eating more wheat?

Oh, that was ages ago,
Ma’am! But it still
wasn’t our main thing....

Wheat wasn’t as easy as
figs, you know. You can’t
just snack on it where you
find it!

Had to take it back to where
we’d set up camp then winnow it,
grind it and cook it.

Wait,
look, you’re
dropping
some!

Over time the grain
that you dropped along
the paths to your camp
grew as wheat near the
camp and beside these
pathways.

Wheat was already using
you to spread itself left,
right and center.

What the!
I never
realized....

36

As wheat spread and the weather
improved, some areas in the Middle
East became so fruitful that local
hunter-gatherers no longer
needed to move around much.

There’s something special about cereals like wheat. It’s
hard work to gather and prepare them—but the grains
can be stored for months, even years!

If gatherers managed to store
enough grain, they could stay in
one place for the whole year, and
never had to move camp!

Yes,
we could
build a
village!

To make sure
we had enough
wheat...

We cleared the area
around the village of
trees and bushes....

Wheat made
you its
henchmen!

Trees compete with grasses
for sunlight, water and
nutrients.

Trees use most of these nutrients to build their
massive but inedible trunks. Only a tiny amount
goes into nuts and fruits. Grasses pack a far larger
percentage of nutrients into their grains.

So a hectare of wheat
produces much more human
food than a hectare of forest.
Burning down a forest to make
room for wheat sounded like
a good idea!

By 14,000 years
ago, some hunter-
gatherer bands in
the Middle East were
living in permanent
settlements.

Kiki!

HOME
SWEET
HOME

37

About 18,000 years ago the last ice age gave way to
a period of global warming.

18,000 years ago

As temperatures rose, so did
rainfall—the ideal climate for
wheat and other middle eastern
cereals, so they started to
proliferate and spread.

Tell me, Faustus, do you
remember when you started
eating more wheat?

Oh, that was ages ago,
Ma’am! But it still
wasn’t our main thing....

Wheat wasn’t as easy as
figs, you know. You can’t
just snack on it where you
find it!

Had to take it back to where
we’d set up camp then winnow it,
grind it and cook it.

Wait,
look, you’re
dropping
some!

Over time the grain
that you dropped along
the paths to your camp
grew as wheat near the
camp and beside these
pathways.

Wheat was already using
you to spread itself left,
right and center.

What the!
I never
realized....

As wheat spread and the weather
improved, some areas in the Middle
East became so fruitful that local
hunter-gatherers no longer
needed to move around much.

There’s something special about cereals like wheat. It’s
hard work to gather and prepare them—but the grains
can be stored for months, even years!

If gatherers managed to store
enough grain, they could stay in
one place for the whole year, and
never had to move camp!

Yes,
we could
build a
village!

To make sure
we had enough
wheat...

We cleared the area
around the village of
trees and bushes....

Wheat made
you its
henchmen!

Trees compete with grasses
for sunlight, water and
nutrients.

Trees use most of these nutrients to build their
massive but inedible trunks. Only a tiny amount
goes into nuts and fruits. Grasses pack a far larger
percentage of nutrients into their grains.

So a hectare of wheat
produces much more human
food than a hectare of forest.
Burning down a forest to make
room for wheat sounded like
a good idea!

By 14,000 years
ago, some hunter-
gatherer bands in
the Middle East were
living in permanent
settlements.

Kiki!

HOME
SWEET
HOME

Let me show
you around our
village, Ma’am!

There is one
thing I don’t fully
understand....

Are you still
hunter-
gatherers?

Sure thing! We gather a lot of wild
wheat, but it’s not like we work
hard to cultivate it—it just grows.

We also gather other
wild plants and hunt
wild animals... you know,
gazelles and things.

In cereal season,
we roam the nearby hills
and meadows, gathering as
much grain as we can.

14,000 years ago

And we store it
in the village.

When cereal season’s over, we go back
to gathering nuts, hunting gazelles
or whatever.

If there’s a bad day
and we don’t find
anything, we can always
take out some grain
and make bread!

This means we can stay in the
same place and start building
real houses using bricks, stones
and wooden planks, instead
of living in makeshift
huts and tents.

And we can accumulate stuff in our
houses! Shiny stones, pretty deer antlers,
broken knives—no need to throw
anything away! We’re rich now!

Hey, Jared!
How you
doin’?

We improved our old tools—like
this mortar and pestle to grind
grains—and also invented a
load of new tools. Just take a
look at these stone sickles for
harvesting wheat.

38

11,500 years ago

After a few more generations
we’d really got it going on.

My descendants
always came up
with some new
idea to make
things a bit
more efficient.

Look, how clever
is this, Ma’am!

They now deliberately set aside some of the
grains they gather, and instead of eating
them, they sow them in the ground! Genius!

Hey there,
Faustina, hi!

Oh my word, they’re
even hoeing and
ploughing!

Absolutely,
Ma’am.

We noticed we get much better
results if we sow the grain deeper
instead of just randomly scattering
it on the surface.

But we didn’t stop at that. Every couple of decades we get
a new idea that makes us more efficient. Like pulling up weeds
with this....

A weeder—
how clever!

We’re also really careful about keeping
our fields watered and fertilized and
clear of parasites.

That must all
be very time-
consuming....

You’ve no idea! Cultivating wheat takes more and more
work. It’s practically all we have time for now!

We hardly have
a spare moment
to pick figs or
hunt gazelles!

That’s right—you’ve turned into
a farmer, my dear Faustina!

Gosh, Ma’am,
when
did that
happen....

39

Let me show
you around our
village, Ma’am!

There is one
thing I don’t fully
understand....

Are you still
hunter-
gatherers?

Sure thing! We gather a lot of wild
wheat, but it’s not like we work
hard to cultivate it—it just grows.

We also gather other
wild plants and hunt
wild animals... you know,
gazelles and things.

In cereal season,
we roam the nearby hills
and meadows, gathering as
much grain as we can.

14,000 years ago

And we store it
in the village.

When cereal season’s over, we go back
to gathering nuts, hunting gazelles
or whatever.

If there’s a bad day
and we don’t find
anything, we can always
take out some grain
and make bread!

This means we can stay in the
same place and start building
real houses using bricks, stones
and wooden planks, instead
of living in makeshift
huts and tents.

And we can accumulate stuff in our
houses! Shiny stones, pretty deer antlers,
broken knives—no need to throw
anything away! We’re rich now!

Hey, Jared!
How you
doin’?

We improved our old tools—like
this mortar and pestle to grind
grains—and also invented a
load of new tools. Just take a
look at these stone sickles for
harvesting wheat.

11,500 years ago

After a few more generations
we’d really got it going on.

My descendants
always came up
with some new
idea to make
things a bit
more efficient.

Look, how clever
is this, Ma’am!

They now deliberately set aside some of the
grains they gather, and instead of eating
them, they sow them in the ground! Genius!

Hey there,
Faustina, hi!

Oh my word, they’re
even hoeing and
ploughing!

Absolutely,
Ma’am.

We noticed we get much better
results if we sow the grain deeper
instead of just randomly scattering
it on the surface.

But we didn’t stop at that. Every couple of decades we get
a new idea that makes us more efficient. Like pulling up weeds
with this....

A weeder—
how clever!

We’re also really careful about keeping
our fields watered and fertilized and
clear of parasites.

That must all
be very time-
consuming....

You’ve no idea! Cultivating wheat takes more and more
work. It’s practically all we have time for now!

We hardly have
a spare moment
to pick figs or
hunt gazelles!

That’s right—you’ve turned into
a farmer, my dear Faustina!

Gosh, Ma’am,
when
did that
happen....

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when
the transition to farming occurred.
There wasn’t a single decisive
step separating Faustus gathering
wild wheat from his descendants
cultivating domesticated wheat.

But about 10,000 years ago, the
Middle East was dotted with
permanent villages like Jericho.
And their inhabitants spent most
of their time cultivating
domesticated species.

In those days, Jericho’s
average inhabitants had
a tougher life than their
hunter-gatherer ancestors.

And yet no one really
grasped what was
happening....

40

Damn right... we didn’t
see it coming....

You know, Ma’am,
now I come to think
about it...

Looking back,
I can see....

We
blew
it....

When we started
working so hard to
control wheat and
cultivate it...

...we had more food,
but we also had a
lot more children....

I see. Once you stopped
going from camp to camp
but settled in permanent
villages, women could have
a child every year instead
of every four.

Yup! And we could wean our
babies younger because we
could feed them porridge and
gruel instead of mother’s milk.

Once we
domesticated some
animals, we could
also give them
goat’s milk. The
younger they
were weaned, the
more pregnancies
we had.

We all lived crammed together
in villages along with the
farm animals, garbage heaps,
sewage—and all the rats
and fleas....

Soon, new infectious
diseases started
spreading.

And you didn’t realize that
switching from mother’s milk
to goat’s milk and gruel
weakened your children’s immune
systems just when epidemics
started to strike....

We wanted to create the perfect
place for humans, but we accidentally
created the perfect place for germs!

Children started dying,
so many of them!

My neighbor Epidemia had six
kids and last year’s plague
took them all. We were
worried there’d be no one to
look after us in our old age.

When they weren’t sick or dying,
the kids helped a lot in the fields.
We couldn’t really cope without
them.

But they ate a lot too. Sometimes
we had too many mouths to feed.

And then sometimes you could end
up with no children. There was no
way of getting the balance right.

We made this decision to
play it safe by having as
many kids as we could... but
that meant we needed
more wheat to feed them.

Please, mom, I want
some more....

Over time, this rotten pact with wheat
became harder and harder. Exhausting
work, loads of diseases... it actually
got worse with every new
“improvement.”

41

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when
the transition to farming occurred.
There wasn’t a single decisive
step separating Faustus gathering
wild wheat from his descendants
cultivating domesticated wheat.

But about 10,000 years ago, the
Middle East was dotted with
permanent villages like Jericho.
And their inhabitants spent most
of their time cultivating
domesticated species.

In those days, Jericho’s
average inhabitants had
a tougher life than their
hunter-gatherer ancestors.

And yet no one really
grasped what was
happening....

Damn right... we didn’t
see it coming....

You know, Ma’am,
now I come to think
about it...

Looking back,
I can see....

We
blew
it....

When we started
working so hard to
control wheat and
cultivate it...

...we had more food,
but we also had a
lot more children....

I see. Once you stopped
going from camp to camp
but settled in permanent
villages, women could have
a child every year instead
of every four.

Yup! And we could wean our
babies younger because we
could feed them porridge and
gruel instead of mother’s milk.

Once we
domesticated some
animals, we could
also give them
goat’s milk. The
younger they
were weaned, the
more pregnancies
we had.

We all lived crammed together
in villages along with the
farm animals, garbage heaps,
sewage—and all the rats
and fleas....

Soon, new infectious
diseases started
spreading.

And you didn’t realize that
switching from mother’s milk
to goat’s milk and gruel
weakened your children’s immune
systems just when epidemics
started to strike....

We wanted to create the perfect
place for humans, but we accidentally
created the perfect place for germs!

Children started dying,
so many of them!

My neighbor Epidemia had six
kids and last year’s plague
took them all. We were
worried there’d be no one to
look after us in our old age.

When they weren’t sick or dying,
the kids helped a lot in the fields.
We couldn’t really cope without
them.

But they ate a lot too. Sometimes
we had too many mouths to feed.

And then sometimes you could end
up with no children. There was no
way of getting the balance right.

We made this decision to
play it safe by having as
many kids as we could... but
that meant we needed
more wheat to feed them.

Please, mom, I want
some more....

Over time, this rotten pact with wheat
became harder and harder. Exhausting
work, loads of diseases... it actually
got worse with every new
“improvement.”

So many unforeseen
consequences...

But every time we had a new idea,
we’d go thinking we got it right this
time and things would finally be ok.

Like when we decided to hoe
instead of scattering seed
on the ground...

It meant more work, yes....
But it gave us much better
results!

We thought it would
make life easier in
the long run....

While they toiled,
people thought...

Sure, it’s more work now
but we’ll have a hell of
a harvest later!

No more lean
years, no more
starving kids!

Then came the idea of a mill... and what a fantastic invention that
was! Life was beautiful! It was going to be so much easier to grind
grain in a big mill than with a grinding slab!

We didn’t realize we were putting
a noose around our own necks....

We must have gotten our sums wrong at
some point... but we never worked out
when....

How come
we blew it so
badly, Ma’am?

My poor Faustina,
you couldn’t see it
coming and neither
could anyone else....

It happened too gradually, too slowly. No one remembered
living any other way.

Each generation
kept on living like
the one before,
with just the odd
“improvement” here
and there....

IT started with good intentions. You
were basically just trying to improve
your lives... and your children’s.

42

And plus you were sometimes motivated by weird
religious ideas that you thought were perfectly
fine at the time....

H... how do you mean,
religious ideas?
It doesn’t ring
a bell to me....

For Goodness’
sake! What is
Doctor Fiction
doing in this
story?

Do you know a town
called Göbekli Tepe?

No... It
can’t be
around here....

Göbekli Tepe is a site in southeast Turkey with buildings
that date to about 11,500 years ago. This place is
spectacular, it brings back so many memories.... those guys
believed a bunch of stuff, it was mind-boggling! I revisited
the place recently with an archaeologist friend.

Dr. Klüg’s colleagues did
some research and came to
FAsCINATING conclusions!

There’s every indication that these
huge, seven-ton decorated pillars
were the work of hunter-gatherers....
Just imagine how many different
bands and tribes it took to build
all this, Doctor!

Not to mention the provisions it would have taken to feed all
those people.

As it happens, my colleagues have recently
discovered that a variant of domesticated
wheat called einkorn originated just
a few miles from here.

That can’t be
a coincidence!

I would say that these foragers went from picking wild
grains to intensively cultivating wheat, not just to
increase their food reserves...

...but to sustain the construction
of this magnificent temple
and the activities that
went on inside it.

In those days it
must have been the
biggest building in
the world....

But
what’s
the temple
for?

They probably believed a story that made
sense to them and seemed to justify all that
hard work.

You wouldn’t believe what people will
believe! And you’d be surprised what beliefs
can get humans to do....

43

So many unforeseen
consequences...

But every time we had a new idea,
we’d go thinking we got it right this
time and things would finally be ok.

Like when we decided to hoe
instead of scattering seed
on the ground...

It meant more work, yes....
But it gave us much better
results!

We thought it would
make life easier in
the long run....

While they toiled,
people thought...

Sure, it’s more work now
but we’ll have a hell of
a harvest later!

No more lean
years, no more
starving kids!

Then came the idea of a mill... and what a fantastic invention that
was! Life was beautiful! It was going to be so much easier to grind
grain in a big mill than with a grinding slab!

We didn’t realize we were putting
a noose around our own necks....

We must have gotten our sums wrong at
some point... but we never worked out
when....

How come
we blew it so
badly, Ma’am?

My poor Faustina,
you couldn’t see it
coming and neither
could anyone else....

It happened too gradually, too slowly. No one remembered
living any other way.

Each generation
kept on living like
the one before,
with just the odd
“improvement” here
and there....

IT started with good intentions. You
were basically just trying to improve
your lives... and your children’s.

And plus you were sometimes motivated by weird
religious ideas that you thought were perfectly
fine at the time....

H... how do you mean,
religious ideas?
It doesn’t ring
a bell to me....

For Goodness’
sake! What is
Doctor Fiction
doing in this
story?

Do you know a town
called Göbekli Tepe?

No... It
can’t be
around here....

Göbekli Tepe is a site in southeast Turkey with buildings
that date to about 11,500 years ago. This place is
spectacular, it brings back so many memories.... those guys
believed a bunch of stuff, it was mind-boggling! I revisited
the place recently with an archaeologist friend.

Dr. Klüg’s colleagues did
some research and came to
FAsCINATING conclusions!

There’s every indication that these
huge, seven-ton decorated pillars
were the work of hunter-gatherers....
Just imagine how many different
bands and tribes it took to build
all this, Doctor!

Not to mention the provisions it would have taken to feed all
those people.

As it happens, my colleagues have recently
discovered that a variant of domesticated
wheat called einkorn originated just
a few miles from here.

That can’t be
a coincidence!

I would say that these foragers went from picking wild
grains to intensively cultivating wheat, not just to
increase their food reserves...

...but to sustain the construction
of this magnificent temple
and the activities that
went on inside it.

In those days it
must have been the
biggest building in
the world....

But
what’s
the temple
for?

They probably believed a story that made
sense to them and seemed to justify all that
hard work.

You wouldn’t believe what people will
believe! And you’d be surprised what beliefs
can get humans to do....

Have they finished
already? They’ve been
known to do a lot
more talking!!

But still, Ma’am... Building temples or feeding our kids, it’s all the same. When
we domesticated those plants, we actually exposed ourselves to hunger,
disease and violence.

Wheat
trapped
us....

More...

We set
the trap
ourselves....

Yes, and it’s when the
trap started closing in
on you that you should
have abandoned farming
and fled....

But it was already too late,
Ma’am! There were too many of us!
We needed more children to work
in the fields and to look after
us in old age.

And all those children
needed feeding.... Because
we were short of food,
we had to clear more fields
and work even harder....

I know,
I know...
a real vicious
cycle...

Still, some people seemed to be ok. What
with all those ambitious projects to
organize, like temples and irrigation canals,
new leaders and priests started popping up
everywhere. Well, they didn’t complain too
much about being hungry or toiling in the
fields, if you know what I mean.... They were
too busy telling us what to do!

And they kept up their mantra:
“More wheat! More children! More
work! Paradise is just around the
corner! One last big push! We’re
all in this together!”

And if anyone ever
ventured to say
we’d be better off
working less, having
fewer children and
producing less wheat...
the leaders and chiefs
flew into a terrible
rage.

You only had to
suggest leaving the
village and going back to
foraging in the wild...
and they’d go
completely wild!!

The worst of it is it’s all still happening. What happened to
you thousands of years ago is still going on today. And we
still don’t see it.

I’d like to
tell you what
happened to
my nephew
Arjun.

44

Fresh out of college, Arjun
was lucky enough to get a
job at a big company.

It wasn’t his first choice, but he
thought he’d make the most of it
and build up a nice little nest egg.

I’ll work
really hard for
10, maybe 15
years....

...And when I’m 35 I can retire in comfort,
learn to play the sitar and go paragliding
every month on Paradise Island!

But 15 years later,
Arjun had three children
in school...

...he was saddled with a big
mortgage on his house in the
suburbs and loans for his two cars.

He felt life was hardly worth living
without fine wine...

...and expensive holidays
abroad.

So what’s the answer? Go back to digging up roots? No!
Double your efforts and keep your nose to the grindstone....

That long-awaited
promotion might just
come along next year....

Yet another victim of the
luxury trap...

The
luxury
trap?

45

Have they finished
already? They’ve been
known to do a lot
more talking!!

But still, Ma’am... Building temples or feeding our kids, it’s all the same. When
we domesticated those plants, we actually exposed ourselves to hunger,
disease and violence.

Wheat
trapped
us....

More...

We set
the trap
ourselves....

Yes, and it’s when the
trap started closing in
on you that you should
have abandoned farming
and fled....

But it was already too late,
Ma’am! There were too many of us!
We needed more children to work
in the fields and to look after
us in old age.

And all those children
needed feeding.... Because
we were short of food,
we had to clear more fields
and work even harder....

I know,
I know...
a real vicious
cycle...

Still, some people seemed to be ok. What
with all those ambitious projects to
organize, like temples and irrigation canals,
new leaders and priests started popping up
everywhere. Well, they didn’t complain too
much about being hungry or toiling in the
fields, if you know what I mean.... They were
too busy telling us what to do!

And they kept up their mantra:
“More wheat! More children! More
work! Paradise is just around the
corner! One last big push! We’re
all in this together!”

And if anyone ever
ventured to say
we’d be better off
working less, having
fewer children and
producing less wheat...
the leaders and chiefs
flew into a terrible
rage.

You only had to
suggest leaving the
village and going back to
foraging in the wild...
and they’d go
completely wild!!

The worst of it is it’s all still happening. What happened to
you thousands of years ago is still going on today. And we
still don’t see it.

I’d like to
tell you what
happened to
my nephew
Arjun.

Fresh out of college, Arjun
was lucky enough to get a
job at a big company.

It wasn’t his first choice, but he
thought he’d make the most of it
and build up a nice little nest egg.

I’ll work
really hard for
10, maybe 15
years....

...And when I’m 35 I can retire in comfort,
learn to play the sitar and go paragliding
every month on Paradise Island!

But 15 years later,
Arjun had three children
in school...

...he was saddled with a big
mortgage on his house in the
suburbs and loans for his two cars.

He felt life was hardly worth living
without fine wine...

...and expensive holidays
abroad.

So what’s the answer? Go back to digging up roots? No!
Double your efforts and keep your nose to the grindstone....

That long-awaited
promotion might just
come along next year....

Yet another victim of the
luxury trap...

The
luxury
trap?

The luxury trap is one of
history’s few iron laws.

People invent things they don’t
really need, and these luxuries
soon turn into necessities.

We start taking our new
luxuries for granted. Before
you know it, we can’t live
without them.

In the last few decades we’ve invented countless tools
that are meant to save time... but in spite of all that,
I’m constantly rushed off my feet!

DING!

Your parcel
will be
delivered soon

There’s just the very
occasional technophobe
left who refuses to buy
a smartphone....

Oh, I remember something
like that, Ma’am!

A few thousand
years ago, some
of our neighbors
refused to get
into farming....

Yes, but wheat didn’t need to trap
all of humankind to get its way,
Faustina. It only took one little
band....

Devilish,
wouldn’t you
agree?!?

The band that switched to farming grew
exponentially and spread to the four corners
of the world.

Foragers who refused to fall in the trap had to keep
running away and abandoning their hunting grounds to
fields and pasture...

...or start working the land themselves.... Either way,
their old way of life was doomed....

46

The Agricultural Revolution teaches
us an important lesson.

Humanity’s search for an easier
life brought about huge changes
that altered the world in ways
no one had imagined or wanted.

Nobody planned the
Agricultural Revolution
or intended to make
humans dependent on
cultivated grains.

A series of small decisions intended
to fill a few stomachs and ensure
some security had the cumulative
effect of forcing ancient people
to spend their days in endless
drudgery.

47

The luxury trap is one of
history’s few iron laws.

People invent things they don’t
really need, and these luxuries
soon turn into necessities.

We start taking our new
luxuries for granted. Before
you know it, we can’t live
without them.

In the last few decades we’ve invented countless tools
that are meant to save time... but in spite of all that,
I’m constantly rushed off my feet!

DING!

Your parcel
will be
delivered soon

There’s just the very
occasional technophobe
left who refuses to buy
a smartphone....

Oh, I remember something
like that, Ma’am!

A few thousand
years ago, some
of our neighbors
refused to get
into farming....

Yes, but wheat didn’t need to trap
all of humankind to get its way,
Faustina. It only took one little
band....

Devilish,
wouldn’t you
agree?!?

The band that switched to farming grew
exponentially and spread to the four corners
of the world.

Foragers who refused to fall in the trap had to keep
running away and abandoning their hunting grounds to
fields and pasture...

...or start working the land themselves.... Either way,
their old way of life was doomed....

The Agricultural Revolution teaches
us an important lesson.

Humanity’s search for an easier
life brought about huge changes
that altered the world in ways
no one had imagined or wanted.

Nobody planned the
Agricultural Revolution
or intended to make
humans dependent on
cultivated grains.

A series of small decisions intended
to fill a few stomachs and ensure
some security had the cumulative
effect of forcing ancient people
to spend their days in endless
drudgery.

Northeast Israel

Hula
Valley

It wasn’t only plants like wheat
that humans domesticated.

There
were
animals
too.

A grave has been found
here with the remains of
a woman and a puppy.

This 12,000-year-old tomb
is evidence of close ties
between humans and dogs.

And there are other
clues that indicate
that dogs joined human
bands at least 15,000
years ago.

15,000 years, Kiki!
Can you imagine!

The first dogs actually
domesticated themselves.
Originally, they were wild
wolves that followed humans
around, eating up leftovers.

As they got to know humans
better, they grew friendlier,
came closer and were
eventually accepted as useful
members of the human band.

They do
say a dog
is man’s best
friend!

48

At first,
we used you for
defense.

And for hunting,
of course...

But you were also a useful
alarm system when wild
animals were prowling....

And that worked for human
intruders too.

Shh,
It’s just
me, Kiki....

Over many generations, the relationship
between dogs and humans evolved and grew
closer and closer. Dogs that were tuned in
to what humans wanted were favored and
spoiled. As for the disobedient ones...

Brutus,
heel!

That’s how dogs learned to understand
humans....

But they also learned to
manipulate humans....

49

Northeast Israel

Hula
Valley

It wasn’t only plants like wheat
that humans domesticated.

There
were
animals
too.

A grave has been found
here with the remains of
a woman and a puppy.

This 12,000-year-old tomb
is evidence of close ties
between humans and dogs.

And there are other
clues that indicate
that dogs joined human
bands at least 15,000
years ago.

15,000 years, Kiki!
Can you imagine!

The first dogs actually
domesticated themselves.
Originally, they were wild
wolves that followed humans
around, eating up leftovers.

As they got to know humans
better, they grew friendlier,
came closer and were
eventually accepted as useful
members of the human band.

They do
say a dog
is man’s best
friend!

At first,
we used you for
defense.

And for hunting,
of course...

But you were also a useful
alarm system when wild
animals were prowling....

And that worked for human
intruders too.

Shh,
It’s just
me, Kiki....

Over many generations, the relationship
between dogs and humans evolved and grew
closer and closer. Dogs that were tuned in
to what humans wanted were favored and
spoiled. As for the disobedient ones...

Brutus,
heel!

That’s how dogs learned to understand
humans....

But they also learned to
manipulate humans....

HOW WERE ANIMALS

After dogs, more animals
were domesticated.

But this time,
the initiative came from
the humans....

And, as with wheat, the change happened over a long period....
By tracking wild sheep for generations, nomadic bands
gradually altered the makeup of flocks.

The process probably started with selective hunting.
Humans realized it was to their advantage to hunt
adult rams and old or sick sheep...

...and spare lambs and fertile females to ensure the
long-term health of their local flock.

The second stage was most likely defending the flock from rival
human bands and other predators.

50

DOMESTICATED?

At some point, the flock may have been corralled in
a narrow gorge, so it was easier to watch and defend.
Then humans started more careful selection of the
sheep to meet their own needs.

The first to be slaughtered were the
most aggressive rams that resisted being
controlled by humans.

Then it would have been the
thinnest and most adventurous ewes.

Shepherds don’t like runaway sheep. With each
generation, the sheep grew fatter, more docile
and less inquisitive.

A lot of patience and
countless generations
later, the result was...

51

HOW WERE ANIMALS

After dogs, more animals
were domesticated.

But this time,
the initiative came from
the humans....

And, as with wheat, the change happened over a long period....
By tracking wild sheep for generations, nomadic bands
gradually altered the makeup of flocks.

The process probably started with selective hunting.
Humans realized it was to their advantage to hunt
adult rams and old or sick sheep...

...and spare lambs and fertile females to ensure the
long-term health of their local flock.

The second stage was most likely defending the flock from rival
human bands and other predators.

DOMESTICATED?

At some point, the flock may have been corralled in
a narrow gorge, so it was easier to watch and defend.
Then humans started more careful selection of the
sheep to meet their own needs.

The first to be slaughtered were the
most aggressive rams that resisted being
controlled by humans.

Then it would have been the
thinnest and most adventurous ewes.

Shepherds don’t like runaway sheep. With each
generation, the sheep grew fatter, more docile
and less inquisitive.

A lot of patience and
countless generations
later, the result was...

WHY WERE ANIMALS

Domesticated animals were very useful to humans. Of
course, they were a source of food...

Eggs

Meat

milk

...and raw materials...

...As well as sheer muscle power. Domesticated animals started replacing humans in all sorts of tasks.

Raising animals was so important that in some places a new type of
society emerged, based almost exclusively on exploiting animals...

...Tribes of pastoralist
herders.

52

DOMESTICATED?

about 10,000 years ago, humans began domesticating sheep, goats, pigs, cows and
chickens in a few isolated areas.

This practice of farming animals soon spread farther and farther afield.

Today, the world has almost 5 billion cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, and more than 20 billion chickens. And
they’re everywhere!

53

WHY WERE ANIMALS

Domesticated animals were very useful to humans. Of
course, they were a source of food...

Eggs

Meat

milk

...and raw materials...

...As well as sheer muscle power. Domesticated animals started replacing humans in all sorts of tasks.

Raising animals was so important that in some places a new type of
society emerged, based almost exclusively on exploiting animals...

...Tribes of pastoralist
herders.

DOMESTICATED?

about 10,000 years ago, humans began domesticating sheep, goats, pigs, cows and
chickens in a few isolated areas.

This practice of farming animals soon spread farther and farther afield.

Today, the world has almost 5 billion cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, and more than 20 billion chickens. And
they’re everywhere!

THE DAILY BUSINESS NEWS

CHICKENS—AN INCREDIBLE SUCCESS STORY!

The stratospheric success
of one bird species!
Winners of the
EVOLUTION
AWARD!

Read our special feature on pages 4 to 12

You wanna know my
three mottos for
success?

Never sell a chicken’s
meat till ya killed it!

A chicken tomorrow’s worth
more than an egg today!

And NEVER put all your
eggs in one basket—
obviously!

Mr. Rooster, CEO of Gallus Inc.,
is the happy winner who
surprised everyone!

Famous economist Milton Goldmine gives us his reaction

This is wonderful! He only
invested in a few thousand
eggs during the Agricultural
Revolution, and now he has
more than 50 billion!

Warren
Buffett
had better
watch out!

If we’re counting the
number of copies of
their DNA, there’s only
one way to interpret
this: the domesticated
chicken is the most
successful fowl of
all time!

Milton Goldmine, member of the jury for the Evolution Awards

That’s right! The jury was
also seriously impressed
by these other species!

After chickens, but
a long way behind them,
we have pigs, sheep and
cattle....

They’re the most
widespread large
mammals in the
world!

After
Homo sapiens,
of course....

54

We have to face it: there are always
people who can’t enjoy someone else’s
success....

We’d like to give
the floor to one of
the most popular
of these perennial
Cassandras.

And this won’t come as a surprise;
naturally I’m talking about Mr. “Never
Happy”! I mean, of course, Professor Yuval
Noah Harari!

Hello,
Professor.

Erm...
hi...

Professor Harari, why do you refuse to
celebrate the chicken’s remarkable
success?

Because the way
you evaluate
success makes
no sense.

You base everything on the number of copies
of DNA... but you don’t take into account
the suffering or happiness of individuals.

These poor creatures are the most
miserable that ever lived. I personally
don’t see that as a success story!

Aren’t you just refusing
to see the positive side?

Absolutely not!

Look at the life span of
these poor domesticated
animals.... Chickens are
often slaughtered when
they’re less than eight
weeks old, while calves
are butchered after
a year or two.

But in the wild their life
expectancy would be 10 years
for a chicken and
25 years for
a cow....

Eight weeks of life is still pretty good,
though, isn’t it?

From an economic point
of view, that’s always
been the optimal age
to slaughter them....

Why would you want to go on feeding a
rooster for 10 years when it’s already
reached its maximum weight after a
couple of months? It would be ridiculous!!

The shareholders
sure wouldn’t
like it!

Listen, animal domestication is based on
brutal practices that only grew crueler
with each passing century.

As bad as things were on ancient
farms, they can be much worse
nowadays.

In some ultramodern industrial facilities,
calves are separated from their mother
immediately after birth. Each calf is then
shut in a tiny cage barely bigger than his
own body....

And the calf spends his whole life
there! He never comes out of that
cage.... he’s never allowed to play
with other calves or gambol around!

Of course not! Then his muscles would
strengthen, and customers would
complain that their steaks
weren’t tender enough!

The only opportunity that calf gets
to walk, stretch his muscles and spend
time with other calves is on the way
to the abattoir!

But, Professor, in evolutionary terms,
cattle are one of the most successful
species ever.

In our competition
for the title of “Animal with
the most copies of DNA,” cows,
pigs and chickens are always
on the podium!

Yes, but if there was a competition
for the most miserable animal ever
to exist, cows, pigs and chickens would
walk away with just as many medals!

55

THE DAILY BUSINESS NEWS

CHICKENS—AN INCREDIBLE SUCCESS STORY!

The stratospheric success
of one bird species!
Winners of the
EVOLUTION
AWARD!

Read our special feature on pages 4 to 12

You wanna know my
three mottos for
success?

Never sell a chicken’s
meat till ya killed it!

A chicken tomorrow’s worth
more than an egg today!

And NEVER put all your
eggs in one basket—
obviously!

Mr. Rooster, CEO of Gallus Inc.,
is the happy winner who
surprised everyone!

Famous economist Milton Goldmine gives us his reaction

This is wonderful! He only
invested in a few thousand
eggs during the Agricultural
Revolution, and now he has
more than 50 billion!

Warren
Buffett
had better
watch out!

If we’re counting the
number of copies of
their DNA, there’s only
one way to interpret
this: the domesticated
chicken is the most
successful fowl of
all time!

Milton Goldmine, member of the jury for the Evolution Awards

That’s right! The jury was
also seriously impressed
by these other species!

After chickens, but
a long way behind them,
we have pigs, sheep and
cattle....

They’re the most
widespread large
mammals in the
world!

After
Homo sapiens,
of course....

We have to face it: there are always
people who can’t enjoy someone else’s
success....

We’d like to give
the floor to one of
the most popular
of these perennial
Cassandras.

And this won’t come as a surprise;
naturally I’m talking about Mr. “Never
Happy”! I mean, of course, Professor Yuval
Noah Harari!

Hello,
Professor.

Erm...
hi...

Professor Harari, why do you refuse to
celebrate the chicken’s remarkable
success?

Because the way
you evaluate
success makes
no sense.

You base everything on the number of copies
of DNA... but you don’t take into account
the suffering or happiness of individuals.

These poor creatures are the most
miserable that ever lived. I personally
don’t see that as a success story!

Aren’t you just refusing
to see the positive side?

Absolutely not!

Look at the life span of
these poor domesticated
animals.... Chickens are
often slaughtered when
they’re less than eight
weeks old, while calves
are butchered after
a year or two.

But in the wild their life
expectancy would be 10 years
for a chicken and
25 years for
a cow....

Eight weeks of life is still pretty good,
though, isn’t it?

From an economic point
of view, that’s always
been the optimal age
to slaughter them....

Why would you want to go on feeding a
rooster for 10 years when it’s already
reached its maximum weight after a
couple of months? It would be ridiculous!!

The shareholders
sure wouldn’t
like it!

Listen, animal domestication is based on
brutal practices that only grew crueler
with each passing century.

As bad as things were on ancient
farms, they can be much worse
nowadays.

In some ultramodern industrial facilities,
calves are separated from their mother
immediately after birth. Each calf is then
shut in a tiny cage barely bigger than his
own body....

And the calf spends his whole life
there! He never comes out of that
cage.... he’s never allowed to play
with other calves or gambol around!

Of course not! Then his muscles would
strengthen, and customers would
complain that their steaks
weren’t tender enough!

The only opportunity that calf gets
to walk, stretch his muscles and spend
time with other calves is on the way
to the abattoir!

But, Professor, in evolutionary terms,
cattle are one of the most successful
species ever.

In our competition
for the title of “Animal with
the most copies of DNA,” cows,
pigs and chickens are always
on the podium!

Yes, but if there was a competition
for the most miserable animal ever
to exist, cows, pigs and chickens would
walk away with just as many medals!

Good replies,
Yuval!

But it’s difficult for some
people to understand....

It’s sad but true: when humans started turning bulls,
horses, donkeys and camels into obedient
animals they made a lot of changes.
They broke down the animals’
natural instincts and social ties,
curbed their aggression and
their sexuality, and drastically
reduced their freedom
of movement....

Farmers started systematically containing animals in pens and
cages, bridling them with harnesses and leashes, disciplining
them with whips and cattle prods, and mutilating them. They
cut off their horns or their ears—and of course their testicles.

The taming process almost always involves castration,
which reduces male aggression and means humans can
completely control breeding within the herd.

In many societies throughout the world, people’s wealth has
traditionally been determined by how many animals they owned.
In New Guinea, for example, pigs were the key asset.

In northern New Guinea, farmers make sure their pigs don’t run
away by slicing off part of their snouts. This causes the pigs
severe pain whenever they try to sniff.

A pig can’t find food or even find its way around
without sniffing, so this mutilation makes them
completely dependent on their human owners.

In another part of
New Guinea, owners
resort to gouging
out their pigs’ eyes
so that they can’t
see where they’re
going.

Your almond milk
milkshake, Ma’am...

Thank you
so much!

56

The dairy industry has come up with its own ways of
forcing animals to comply with its needs. Cows, goats
and sheep produce milk only after giving birth...
and their milk is meant for calves, kids and lambs,
not humans.

First, farmers ensure that their female livestock are
pregnant, then they take away the young shortly after
birth. They milk the mothers for all they’re worth and
make sure that they’re soon pregnant again.

Artificial insemination is the most widespread practice. In many
modern dairy farms, a milking cow lives about five years before
being slaughtered. She is pregnant for much of those five years
and is artificially inseminated within 60 to 120 days of calving
to ensure maximum milk production.

As for the calves, after they’re separated from
their mothers, female calves are reared to
provide the next generation of dairy cows...

...while bull calves are entrusted to
the care of the meat industry.

57

Good replies,
Yuval!

But it’s difficult for some
people to understand....

It’s sad but true: when humans started turning bulls,
horses, donkeys and camels into obedient
animals they made a lot of changes.
They broke down the animals’
natural instincts and social ties,
curbed their aggression and
their sexuality, and drastically
reduced their freedom
of movement....

Farmers started systematically containing animals in pens and
cages, bridling them with harnesses and leashes, disciplining
them with whips and cattle prods, and mutilating them. They
cut off their horns or their ears—and of course their testicles.

The taming process almost always involves castration,
which reduces male aggression and means humans can
completely control breeding within the herd.

In many societies throughout the world, people’s wealth has
traditionally been determined by how many animals they owned.
In New Guinea, for example, pigs were the key asset.

In northern New Guinea, farmers make sure their pigs don’t run
away by slicing off part of their snouts. This causes the pigs
severe pain whenever they try to sniff.

A pig can’t find food or even find its way around
without sniffing, so this mutilation makes them
completely dependent on their human owners.

In another part of
New Guinea, owners
resort to gouging
out their pigs’ eyes
so that they can’t
see where they’re
going.

Your almond milk
milkshake, Ma’am...

Thank you
so much!

The dairy industry has come up with its own ways of
forcing animals to comply with its needs. Cows, goats
and sheep produce milk only after giving birth...
and their milk is meant for calves, kids and lambs,
not humans.

First, farmers ensure that their female livestock are
pregnant, then they take away the young shortly after
birth. They milk the mothers for all they’re worth and
make sure that they’re soon pregnant again.

Artificial insemination is the most widespread practice. In many
modern dairy farms, a milking cow lives about five years before
being slaughtered. She is pregnant for much of those five years
and is artificially inseminated within 60 to 120 days of calving
to ensure maximum milk production.

As for the calves, after they’re separated from
their mothers, female calves are reared to
provide the next generation of dairy cows...

...while bull calves are entrusted to
the care of the meat industry.

The whole of the dairy industry
is built on breaking the most
fundamental bond in mammals—the
bond between a mother and her
offspring. As a biologist, I find that
terribly cruel.

Actually, I find the dairy industry not
only cruel, but also pretty strange.

Why should humans drink cow’s milk?
Wolves never drink ewe’s milk, and tigers
never drink elephant’s milk, do they?

Neanderthals and ancient Sapiens didn’t
drink other animals’ milk either. Human
babies were reared on their mother’s milk,
but once they were weaned, they
never drank milk again.

If you suggested to our forager
ancestors that they should milk a
wild cow and drink her milk, they’d think
it was the most outlandish, disgusting
idea they’d ever heard.

Our digestive system hasn’t really had
time to adapt. That’s why so many people
still have all sorts of health problems
when they drink milk.

This whole question of animal
domestication makes me very
uncomfortable....

58

But actually, your
domestication was
really rather nice,
my little Kiki....

And you made
out pretty
well too,
didn’t you?

Other animals were lucky
too. Sheep raised for their
wool usually grazed
in open pastures
their whole lives.

Some horses were lucky too.

100% pure wool sweater

Yuval, Zoe, do you remember when we visited the British
Museum in London? There was a statue of the Roman
emperor Caligula on Incitatus, his favorite horse.... He
loved that horse so much he wanted to make him a consul.

Alexander the Great founded
the city of Bucephala in
honor of his horse, the
famous Bucephalus.

59

The whole of the dairy industry
is built on breaking the most
fundamental bond in mammals—the
bond between a mother and her
offspring. As a biologist, I find that
terribly cruel.

Actually, I find the dairy industry not
only cruel, but also pretty strange.

Why should humans drink cow’s milk?
Wolves never drink ewe’s milk, and tigers
never drink elephant’s milk, do they?

Neanderthals and ancient Sapiens didn’t
drink other animals’ milk either. Human
babies were reared on their mother’s milk,
but once they were weaned, they
never drank milk again.

If you suggested to our forager
ancestors that they should milk a
wild cow and drink her milk, they’d think
it was the most outlandish, disgusting
idea they’d ever heard.

Our digestive system hasn’t really had
time to adapt. That’s why so many people
still have all sorts of health problems
when they drink milk.

This whole question of animal
domestication makes me very
uncomfortable....

But actually, your
domestication was
really rather nice,
my little Kiki....

And you made
out pretty
well too,
didn’t you?

Other animals were lucky
too. Sheep raised for their
wool usually grazed
in open pastures
their whole lives.

Some horses were lucky too.

Yuval, Zoe, do you remember when we visited the British
Museum in London? There was a statue of the Roman
emperor Caligula on Incitatus, his favorite horse.... He
loved that horse so much he wanted to make him a consul.

Alexander the Great founded
the city of Bucephala in
honor of his horse, the
famous Bucephalus.

100% pure wool sweater

On September 19, 1783, the Réveillon , a hot-air
balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers,
first took to the skies in the gardens of
Versailles, to the delight of King Louis XVI and
Queen Marie Antoinette. Air travel was born!

People were afraid that air
travel might do terrible
things to the body, so they
tested it out by using animals.

The first passengers
were a cockerel, a
duck and a sheep.

The sheep’s been
nicknamed Skywards—
very clever, wouldn’t
you agree, Madam?

Umm...
indeed,
yes, yes.

Oooh!

Aaaah

The balloon stayed in the air for
about ten minutes.

When it landed almost two miles away,
Skywards was found happily munching the
straw in the bottom of the balloon’s
basket.

Lord above!
Quite unscathed!

Meanwhile the duck and the
cockerel were huddled in a
corner.

According to reports, the queen adopted
this pioneering sheep, and it lived an
honorable life in her private zoo.

Shepherds and farmers
throughout history have
shown affection for their
animals and taken great
care of them....

It’s no accident that kings and
prophets called themselves shepherds...

KING DAVID

...comparing the way they and the gods
cared for their people to a shepherd
tending his flock....

JEsus

But if we look at things from the flock’s point
of view rather than the shepherd’s, there’s
absolutely no denying that for the vast majority
of domesticated animals, the Agricultural
Revolution was a terrible catastrophe.

Gauging their evolutionary
“success” by the number
of copies of their DNA is
ridiculous.

Today there are fewer than 6,000
black rhinoceroses left in the wild.
But a rhinoceros that lives on
the African savanna is probably
far happier than any of the millions
of calves raised on industrial meat
farms....

The statistical success of cows as a
species won’t be any consolation to
an individual calf....

This discrepancy between evolutionary “success”
and individual suffering may well be the most
important lesson we can learn from the

Agricultural Revolution.

When we look at what’s
happened to plants like
wheat and corn, maybe
this purely evolutionary
assessment makes sense.

But when we’re talking
about cattle, chickens
and Sapiens—all animals
with complex sensations
and emotions—we really
need to think about how
evolutionary success
translates into individual
experience.

The benefits shouldn’t be
expressed in numbers, But in
terms of happiness.

61

On September 19, 1783, the Réveillon , a hot-air
balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers,
first took to the skies in the gardens of
Versailles, to the delight of King Louis XVI and
Queen Marie Antoinette. Air travel was born!

People were afraid that air
travel might do terrible
things to the body, so they
tested it out by using animals.

The first passengers
were a cockerel, a
duck and a sheep.

The sheep’s been
nicknamed Skywards—
very clever, wouldn’t
you agree, Madam?

Umm...
indeed,
yes, yes.

Oooh!

Aaaah

The balloon stayed in the air for
about ten minutes.

When it landed almost two miles away,
Skywards was found happily munching the
straw in the bottom of the balloon’s
basket.

Lord above!
Quite unscathed!

Meanwhile the duck and the
cockerel were huddled in a
corner.

According to reports, the queen adopted
this pioneering sheep, and it lived an
honorable life in her private zoo.

Shepherds and farmers
throughout history have
shown affection for their
animals and taken great
care of them....

It’s no accident that kings and
prophets called themselves shepherds...

...comparing the way they and the gods
cared for their people to a shepherd
tending his flock....

But if we look at things from the flock’s point
of view rather than the shepherd’s, there’s
absolutely no denying that for the vast majority
of domesticated animals, the Agricultural
Revolution was a terrible catastrophe.

Gauging their evolutionary
“success” by the number
of copies of their DNA is
ridiculous.

Today there are fewer than 6,000
black rhinoceroses left in the wild.
But a rhinoceros that lives on
the African savanna is probably
far happier than any of the millions
of calves raised on industrial meat
farms....

The statistical success of cows as a
species won’t be any consolation to
an individual calf....

This discrepancy between evolutionary “success”
and individual suffering may well be the most
important lesson we can learn from the

Agricultural Revolution.

When we look at what’s
happened to plants like
wheat and corn, maybe
this purely evolutionary
assessment makes sense.

But when we’re talking
about cattle, chickens
and Sapiens—all animals
with complex sensations
and emotions—we really
need to think about how
evolutionary success
translates into individual
experience.

The benefits shouldn’t be
expressed in numbers, But in
terms of happiness.

KING DAVID

JEsus

Coming up
in
Sapiens

Wow...

Amaaazing...
Doctor Fiction,
you are
showing us
a dream!

A dream?
No—the
future...

Fantasies
can become
reality...

Sapiens
in the
Sky with
Diamonds

Be careful with your fantasies! Check out the warnings in the next
chapter and watch for a list of undesirable side effects and terrible
consequences for individual happiness!

62

Wow...

Amaaazing...
Doctor Fiction,
you are
showing us
a dream!

A dream?
No—the
future...

Fantasies
can become
reality...

Sapiens
in the
Sky with
Diamonds

Be careful with your fantasies! Check out the warnings in the next
chapter and watch for a list of undesirable side effects and terrible
consequences for individual happiness!

of Myths
and men

FARMER BILL AND CINDY

An almost perfect family dinner!

Hurry up, Billy!
We should be with
your cousin by now....

I hate
being late!

65

of Myths
and men

Hurry up, Billy!
We should be with
your cousin by now....

I hate
being late!

FARMER BILL AND CINDY

An almost perfect family dinner!

Chill already,
I’m here....

Just a minute,
I’m locking the
front door.

With those new neighbors
moving in, we can’t be too
careful....

Don’t you think the weather’s too risky,
Cindy? Did you remember to sacrifice a
goat at the temple yesterday?

Of course!
Now we can be
sure the gods
will look after
our fields and
animals while
we’re away.

Hurry up, or we’ll never get
to this famous dinner with
your cousin!

Hmm... Ok, ok,
you’re right!

Fingers
crossed!

Three hours late already,
I have a bad feeling about
this dinner....

66

Don’t stress,
Cindy.

Those guys won’t even notice
we’re late.

They’re not punctual
like us. Don’t forget,
they’re still foragers.

The Agricultural Revolution started
2,000 years ago, but they still don’t
get that the world’s changed!

Tsss!

You’re right.... They’re so uncultivated.... They
really need to take a walk down the path
of progress like us!

I still remember what the
priest told us at yesterday’s
eight o’clock prayer: “The
world is yours! Be fruitful
and multiply!”

Oh yes, amazing! And you remember his prophecy?

Ermmm... No, I fell asleep....
You know the kids woke me in
the middle of the night....

He said that a couple of
thousand years ago, there
were maybe five million
foragers and no farmers at
all... but in the future there
won’t be any foragers left....

While good farming folk like us
are gonna spread everywhere!

Did the priest say
how many of us
there’ll be?

Hundreds of
millions, Cindy!

That’s
a lot of
farmers!

67

Chill already,
I’m here....

Just a minute,
I’m locking the
front door.

With those new neighbors
moving in, we can’t be too
careful....

Don’t you think the weather’s too risky,
Cindy? Did you remember to sacrifice a
goat at the temple yesterday?

Of course!
Now we can be
sure the gods
will look after
our fields and
animals while
we’re away.

Hurry up, or we’ll never get
to this famous dinner with
your cousin!

Hmm... Ok, ok,
you’re right!

Fingers
crossed!

Three hours late already,
I have a bad feeling about
this dinner....

Don’t stress,
Cindy.

Those guys won’t even notice
we’re late.

They’re not punctual
like us. Don’t forget,
they’re still foragers.

The Agricultural Revolution started
2,000 years ago, but they still don’t
get that the world’s changed!

Tsss!

You’re right.... They’re so uncultivated.... They
really need to take a walk down the path
of progress like us!

I still remember what the
priest told us at yesterday’s
eight o’clock prayer: “The
world is yours! Be fruitful
and multiply!”

Oh yes, amazing! And you remember his prophecy?

Ermmm... No, I fell asleep....
You know the kids woke me in
the middle of the night....

He said that a couple of
thousand years ago, there
were maybe five million
foragers and no farmers at
all... but in the future there
won’t be any foragers left....

While good farming folk like us
are gonna spread everywhere!

Did the priest say
how many of us
there’ll be?

Hundreds of
millions, Cindy!

That’s
a lot of
farmers!

Meanwhile,
at the cousin’s place...

Say, honey, isn’t it
today your cousin’s
coming to dinner?

Mmm...
Scruntch

Could
be...

I hope they won’t
mind when they realize
we ate already!

Pah! You know
Farmer Bill....

He’ll show up proud as a
peacock with his whole
gang of brats and his
“FOOD RESERVES” he keeps
bragging about.

Because his lordship
Farmer Bill is modern!
He’s a cultivator!

His lordship’s
chosen the
path to
prosperity and
progress!!!

I can already hear
him lecturing me!

So, cousin? Still not
a farmer yet?

This dinner sure is
looking promising!

Why did you invite
them if they drive
you nuts like this?

Wait, YOU invited
them!

Me?? Like I’d invite that
know-it-all and his stuck-up wife!!
Yeah right!!!

68

Meanwhile...

Ok,
here
we are!

But...

Looks like
they’re not
here....

They must
be in the
kitchen.

I think it’s
over there,
behind those
mountains.

I hope you’re
right and
they’re not in
the garden!

Brrr... Don’t you think
the weather’s getting
worse and worse?

Two days
later...

Well, well...
if that’s not
my favorite
cousin coming
along....

Daaaaarling, it’s been
too long!

I can’t wait to
meet all your
new kids!

So, Bill?
Still not
a farmer?

Nuh-
huh...

Meanwhile,
at the cousin’s place...

Say, honey, isn’t it
today your cousin’s
coming to dinner?

Mmm...
Scruntch

Could
be...

I hope they won’t
mind when they realize
we ate already!

Pah! You know
Farmer Bill....

He’ll show up proud as a
peacock with his whole
gang of brats and his
“FOOD RESERVES” he keeps
bragging about.

Because his lordship
Farmer Bill is modern!
He’s a cultivator!

His lordship’s
chosen the
path to
prosperity and
progress!!!

I can already hear
him lecturing me!

So, cousin? Still not
a farmer yet?

This dinner sure is
looking promising!

Why did you invite
them if they drive
you nuts like this?

Wait, YOU invited
them!

Me?? Like I’d invite that
know-it-all and his stuck-up wife!!
Yeah right!!!

Meanwhile...

Ok,
here
we are!

But...

Looks like
they’re not
here....

They must
be in the
kitchen.

I think it’s
over there,
behind those
mountains.

I hope you’re
right and
they’re not in
the garden!

Brrr... Don’t you think
the weather’s getting
worse and worse?

Two days
later...

Well, well...
if that’s not
my favorite
cousin coming
along....

Daaaaarling, it’s been
too long!

I can’t wait to
meet all your
new kids!

So, Bill?
Still not
a farmer?

Nuh-
huh...

Sorry we’re late, we got lost in your
living room. Your place is so big!

It sure is! Roomier than your
crowded little prison...

Our farm, cousin,
it’s called a farm.

You should
start one, you
know, they’re
fantastic!

What would I get out of
living in the same place
all the time?

Predictability! Security !...
It’s great to put down
roots.

And best of all, my farm is my
own! I don’t need to share it
with anyone. Good fences make
good neighbors! Don’t have to
put up with them anymore!

But we get along very
happily with Kurt and
his family!

What did
you say,
neighbor?

Shhhh!!!

Friends are the best
thing in life! Why would
I want to shut myself
away from them?

Strikes me this farm of
yours is making you super
selfish, cuz.

70

You should be the ones coming
back to hunting and gathering....

The old ways
are best!

And abandon everything Cindy and I built
up? Never, ever, ever, cuz. D’you have any
idea how hard it was to clear our wheat
fields and raise our goat herd?

Besides, we now have a big store of
food, and we’re not planning on sharing
it with any of the lazy bums here.

Yeah, I’ve heard all
about your wonderful
food stores....

Aren’t you a teensy
bit bored of eating wheat
for breakfast, lunch and
dinner every day?

Ok, so our food’s not as varied as
yours, but at least there’s some
left for hard times! Unlike
some people, we think about
the future!

The future? Pfff!
The future can
take care of itself.

Come on, buddy! Everyone thinks about
the future! Your friend Kurt, there—
he’s doing that so it’ll still be seen
by future generations, right?

Yeah, kind of nice to leave cool
handprints for the future. As long
as it isn’t too much work. But chill
a bit about the future, dude.

You’re so hung up on it
you can’t even enjoy
the present!

71

Sorry we’re late, we got lost in your
living room. Your place is so big!

It sure is! Roomier than your
crowded little prison...

Our farm, cousin,
it’s called a farm.

You should
start one, you
know, they’re
fantastic!

What would I get out of
living in the same place
all the time?

Predictability! Security !...
It’s great to put down
roots.

And best of all, my farm is my
own! I don’t need to share it
with anyone. Good fences make
good neighbors! Don’t have to
put up with them anymore!

But we get along very
happily with Kurt and
his family!

What did
you say,
neighbor?

Shhhh!!!

Friends are the best
thing in life! Why would
I want to shut myself
away from them?

Strikes me this farm of
yours is making you super
selfish, cuz.

You should be the ones coming
back to hunting and gathering....

The old ways
are best!

And abandon everything Cindy and I built
up? Never, ever, ever, cuz. D’you have any
idea how hard it was to clear our wheat
fields and raise our goat herd?

Besides, we now have a big store of
food, and we’re not planning on sharing
it with any of the lazy bums here.

Yeah, I’ve heard all
about your wonderful
food stores....

Aren’t you a teensy
bit bored of eating wheat
for breakfast, lunch and
dinner every day?

Ok, so our food’s not as varied as
yours, but at least there’s some
left for hard times! Unlike
some people, we think about
the future!

The future? Pfff!
The future can
take care of itself.

Come on, buddy! Everyone thinks about
the future! Your friend Kurt, there—
he’s doing that so it’ll still be seen
by future generations, right?

Yeah, kind of nice to leave cool
handprints for the future. As long
as it isn’t too much work. But chill
a bit about the future, dude.

You’re so hung up on it
you can’t even enjoy
the present!

Go ahead, laugh! Take a look
at yourself, living from hand
to mouth and spending most
of your day just lying around
doing nothing!

But Cindy and I—and our kids—get up
at dawn and work through till dark!
We’re productive, that’s why
we’re so successful!

Pfff!

Call that successful? If you
poor saps walked just one
hour away from your house,
you’d have no idea how to
find food!

And if it rains too
little—or too much—
you all die like flies!

That’s why we plan ahead, and
produce more than we need!
Build up your savings, that’s
what I always say.

Well, I sometimes
keep a few nuts
on the side too....
Like, insurance,
you know.

A few nuts?! Oh per-lease!
Well, we recently planted
some olive trees that
won’t fully mature till our
grandchildren’s time!

Trust me, cuz, now’s the best time
to invest in some fine real estate,
before the market’s crowded. Just say
the word, and I’ll even lend you the
seed to start your own farm.

I’ll take
just 10%
interest.

72

And this here is
our bedroom....

Ah ok...

And what
is this place?

That’s the toolshed,
where we keeP
all our tools.

You need an
entire room
just for your
tools?! How many
do you have?

Hoeing, weeding,
thrashing,
winnowing,
grinding—we have
tools for
everything!

Wow, I’m getting tired
just thinking about it....

AARGHH!

I can’t stand
having those
creepy-crawlies
anywhere
near me!

Disgusting pests!
They eat our
crops, you know!

Here Kiddo, your
aunty Cindy made
you a yummy snack.
Then you can go
play with your
cousins.

Junior
really
grew since
our last
visit.

Say, where are the
rest of your kids? I’m
so looking forward
to meeting them.

It’s been three
years, so you
probably have,
what, three more?
Four?

There’s still
just Junior
here.

Really?!
The clock is
ticking, darling!
Tickety tock.
Is your man really
ok with having
just one kid?

Err... Who said
it’s up to him
how many kids
I have?
He doesn’t own
my womb,
you know.

Actually,
we’re not
even sure
Junior is
his kid....

Oh my gods! Good
thing the priest
isn’t here to
hear that!

Go ahead, laugh! Take a look
at yourself, living from hand
to mouth and spending most
of your day just lying around
doing nothing!

But Cindy and I—and our kids—get up
at dawn and work through till dark!
We’re productive, that’s why
we’re so successful!

Pfff!

Call that successful? If you
poor saps walked just one
hour away from your house,
you’d have no idea how to
find food!

And if it rains too
little—or too much—
you all die like flies!

That’s why we plan ahead, and
produce more than we need!
Build up your savings, that’s
what I always say.

Well, I sometimes
keep a few nuts
on the side too....
Like, insurance,
you know.

A few nuts?! Oh per-lease!
Well, we recently planted
some olive trees that
won’t fully mature till our
grandchildren’s time!

Trust me, cuz, now’s the best time
to invest in some fine real estate,
before the market’s crowded. Just say
the word, and I’ll even lend you the
seed to start your own farm.

I’ll take
just 10%
interest.

And this here is
our bedroom....

Ah ok...

And what
is this place?

That’s the toolshed,
where we keeP
all our tools.

You need an
entire room
just for your
tools?! How many
do you have?

Hoeing, weeding,
thrashing,
winnowing,
grinding—we have
tools for
everything!

Wow, I’m getting tired
just thinking about it....

AARGHH!

I can’t stand
having those
creepy-crawlies
anywhere
near me!

Disgusting pests!
They eat our
crops, you know!

Here Kiddo, your
aunty Cindy made
you a yummy snack.
Then you can go
play with your
cousins.

Junior
really
grew since
our last
visit.

Say, where are the
rest of your kids? I’m
so looking forward
to meeting them.

It’s been three
years, so you
probably have,
what, three more?
Four?

There’s still
just Junior
here.

Really?!
The clock is
ticking, darling!
Tickety tock.
Is your man really
ok with having
just one kid?

Err... Who said
it’s up to him
how many kids
I have?
He doesn’t own
my womb,
you know.

Actually,
we’re not
even sure
Junior is
his kid....

Oh my gods! Good
thing the priest
isn’t here to
hear that!

And one kid’s more than enough
to keep us busy! You want
me waking in the night to
breastfeed several crying
babies? No, thanks!

Junior here suckles
just three times a
day now. Way more
convenient, you know.

You still
breastfeed him?!!
But he’s like four!

You really need to get with the program,
sweetheart.... The experts in the village
temple say breastfeeding’s not needed
at all. Not even for tiny babies.

I just give
my kids porridge.
That’s the
modern way!

Just
porridge?!

Well, a little
goat’s milk too.

Goat’s milk?!!
Eeeeeeew...

The temple experts
say it helps protect
the kids from all the
infectious diseases they
catch from the goats.
And from one another.

Infectious dis...
Junior!

Come on, honey,
that’s enough
playing with
your cousins!

But, honestly,
sometimes I’m not
so sure about the
temple experts.
So many kids keep
dying.

You know what they told my neighbor
when she lost all four of her kids
in last year’s epidemic?

They said to
have five kids
next time.

Yes, my darlings,
I know.

Mom,
we’re hungry!

74

Did you make
something to eat,
dear?

If they’re hungry,
they can go hunt something
in the woods.

Wait,
what? No,
they’re
way too
young, it’s
dangerous!

Thank goodness Bill thought to
bring some wheat hot pot. I’ll go
get it from the car.

Right, yes,
great idea...

Would you just take a look at
yourself, cuz! You’re drowning
in all that pointless stuff!

You’re such a
Neanderthal....

Oh my, oh my... Would
you look at that
nasty cloud....

Say what? Oh, you’re
right, Cindy!

We can’t leave
the crops and
the animals
any longer....

Ok, really sorry, buddy, we’ll finish
this wonderful conversation
another time, we have a long
journey and the fields can’t be
kept waiting....

Come on,
kids! We’re
going
home!

75

And one kid’s more than enough
to keep us busy! You want
me waking in the night to
breastfeed several crying
babies? No, thanks!

Junior here suckles
just three times a
day now. Way more
convenient, you know.

You still
breastfeed him?!!
But he’s like four!

You really need to get with the program,
sweetheart.... The experts in the village
temple say breastfeeding’s not needed
at all. Not even for tiny babies.

I just give
my kids porridge.
That’s the
modern way!

Just
porridge?!

Well, a little
goat’s milk too.

Goat’s milk?!!
Eeeeeeew...

The temple experts
say it helps protect
the kids from all the
infectious diseases they
catch from the goats.
And from one another.

Infectious dis...
Junior!

Come on, honey,
that’s enough
playing with
your cousins!

But, honestly,
sometimes I’m not
so sure about the
temple experts.
So many kids keep
dying.

You know what they told my neighbor
when she lost all four of her kids
in last year’s epidemic?

They said to
have five kids
next time.

Yes, my darlings,
I know.

Mom,
we’re hungry!

Did you make
something to eat,
dear?

If they’re hungry,
they can go hunt something
in the woods.

Wait,
what? No,
they’re
way too
young, it’s
dangerous!

Thank goodness Bill thought to
bring some wheat hot pot. I’ll go
get it from the car.

Right, yes,
great idea...

Would you just take a look at
yourself, cuz! You’re drowning
in all that pointless stuff!

You’re such a
Neanderthal....

Oh my, oh my... Would
you look at that
nasty cloud....

Say what? Oh, you’re
right, Cindy!

We can’t leave
the crops and
the animals
any longer....

Ok, really sorry, buddy, we’ll finish
this wonderful conversation
another time, we have a long
journey and the fields can’t be
kept waiting....

Come on,
kids! We’re
going
home!

You guys should totally
come to us next time.

Oh, no thanks! I heard
you cut down all the
forests and it’s now all
fenced fields and canals!

It’s all so
artificial
at your
place, I’m
way happier
here!

Ok... Let’s
leave it at
that then....

See
ya!

see
ya.

AAAAARGH!!!!!

BOURGEOIS SNOBS!!!

AAAAAARGH!!!!!

DAMN HIPPIES!!!

Ha! Ha! Ha! These two families have
completely opposite lifestyles....

I can see why
they can’t
agree....

The agricultural revolution is still
divisive today.

Some people think it set
humanity on the path to
prosperity and progress....
Others claim it was the
road to perdition....

You’re
so behind
the
times,
cuz!

It was
better
the old
way, Bill!

Well, good or bad, the Agricultural
Revolution was irreversible.

And it changed
everything! For example,
it probably led to the
appearance of private
property.

Farmer

Bill and Cindy

Hunter-gatherers didn’t own much.
People had a few tools and clothes
they could call their property....

...but nobody owned plots of
land. All band members could
go anywhere they wanted in
their common territory.

And no one owned any plants or
animals. The idea that a human might
own a fig tree or a herd of cattle
was ridiculous. How could one being
own another?

Lions don’t
own zebras.
Fleas don’t
own dogs.
So how could
humans own
cattle?

Agriculture changed all that.
When a farmer worked hard to
cultivate a wheat field or raise
a goat herd, he came to see
these as his private property.

And once humans began owning
goats, they also got the idea
they could own humans—
as slaves....

And men got the idea they could
own women....

77

You guys should totally
come to us next time.

Oh, no thanks! I heard
you cut down all the
forests and it’s now all
fenced fields and canals!

It’s all so
artificial
at your
place, I’m
way happier
here!

Ok... Let’s
leave it at
that then....

See
ya!

see
ya.

AAAAARGH!!!!!

BOURGEOIS SNOBS!!!

AAAAAARGH!!!!!

DAMN HIPPIES!!!

Ha! Ha! Ha! These two families have
completely opposite lifestyles....

I can see why
they can’t
agree....

The agricultural revolution is still
divisive today.

Some people think it set
humanity on the path to
prosperity and progress....
Others claim it was the
road to perdition....

You’re
so behind
the
times,
cuz!

It was
better
the old
way, Bill!

Well, good or bad, the Agricultural
Revolution was irreversible.

And it changed
everything! For example,
it probably led to the
appearance of private
property.

Hunter-gatherers didn’t own much.
People had a few tools and clothes
they could call their property....

...but nobody owned plots of
land. All band members could
go anywhere they wanted in
their common territory.

And no one owned any plants or
animals. The idea that a human might
own a fig tree or a herd of cattle
was ridiculous. How could one being
own another?

Lions don’t
own zebras.
Fleas don’t
own dogs.
So how could
humans own
cattle?

Agriculture changed all that.
When a farmer worked hard to
cultivate a wheat field or raise
a goat herd, he came to see
these as his private property.

And once humans began owning
goats, they also got the idea
they could own humans—
as slaves....

And men got the idea they could
own women....

By creating private property, Sapiens
increased their selfish tendencies....

...Time changed too. With agriculture
everybody was constantly worrying
about the future. Farmers are
always fretting that there won’t
be enough rain...

...or too much...

...or any number of other calamities
might happen....

All that stress had far-reaching consequences.
It was the foundation of large-scale political
and social systems.

Anxieties and worries
are the building
blocks of the state.

Sadly, despite all their backbreaking work,
peasants hardly ever achieved the economic
security they craved.

Rulers and elites sprang up everywhere,
living off the peasants’ surplus food
and leaving them barely enough
to survive.

For thousands of years, rulers adopted this exploitative equation:
“Taxes = all the food – just enough to eat.” Which means: no
matter how much the peasants produced, the state left them
little more than they needed to survive.

TAXES

78

These confiscated food surpluses
fueled politics, wars, art and
philosophy. They built palaces,
forts, monuments and temples.

Until modern times, the vast
majority of humans toiled
daily in the fields.

The extra provisions they produced
fed a tiny elite who now fill our
history books.

Kings, government officials,
soldiers, priests, artists, thinkers...
none of them had to work the land
because others did it for them.

History was made by very few
people while everyone else
plowed fields and carried
water buckets.

79

By creating private property, Sapiens
increased their selfish tendencies....

...Time changed too. With agriculture
everybody was constantly worrying
about the future. Farmers are
always fretting that there won’t
be enough rain...

...or too much...

...or any number of other calamities
might happen....

All that stress had far-reaching consequences.
It was the foundation of large-scale political
and social systems.

Anxieties and worries
are the building
blocks of the state.

Sadly, despite all their backbreaking work,
peasants hardly ever achieved the economic
security they craved.

Rulers and elites sprang up everywhere,
living off the peasants’ surplus food
and leaving them barely enough
to survive.

For thousands of years, rulers adopted this exploitative equation:
“Taxes = all the food – just enough to eat.” Which means: no
matter how much the peasants produced, the state left them
little more than they needed to survive.

TAXES

These confiscated food surpluses
fueled politics, wars, art and
philosophy. They built palaces,
forts, monuments and temples.

Until modern times, the vast
majority of humans toiled
daily in the fields.

The extra provisions they produced
fed a tiny elite who now fill our
history books.

Kings, government officials,
soldiers, priests, artists, thinkers...
none of them had to work the land
because others did it for them.

History was made by very few
people while everyone else
plowed fields and carried
water buckets.

New food surpluses along with new means
of transport allowed more and more
people to cram together into the
same places.

Sapiens could begin
establishing towns
and even cities.

These cities joined
to form kingdoms and
trading networks.

But food surpluses and improved
transport alone weren’t
enough to create cities
and kingdoms.

Master Confucius!
What an honor...

Just because you could feed a kingdom’s million
inhabitants didn’t guarantee they’d all
get along....

As people crammed together,
there were endless grounds for
disagreements and conflicts...

...the allocation
of land and water,
what to do in times
of drought or war....

And if no agreement was reached, disputes spread
wider... even if the storehouses were bulging
with provisions....

The big question of human
politics isn’t “how to feed a
million people” but rather
“how to get a million people
to agree on anything.”

80

It wasn’t food shortages
that provoked most wars and
revolutions in history.

Bonjour,
Messieurs!

It wasn’t starving peasants who
spearheaded the French Revolution,
but affluent lawyers.

Robespierre

Danton

Desmoulins

Just over
2,000 years ago...

When the Roman Republic reached the height of
its power, it ruled the entire Mediterranean and
enriched the Romans beyond their ancestors’
wildest dreams.

Yet it was at this time of
maximum affluence that Roman
political order collapsed into
a series of bloody civil wars.

Hey! Oh, my word,
look! It’s Caesar
crossing the
Rubicon!

Hmm... smells like the point
of no return to me....

For millions of years humans evolved in small bands of a few dozen
individuals. Once agriculture began, it took just a few thousand
years to create huge kingdoms and empires. There wasn’t time
for a new instinct for mass cooperation to evolve.

Are you still hoeing
with that old thing?
You know the 6.2 pro
is out already?

It was all so fast. Those few thousand years weren’t enough
to make a lasting change to our biology. Unlike ants, humans
have no instinct for mass cooperation.

Thank you for
your illuminating
comments,
Master.

81

New food surpluses along with new means
of transport allowed more and more
people to cram together into the
same places.

Sapiens could begin
establishing towns
and even cities.

These cities joined
to form kingdoms and
trading networks.

But food surpluses and improved
transport alone weren’t
enough to create cities
and kingdoms.

Master Confucius!
What an honor...

Just because you could feed a kingdom’s million
inhabitants didn’t guarantee they’d all
get along....

As people crammed together,
there were endless grounds for
disagreements and conflicts...

...the allocation
of land and water,
what to do in times
of drought or war....

And if no agreement was reached, disputes spread
wider... even if the storehouses were bulging
with provisions....

The big question of human
politics isn’t “how to feed a
million people” but rather
“how to get a million people
to agree on anything.”

It wasn’t food shortages
that provoked most wars and
revolutions in history.

Bonjour,
Messieurs!

It wasn’t starving peasants who
spearheaded the French Revolution,
but affluent lawyers.

Robespierre

Danton

Desmoulins

Just over
2,000 years ago...

When the Roman Republic reached the height of
its power, it ruled the entire Mediterranean and
enriched the Romans beyond their ancestors’
wildest dreams.

Yet it was at this time of
maximum affluence that Roman
political order collapsed into
a series of bloody civil wars.

Hey! Oh, my word,
look! It’s Caesar
crossing the
Rubicon!

Hmm... smells like the point
of no return to me....

For millions of years humans evolved in small bands of a few dozen
individuals. Once agriculture began, it took just a few thousand
years to create huge kingdoms and empires. There wasn’t time
for a new instinct for mass cooperation to evolve.

Are you still hoeing
with that old thing?
You know the 6.2 pro
is out already?

It was all so fast. Those few thousand years weren’t enough
to make a lasting change to our biology. Unlike ants, humans
have no instinct for mass cooperation.

Thank you for
your illuminating
comments,
Master.

Despite this lack of a human “mass-cooperation instinct,”
shared myths meant that hundreds of hunter-gatherers
occasionally cooperated right back in the Stone Age.

But this cooperation was
loose and limited.

Each hunter-gatherer
band still ran its life
independently and provided
for its own needs.

About 20,000
years ago...

A Stone Age sage couldn’t know what would
happen after the Agricultural Revolution,
and might easily have believed that
mythology had fairly limited scope....

stories of spirits
and totems aren’t
as effective as you
think, Doctor
Fiction!

How do you mean?
your myths sure as heck
helped you cooperate,
right? I’ve seen plenty
of Sapiens trading shells,
celebrating festivals
and joining forces
against Neanderthals....

Sometimes hundreds of
you gang up together!

Well, maybe, but
that’s the limit!

Mythology won’t ever
get millions of strangers
cooperating in day-to-day
life!

That’s where you’re wrong!
Myths are way more powerful
than you could ever imagine!

82

Thanks to myths, humans are
going to build mind-blowing
networks of mass cooperation.
It will take them just 12,000
years to get from tribes of
maybe 1,000 people to a global
trade network of 8 billion.

Will these future
humans still look
like us?

Sure thing!
Biologically,
nothing will
change.

But when you guys start
inventing stories about
great gods and chosen
peoples, you’ll be all
set to create huge
cities and empires...

...nation states...

...and even joint stock
companies....

Doctor Fiction is
absolutely right!
I can corroborate
that!

Well, they sound very nice, these big
networks in the future.... I was thinking
of taking my annual spirit trip soon....
Maybe I can visit?

You looking
for a vacation
destination?

Perfect timing,
the latest
“Fantasy Trip
Travel” is
just out!

83

Despite this lack of a human “mass-cooperation instinct,”
shared myths meant that hundreds of hunter-gatherers
occasionally cooperated right back in the Stone Age.

But this cooperation was
loose and limited.

Each hunter-gatherer
band still ran its life
independently and provided
for its own needs.

About 20,000
years ago...

A Stone Age sage couldn’t know what would
happen after the Agricultural Revolution,
and might easily have believed that
mythology had fairly limited scope....

stories of spirits
and totems aren’t
as effective as you
think, Doctor
Fiction!

How do you mean?
your myths sure as heck
helped you cooperate,
right? I’ve seen plenty
of Sapiens trading shells,
celebrating festivals
and joining forces
against Neanderthals....

Sometimes hundreds of
you gang up together!

Well, maybe, but
that’s the limit!

Mythology won’t ever
get millions of strangers
cooperating in day-to-day
life!

That’s where you’re wrong!
Myths are way more powerful
than you could ever imagine!

Thanks to myths, humans are
going to build mind-blowing
networks of mass cooperation.
It will take them just 12,000
years to get from tribes of
maybe 1,000 people to a global
trade network of 8 billion.

Will these future
humans still look
like us?

Sure thing!
Biologically,
nothing will
change.

But when you guys start
inventing stories about
great gods and chosen
peoples, you’ll be all
set to create huge
cities and empires...

...nation states...

...and even joint stock
companies....

Doctor Fiction is
absolutely right!
I can corroborate
that!

Well, they sound very nice, these big
networks in the future.... I was thinking
of taking my annual spirit trip soon....
Maybe I can visit?

You looking
for a vacation
destination?

Perfect timing,
the latest
“Fantasy Trip
Travel” is
just out!

FANTASY TRIPS

FOR SHAMANS, WITCH DOCTORS, DRUIDS...

JERICHO OASIS

• 10,000 years ago
• 1,000 inhabitants
• 1 small temple

► Help bring in the first sheaves of the harvest!
► Experience the local goat sacrifice ceremony!

SPECIAL
OFFER

ÇATALHÖYÜK TOWN

The Anatolia of your dreams!

• 9,000 years ago
• 5,000 inhabitants
• 63 shrines

► Don’t miss the spring bull festival!
► Improve your luck in life with a bull sacrifice!
► Worship the great female spirit!
► Rest easy in Neolithic luxury!

MUST
HAVE!

LIVE FOREVER
NOW—ASK ME HOW

MESOPOTAMIA

Where the fun never stops!

• 5,000 years ago
• Kingdoms of more than
100,000 inhabitants

► Visit the Abzu temple of Enki, god of deep waters and magic!
► Let Ishtar teach you all about love, sex... and war!
► Try out the 12-step Gilgamesh Immortality Plan™!

They’ll blow your mind!

...AND LAWYERS

LOWER NILE VALLEY

• 4,500 years ago
• 1 million inhabitants...
• ...1 pharaoh to rule them all!

► Have the jackal-headed Anubis weigh
your soul against a feather!
► Get your body mummified at the
local spa!
► Lose yourself inside a pyramid!

PRICE
CUT!

SOLD
OUT!

QIN DYNASTY

Become one with the Qin!

• 2,200 years ago
• 40 million subjects

► Mass parades featuring 100,000 soldiers!
► Dazzling rituals at the court of the Son of Heaven!
► Join the ranks of the famous Terracotta Army!
► Let all your defenses down! Resistance is futile!

ALL-INCLUSIVE
PACKAGE

ROMAN EMPIRE

A Roman Feast

• 2,000 years ago
• 50 million subjects

► Visit the amphitheater to see unforgettable shows!
► Let yourself run wild in the Saturnalia!
► Take a trip to the underworld with our award-
winning guide, Virgil!
► Make a reservation before the Ides of March and
win an exceptional tour of the Senate with a
lecture series by Cicero!

UNBEATABLE
OFFER

Disclaimer: The Fantasy Trips corporation is not liable for
any wars and/or genocides and/or slavery and/or mass
exploitation in its recommended destinations. Millions of
humans may have been harmed during the making of this
brochure.

FANTASY TRIPS

FOR SHAMANS, WITCH DOCTORS, DRUIDS...

JERICHO OASIS

• 10,000 years ago
• 1,000 inhabitants
• 1 small temple

► Help bring in the first sheaves of the harvest!
► Experience the local goat sacrifice ceremony!

SPECIAL
OFFER

ÇATALHÖYÜK TOWN

The Anatolia of your dreams!

• 9,000 years ago
• 5,000 inhabitants
• 63 shrines

► Don’t miss the spring bull festival!
► Improve your luck in life with a bull sacrifice!
► Worship the great female spirit!
► Rest easy in Neolithic luxury!

MUST
HAVE!

LIVE FOREVER
NOW—ASK ME HOW

MESOPOTAMIA

Where the fun never stops!

• 5,000 years ago
• Kingdoms of more than
100,000 inhabitants

► Visit the Abzu temple of Enki, god of deep waters and magic!
► Let Ishtar teach you all about love, sex... and war!
► Try out the 12-step Gilgamesh Immortality Plan™!

They’ll blow your mind!

...AND LAWYERS

LOWER NILE VALLEY

• 4,500 years ago
• 1 million inhabitants...
• ...1 pharaoh to rule them all!

► Have the jackal-headed Anubis weigh
your soul against a feather!
► Get your body mummified at the
local spa!
► Lose yourself inside a pyramid!

PRICE
CUT!

SOLD
OUT!

QIN DYNASTY

Become one with the Qin!

• 2,200 years ago
• 40 million subjects

► Mass parades featuring 100,000 soldiers!
► Dazzling rituals at the court of the Son of Heaven!
► Join the ranks of the famous Terracotta Army!
► Let all your defenses down! Resistance is futile!

ALL-INCLUSIVE
PACKAGE

ROMAN EMPIRE

A Roman Feast

• 2,000 years ago
• 50 million subjects

► Visit the amphitheater to see unforgettable shows!
► Let yourself run wild in the Saturnalia!
► Take a trip to the underworld with our award-
winning guide, Virgil!
► Make a reservation before the Ides of March and
win an exceptional tour of the Senate with a
lecture series by Cicero!

UNBEATABLE
OFFER

Disclaimer: The Fantasy Trips corporation is not liable for
any wars and/or genocides and/or slavery and/or mass
exploitation in its recommended destinations. Millions of
humans may have been harmed during the making of this
brochure.

Oh my! I had no idea
mythology could create
such giant networks
of cooperation! Pretty
impressive!

But what’s
in the fine
print here?

Disclaimer: The Fantasy Trips corporation is not liable for
any wars and/or genocides and/or slavery and/or mass
exploitation in its recommended destinations. Millions of
humans may have been harmed during the making of this
brochure.

Cooperation may sound all fluffy and
altruistic, but it’s not always voluntary...
and it’s hardly ever egalitarian.

Most human cooperation
networks relied
on oppression and
exploitation.

Those famous Roman amphitheaters?
Many of them were built by slaves.

And what for? So bored
rich Romans could watch
other slaves fight for
their lives in gruesome
gladiatorial combat.

Even prisons and concentration
camps are cooperation
networks, geddit? The only
way they work is by having
thousands of strangers
coordinating what they do.

I see, so, um, I might reconsider that
trip....

Maybe I’ll just do the usual
mushrooming, thank you.

No problem!
Whatever does
it for you!

86

Babylonia...

the Qin
Empire...

...and this, the
Roman Empire...

they were all built
on fictional stories.
They were all
“imagined orders”!

The social norms that kept
them going weren’t based
on instincts...

...or on
personal
acquaintances...

...but on
belief in
shared
myths.

You remember my friend Armand? Remember
how I had explained that corporations are
fictional stories too?

What’s up, doc?
I see all roads really
do lead to Rome....

It’s the same with
kingdoms, empires and even
modern states. They’re all
based on myths.

That’s one of the
most difficult things
to understand about
history—but also one of
the most important.

So let’s take a look at a
couple of famous myths in
history... Hammurabi’s code and
the American Declaration of
Independence....

87

Oh my! I had no idea
mythology could create
such giant networks
of cooperation! Pretty
impressive!

But what’s
in the fine
print here?

Disclaimer: The Fantasy Trips corporation is not liable for
any wars and/or genocides and/or slavery and/or mass
exploitation in its recommended destinations. Millions of
humans may have been harmed during the making of this
brochure.

Cooperation may sound all fluffy and
altruistic, but it’s not always voluntary...
and it’s hardly ever egalitarian.

Most human cooperation
networks relied
on oppression and
exploitation.

Those famous Roman amphitheaters?
Many of them were built by slaves.

And what for? So bored
rich Romans could watch
other slaves fight for
their lives in gruesome
gladiatorial combat.

Even prisons and concentration
camps are cooperation
networks, geddit? The only
way they work is by having
thousands of strangers
coordinating what they do.

I see, so, um, I might reconsider that
trip....

Maybe I’ll just do the usual
mushrooming, thank you.

No problem!
Whatever does
it for you!

Babylonia...

the Qin
Empire...

...and this, the
Roman Empire...

they were all built
on fictional stories.
They were all
“imagined orders”!

The social norms that kept
them going weren’t based
on instincts...

...or on
personal
acquaintances...

...but on
belief in
shared
myths.

You remember my friend Armand? Remember
how I had explained that corporations are
fictional stories too?

What’s up, doc?
I see all roads really
do lead to Rome....

It’s the same with
kingdoms, empires and even
modern states. They’re all
based on myths.

That’s one of the
most difficult things
to understand about
history—but also one of
the most important.

So let’s take a look at a
couple of famous myths in
history... Hammurabi’s code and
the American Declaration of
Independence....

1776 years
before the
common era...

the Babylonian Empire—
forged through conquest and
diplomacy—was one of the
largest states in the world.

And its capital city,
Babylon, was probably
the world’s biggest
city back then.

BLACK SEA

CASPIAN
SEA

TURKEY

MEDITER-
RANEAN

SYRIA

EUPHRATES

TIGRIS

IRAQ

PERSIAN
GULF

BABYLON

The empire ruled
most of Mesopotamia.

RED
SEA

ARABIA

Babylon’s king
was the famous
Hammurabi.

The Louvre Museum
in Paris, today.

He’s basically famous because
of a text named
after him, the
Hammurabi code.

It’s a list
of laws
and legal
decisions
he made.

There were three reasons
for displaying the code: to
big up Hammurabi, to underpin
a unifying legal system
right across the Babylonian
Empire... and to teach future
generations about
justice and how
a fair king
does his job!

And future generations
sure did take it
seriously.

All the intellectual and bureaucratic big shots in Mesopotamia
made a big deal of the code, and apprentice scribes were still
copying it out hundreds of years after Hammurabi died and
his empire collapsed.

88

Those Mesopotamians
obviously thought that
this code was a template
for perfect social order.

Right at the start
it says that the gods
Anu, Enlil and Marduk
appointed Hammurabi to,
and I quote, “make justice
prevail in the land.”

Hammurabi, thou shalt abolish
the wicked and the evil, and
thou shalt prevent the
strong from oppressing
the weak!

Very well, my lords.
So be it.

There are like 300 judgments
in the code, and they all
follow the same formula.

“If x happens...

...the judgment
is y.”

Yikes, it’s time
for the oral exam
and I haven’t
memorized it all
yet!!!

Would you be a doll and read
out a few passages?

Um... Sure,
yes.

Maybe
point 196?

“If a nobleman
should blind
the eye of a
nobleman, his eye
shall be blinded.”

Hmm... Interesting.
An eye for an eye...

Please, keep
going....

198. If a nobleman
should blind the eye of a
commoner, he shall deliver
sixty shekels of silver.

199. If a nobleman should
blind the eye of a slave
belonging to another nobleman,
he shall deliver half of the
slave’s value in silver shekels....

209. If a nobleman strikes a
noblewoman and causes her to
miscarry her fetus, he shall deliver
ten shekels for her fetus.

210. If that woman should die, his daughter
shall be killed.

211. If he should cause a commoner
woman to miscarry her fetus, he shall
deliver five shekels.

Seriously?!
Keep
going....

212. If that commoner
woman should die, he
shall deliver thirty
shekels of silver.

213. If he should strike
a slave-woman of a
nobleman and thereby
cause her to miscarry her
fetus, he shall deliver
two shekels.

89

1776 years
before the
common era...

the Babylonian Empire—
forged through conquest and
diplomacy—was one of the
largest states in the world.

And its capital city,
Babylon, was probably
the world’s biggest
city back then.

BLACK SEA

CASPIAN
SEA

TURKEY

MEDITER-
RANEAN

SYRIA

EUPHRATES

TIGRIS

IRAQ

PERSIAN
GULF

BABYLON

The empire ruled
most of Mesopotamia.

RED
SEA

ARABIA

Babylon’s king
was the famous
Hammurabi.

The Louvre Museum
in Paris, today.

He’s basically famous because
of a text named
after him, the
Hammurabi code.

It’s a list
of laws
and legal
decisions
he made.

There were three reasons
for displaying the code: to
big up Hammurabi, to underpin
a unifying legal system
right across the Babylonian
Empire... and to teach future
generations about
justice and how
a fair king
does his job!

And future generations
sure did take it
seriously.

All the intellectual and bureaucratic big shots in Mesopotamia
made a big deal of the code, and apprentice scribes were still
copying it out hundreds of years after Hammurabi died and
his empire collapsed.

Those Mesopotamians
obviously thought that
this code was a template
for perfect social order.

Right at the start
it says that the gods
Anu, Enlil and Marduk
appointed Hammurabi to,
and I quote, “make justice
prevail in the land.”

Hammurabi, thou shalt abolish
the wicked and the evil, and
thou shalt prevent the
strong from oppressing
the weak!

Very well, my lords.
So be it.

There are like 300 judgments
in the code, and they all
follow the same formula.

“If x happens...

...the judgment
is y.”

Yikes, it’s time
for the oral exam
and I haven’t
memorized it all
yet!!!

Would you be a doll and read
out a few passages?

Um... Sure,
yes.

Maybe
point 196?

“If a nobleman
should blind
the eye of a
nobleman, his eye
shall be blinded.”

Hmm... Interesting.
An eye for an eye...

Please, keep
going....

198. If a nobleman
should blind the eye of a
commoner, he shall deliver
sixty shekels of silver.

199. If a nobleman should
blind the eye of a slave
belonging to another nobleman,
he shall deliver half of the
slave’s value in silver shekels....

209. If a nobleman strikes a
noblewoman and causes her to
miscarry her fetus, he shall deliver
ten shekels for her fetus.

210. If that woman should die, his daughter
shall be killed.

211. If he should cause a commoner
woman to miscarry her fetus, he shall
deliver five shekels.

Seriously?!
Keep
going....

212. If that commoner
woman should die, he
shall deliver thirty
shekels of silver.

213. If he should strike
a slave-woman of a
nobleman and thereby
cause her to miscarry her
fetus, he shall deliver
two shekels.

What do you make
of all this, Lady
Justice?

Forsooth... ’tis fine
and fair in mine eye!

214. If that
slave-woman
should die, he shall
deliver twenty
shekels of silver.

Holy gods! The exam
inspector’s here too!

Should I keep
reading?

Yes,
please do.

After the list of his judgments, Hammurabi
declares that his laws were established to
“direct the country along the course of truth
and justice.”

He proclaims: “I am
Hammurabi, noble king.”

“I have not been careless
or negligent toward
humankind, who were granted
to my care by the God
Enlil, and whose shepherding
was entrusted to me by
the god Marduk.”

Very good. I see that Babylon’s
social order hath been rooted
in universal—nay eternal—
principles of justice, verily
dictated by the great gods.

Abso-total-utely!

That’s enough reading. Could you
Um, yes, of course! Soooo,
tell us a little about the basic
principles of Babylonian justice,
you know, in your own words....

um... First, hierarchy is
really, really important.
According to the code,
people are divided into
two genders and um...
three classes.

noblemen...

Commoners...

And—oh, I
know this
one—slaves!

People in each class
and of each gender
have different
values. The life of a
commoner woman is
worth—wait, wait—
thirty silver shekels...

and a slave-
woman’s
twenty silver
shekels....

But a male
commoner’s eye, his
eye alone, is worth
sixty. You know,
’cause he’s, well,
a man.

90

Right, so tell me—what
does this super important
hierarchy apply to?

Well, everything. You see, our social
order’s really fair. We don’t make
exceptions for anyone! So there’s
hierarchy in the law courts, hierarchy
in the market and even hierarchy in
the bedroom.

The people
belong to
the king.
The wife
belongs to
the husband.
The children
belong to
the father.

Wait, what do you mean
“the children belong to the
father”??!!

That’s what our king
Hammurabi decreed.
It was very clear in the
passage I just read to you:
if a nobleman kills another
nobleman’s daughter, the
killer’s daughter shall be
executed in punishment.

Surely ’tis passable strange that
the killer be not harmed in any
way but his innocent daughter
killed? What say you?

Umm... Well, no,
it’s just normal....
I mean, that killer
destroyed another man’s
property, right? So
surely it’s only fair that
his property’s destroyed
as punishment?

Yikes,
what kind
of a trick
question was
that???

Ho! Ho!
Indeed, this young
student veritably
understands
Babylonian justice,
Doctor Fiction!

Felicitations, young man.
And bountiful thanks for
thine clarity!

Is that
it, then?
Did I pass?

YES!!!

If King Hammurabi’s
subjects all accepted their
position in yonder hierarchy,
if they all acquitted
themselves accordingly, then
by my troth the Empire’s
million inhabitants could
indeed cooperate effectively.

Thenceforth, their society could provide
for all its members and efficiently
distribute these said provisions.

Furthermore, it could protect itself
against enemy onslaughts, yeah, and
extend its territories to ensure ever
more wealth and greater security.

91

What do you make
of all this, Lady
Justice?

Forsooth... ’tis fine
and fair in mine eye!

214. If that
slave-woman
should die, he shall
deliver twenty
shekels of silver.

Holy gods! The exam
inspector’s here too!

Should I keep
reading?

Yes,
please do.

After the list of his judgments, Hammurabi
declares that his laws were established to
“direct the country along the course of truth
and justice.”

He proclaims: “I am
Hammurabi, noble king.”

“I have not been careless
or negligent toward
humankind, who were granted
to my care by the God
Enlil, and whose shepherding
was entrusted to me by
the god Marduk.”

Very good. I see that Babylon’s
social order hath been rooted
in universal—nay eternal—
principles of justice, verily
dictated by the great gods.

Abso-total-utely!

That’s enough reading. Could you
tell us a little about the basic
principles of Babylonian justice,
you know, in your own words....

um... First, hierarchy is
Um, yes, of course! Soooo,
really, really important.
According to the code,
people are divided into
two genders and um...
three classes.

noblemen...

Commoners...

And—oh, I
know this
one—slaves!

People in each class
and of each gender
have different
values. The life of a
commoner woman is
worth—wait, wait—
thirty silver shekels...

and a slave-
woman’s
twenty silver
shekels....

But a male
commoner’s eye, his
eye alone, is worth
sixty. You know,
’cause he’s, well,
a man.

Right, so tell me—what
does this super important
hierarchy apply to?

Well, everything. You see, our social
order’s really fair. We don’t make
exceptions for anyone! So there’s
hierarchy in the law courts, hierarchy
in the market and even hierarchy in
the bedroom.

The people
belong to
the king.
The wife
belongs to
the husband.
The children
belong to
the father.

Wait, what do you mean
“the children belong to the
father”??!!

That’s what our king
Hammurabi decreed.
It was very clear in the
passage I just read to you:
if a nobleman kills another
nobleman’s daughter, the
killer’s daughter shall be
executed in punishment.

Surely ’tis passable strange that
the killer be not harmed in any
way but his innocent daughter
killed? What say you?

Umm... Well, no,
it’s just normal....
I mean, that killer
destroyed another man’s
property, right? So
surely it’s only fair that
his property’s destroyed
as punishment?

Yikes,
what kind
of a trick
question was
that???

Ho! Ho!
Indeed, this young
student veritably
understands
Babylonian justice,
Doctor Fiction!

Felicitations, young man.
And bountiful thanks for
thine clarity!

Is that
it, then?
Did I pass?

YES!!!

If King Hammurabi’s
subjects all accepted their
position in yonder hierarchy,
if they all acquitted
themselves accordingly, then
by my troth the Empire’s
million inhabitants could
indeed cooperate effectively.

Thenceforth, their society could provide
for all its members and efficiently
distribute these said provisions.

Furthermore, it could protect itself
against enemy onslaughts, yeah, and
extend its territories to ensure ever
more wealth and greater security.

Whither leadest thou,
Doctor Fiction?

To Philadelphia! I want
to compare Hammurabi’s
code with the American
Declaration of
Independence....

You see, 3,500 years
after Hammurabi died,
another principle of
justice was created
here....

In 1776, the inhabitants of
13 British colonies in North
America had this feeling that
the King of Great Britain wasn’t
playing fair with them.

Their representatives met
right here, and this building’s
been called Independence
Hall ever since.

Excuse me... Are you
here for the comics
convention?

Err... Not
exactly, no.

Fulsome
apologies...

It was July 4,
1776.

That was the day the
colonies decided: We’re
done with being subjects
of the British Crown.

They wrote a
Declaration of
Independence proclaiming
universal and eternal
principles of justice.

And, as Hammurabi had before
them, the Americans claimed
’twas a divine power that
bestoweth their universal
principles.

Well, yeah, but
the number one
principle dictated by
the American god was
just a teensy bit different
than in Babylonian times.

92

Could you read out those
lines again, my dear Adams?

Hem-hem... Why, of course,
Mister Jefferson. “We hold
these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are
created equal, that they
are endowed by their
Creator with certain
unalienable rights,

that among these
are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.”

Indeed yes! As with Hammurabi’s
code, this American founding
document promiseth that
people in their millions shall
cooperate in a comely manner,
and shall live in safety and
peace in a just and prosperous
society.

Right, but,
erm... only if
they abide by
these sacred
universal
principles....

A challenge,
forsooth! E’en more
so because future
generations must
accept it too.

Damn right! That’s
something else it
has in common with
Hammurabi’s code....

Twenty-first
century American
school kids still copy
out the declaration
and learn it
by heart.

Who are
these people?

Do you know them?

No, we agreed
there should be no
more than five of us...
And we stipulated
“white men only.”

Hi, gentlemen, sorry
to bother you in
your final
deliberations.

No matter, our
work is done!

We wanted to point out that
your freshly drafted Declaration
of Independence claims to set out
universal and eternal principles
of justice in exactly the same
way as Hammurabi’s code.

And yet,
by my troth,
both texts
bely each
other
with
contradictory
claims.

What’s the
meaning of this?

Well,
you see...

In thine
eyes, all men
are equal,
not so?

Of
course!

And yet in every
Babylonian’s eyes
they are veritably
NOT so.

93

Whither leadest thou,
Doctor Fiction?

To Philadelphia! I want
to compare Hammurabi’s
code with the American
Declaration of
Independence....

You see, 3,500 years
after Hammurabi died,
another principle of
justice was created
here....

In 1776, the inhabitants of
13 British colonies in North
America had this feeling that
the King of Great Britain wasn’t
playing fair with them.

Their representatives met
right here, and this building’s
been called Independence
Hall ever since.

Excuse me... Are you
here for the comics
convention?

Err... Not
exactly, no.

Fulsome
apologies...

It was July 4,
1776.

That was the day the
colonies decided: We’re
done with being subjects
of the British Crown.

They wrote a
Declaration of
Independence proclaiming
universal and eternal
principles of justice.

And, as Hammurabi had before
them, the Americans claimed
’twas a divine power that
bestoweth their universal
principles.

Well, yeah, but
the number one
principle dictated by
the American god was
just a teensy bit different
than in Babylonian times.

Could you read out those
lines again, my dear Adams?

Hem-hem... Why, of course,
Mister Jefferson. “We hold
these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are
created equal, that they
are endowed by their
Creator with certain
unalienable rights,

that among these
are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.”

Indeed yes! As with Hammurabi’s
code, this American founding
document promiseth that
people in their millions shall
cooperate in a comely manner,
and shall live in safety and
peace in a just and prosperous
society.

Right, but,
erm... only if
they abide by
these sacred
universal
principles....

A challenge,
forsooth! E’en more
so because future
generations must
accept it too.

Damn right! That’s
something else it
has in common with
Hammurabi’s code....

Twenty-first
century American
school kids still copy
out the declaration
and learn it
by heart.

Who are
these people?

Do you know them?

No, we agreed
there should be no
more than five of us...
And we stipulated
“white men only.”

Hi, gentlemen, sorry
to bother you in
your final
deliberations.

No matter, our
work is done!

We wanted to point out that
your freshly drafted Declaration
of Independence claims to set out
universal and eternal principles
of justice in exactly the same
way as Hammurabi’s code.

And yet,
by my troth,
both texts
bely each
other
with
contradictory
claims.

What’s the
meaning of this?

Well,
you see...

In thine
eyes, all men
are equal,
not so?

Of
course!

And yet in every
Babylonian’s eyes
they are veritably
NOT so.

It’s only natural! Of course our
declaration is fairer and more
reasonable than some monstrosity
written by ancient heathens!

And yet King Hammurabi would parry
this, saying that thou art wrong to
see all men as equals, that ’tis so
only in thine misguided eye!

I’ve never heard the like of it!
Why, it is self-evident that
we are right!

it may trouble thee to hear
this, but both Hammurabi
and your good selves wrote
only what you imagined....

He imagined a
world governed
by hierarchy. You
imagined a world
governed by equality.

And these universal
principles of yours
don’t exist anywhere
except in your fertile
imaginations, and in the
myths you invent and
tell each other.

Alas, these principles
are far removed from
the universal laws
of physics or biology.

What on earth are you saying?!
Are you trying to convince us
that equality among humans
is a myth???

By my troth,
yes! Indeed, all
of this resides in
human imagination!

But surely it is a scientific
truth that we are all
equal, no?

Well, let’s get science involved!
Come with us, we’ll ask her!

94

We’ve arrived,
Madam.

That’s very kind
of you, Armand.

Gentlemen, may I introduce Professor
Saraswati, a specialist in biology.

Why, hello,
Doctor! All well
with you?

Toot!

Toot!

Pleased to meet
you, gentlemen.

A good day to you,
gentlemen!

And don’t try to be
right, they’ll flip
your thoughts like a
pancake, hi! hi!

Don’t listen
to him, it’s
just French
humor.

So, Professor, we wanted
to ask...

Are all humans
biologically equal?

95

It’s only natural! Of course our
declaration is fairer and more
reasonable than some monstrosity
written by ancient heathens!

And yet King Hammurabi would parry
this, saying that thou art wrong to
see all men as equals, that ’tis so
only in thine misguided eye!

I’ve never heard the like of it!
Why, it is self-evident that
we are right!

it may trouble thee to hear
this, but both Hammurabi
and your good selves wrote
only what you imagined....

He imagined a
world governed
by hierarchy. You
imagined a world
governed by equality.

And these universal
principles of yours
don’t exist anywhere
except in your fertile
imaginations, and in the
myths you invent and
tell each other.

Alas, these principles
are far removed from
the universal laws
of physics or biology.

What on earth are you saying?!
Are you trying to convince us
that equality among humans
is a myth???

By my troth,
yes! Indeed, all
of this resides in
human imagination!

But surely it is a scientific
truth that we are all
equal, no?

Well, let’s get science involved!
Come with us, we’ll ask her!

We’ve arrived,
Madam.

That’s very kind
of you, Armand.

Gentlemen, may I introduce Professor
Saraswati, a specialist in biology.

Why, hello,
Doctor! All well
with you?

Pleased to meet
you, gentlemen.

A good day to you,
gentlemen!

And don’t try to be
right, they’ll flip
your thoughts like a
pancake, hi! hi!

Don’t listen
to him, it’s
just French
humor.

So, Professor, we wanted
to ask...

Are all humans
biologically equal?

Let’s take
a closer look at
this Declaration....

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
that all men are created
equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights, that among these
are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

I’ll cross
this out....

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
that all men are created
equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights, that among these
are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

And I’ll
replace
this....

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
confirmed by the available
evidence that all men are
created evolved equal,
that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, that
among these are life,
liberty and the pursuit
of happiness.

What do you mean by
this? It was God who
created men!

Nay, good sir, the latest
biological evidence avers
that men were not
“created” by any god,
they evolved....

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
confirmed by the available
evidence that all men are
created evolved equal
differently , that they are
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights, that among these
are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

Quite so, thank you, Lady Justice!
Then I need to change this too.
Because evolution relies on
differences....

What blasphemy! In
the name of all that’s
holy, every person has
a soul created by God,
and all souls are equal
in the eyes of God!

You’re suggesting people are equal
because you, I mean modern Americans,
believe in the Christian myths of creation
and of eternal souls.

These are not myths! It is a
self-evident truth that everyone is
equal because God created them so!

96

Hmm... I’ve been
dying to ask....

When you say
“everyone,” do you
mean black people
and women too?

But, we’ll come back to that.
For now, let’s keep listening
to Professor Saraswati’s
explanation.

Thanks,
Doc.

Biological research
shows that every individual
carries a subtly different
genetic code and, from
the moment we’re born,
we’re all exposed to
different influences by our
environment.

This all translates into
our developing different
characteristics—and
these make us more or
less likely to survive.

It’s a little like the
famous story of the
giraffe’s neck, you see?

No...

Right...

Doctor Fiction,
lights, please.

Giraffes like to eat acacia leaves,
which often grow very high up, so
the giraffes with the longest necks
had the best chance of survival.

Over thousands of generations, the
longest-necked giraffes mated with other
long-necked giraffes and the species
gradually evolved a longer neck than any
other animal on the savanna.

97

Let’s take
a closer look at
this Declaration....

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
that all men are created
equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights, that among these
are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

I’ll cross
this out....

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
that all men are created
equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights, that among these
are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

And I’ll
replace
this....

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
confirmed by the available
evidence that all men are
created evolved equal,
that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain
unalienable rights, that
among these are life,
liberty and the pursuit
of happiness.

What do you mean by
this? It was God who
created men!

Nay, good sir, the latest
biological evidence avers
that men were not
“created” by any god,
they evolved....

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
confirmed by the available
evidence that all men are
created evolved equal
differently , that they are
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights, that among these
are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

Quite so, thank you, Lady Justice!
Then I need to change this too.
Because evolution relies on
differences....

What blasphemy! In
the name of all that’s
holy, every person has
a soul created by God,
and all souls are equal
in the eyes of God!

You’re suggesting people are equal
because you, I mean modern Americans,
believe in the Christian myths of creation
and of eternal souls.

These are not myths! It is a
self-evident truth that everyone is
equal because God created them so!

Hmm... I’ve been
dying to ask....

When you say
“everyone,” do you
mean black people
and women too?

But, we’ll come back to that.
For now, let’s keep listening
to Professor Saraswati’s
explanation.

Thanks,
Doc.

Biological research
shows that every individual
carries a subtly different
genetic code and, from
the moment we’re born,
we’re all exposed to
different influences by our
environment.

This all translates into
our developing different
characteristics—and
these make us more or
less likely to survive.

It’s a little like the
famous story of the
giraffe’s neck, you see?

No...

Right...

Doctor Fiction,
lights, please.

Giraffes like to eat acacia leaves,
which often grow very high up, so
the giraffes with the longest necks
had the best chance of survival.

Over thousands of generations, the
longest-necked giraffes mated with other
long-necked giraffes and the species
gradually evolved a longer neck than any
other animal on the savanna.

So “created
equal” should
actually
read “evolved
differently.”

Now, in the same way that humans
were never “created,” biology doesn’t
accept that there’s a “creator” who
“endowed” them with anything...

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
confirmed by the available
evidence that all men are
created evolved equal
differently ,
that they are born
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights, that among these
are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

...which is why “endowed by their creator”
should be replaced by “born.”

Evolution has no specific
purpose, it’s just a blind
process, leading to
the birth of different
individuals.

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
confirmed by the available
evidence that all men
humans are created
evolved equal differently
,
that they are born
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights mutable
characteristics , that among
these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.

So there is naught in the realm of
biology one could liken to a right.

Nothing at
all. there
are just organs,
abilities and
characteristics!

Birds don’t fly
because they have
a “right” to,
but because
they have wings.

And it’s not true that
these organs, abilities
and characteristics are
“unalienable.”

Lots of them are
constantly mutating
and they may eventually
disappear altogether.
Take the ostrich, for
example...

...a bird
that’s
lost the
ability to
fly.

98

We should also
delete the word
“Liberty.”

Surely, though, we can
say that liberty is in
our nature?

Liberty is a political ideal rather than a
biological phenomenon. I personally like
this ideal very much, but I don’t confuse
it with biological reality.

And lastly, I’ll replace
“happiness” with “pleasure.”

What do you
have against
happiness?

So far, biological research
hasn’t managed to define
happiness. Or to measure it
objectively. Most biological
studies recognize only the
existence of pleasure, which
is much easier to define and
to measure.

Let’s clean
this all up....

So here it
is again!

Before: We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness

After: We hold these truths to
be confirmed by the available
evidence, that all humans
evolved differently, that they
are born with certain mutable
characteristics, that among these
are life, and the pursuit of
pleasure.

99

So “created
equal” should
actually
read “evolved
differently.”

Now, in the same way that humans
were never “created,” biology doesn’t
accept that there’s a “creator” who
“endowed” them with anything...

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
confirmed by the available
evidence that all men are
created evolved equal
differently ,
that they are born
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights, that among these
are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

...which is why “endowed by their creator”
should be replaced by “born.”

Evolution has no specific
purpose, it’s just a blind
process, leading to
the birth of different
individuals.

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
confirmed by the available
evidence that all men
humans are created
evolved equal differently
,
that they are born
endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable
rights mutable
characteristics , that among
these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.

So there is naught in the realm of
biology one could liken to a right.

Nothing at
all. there
are just organs,
abilities and
characteristics!

Birds don’t fly
because they have
a “right” to,
but because
they have wings.

And it’s not true that
these organs, abilities
and characteristics are
“unalienable.”

Lots of them are
constantly mutating
and they may eventually
disappear altogether.
Take the ostrich, for
example...

...a bird
that’s
lost the
ability to
fly.

We should also
delete the word
“Liberty.”

Surely, though, we can
say that liberty is in
our nature?

Liberty is a political ideal rather than a
biological phenomenon. I personally like
this ideal very much, but I don’t confuse
it with biological reality.

And lastly, I’ll replace
“happiness” with “pleasure.”

What do you
have against
happiness?

So far, biological research
hasn’t managed to define
happiness. Or to measure it
objectively. Most biological
studies recognize only the
existence of pleasure, which
is much easier to define and
to measure.

Let’s clean
this all up....

So here it
is again!

Before: We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness

After: We hold these truths to
be confirmed by the available
evidence, that all humans
evolved differently, that they
are born with certain mutable
characteristics, that among these
are life, and the pursuit of
pleasure.

If this were an essay in
biology, gentlemen,
you would all get an F.

Thank you, madam,
for your explanations,
but we still have no
intention of changing
our declaration.

Even if we were persuaded that
not all people are biologically
equal, we must believe that we
are all equal in essence.

Only on
this premise
can we
establish
a stable and
prosperous
society.

You know, we have
a war to win, and a
nation to establish.

Do you think your
text would inspire
anyone to fight the
redcoats?

Or pay taxes to the
Federal Government?

My text may not be
scientifically accurate,
but if people believe
in it, it will create a
better world!

I’m way out of my depth
talking about wars and taxes,
gentlemen. Please, you go ahead
and imagine whatever you need to
keep your society in order....

That’s
exactly why
we call it
an “imagined
order.”

We all believe in SOME kind of imagined order. Not because it’s
objectively true—nuh-uh! It’s just that believing in it helps us
cooperate and keep society in better shape.

A word of counsel, though.
Should you draft again
anon, pray invite women to
contribute their wisdom too.

100

But what are we to
deduce from this? Do you
mean that these imagined
orders are all lies?

Or
conspiracies???

Neither!

Imagined orders are just
the only way to get
lots of strangers to
cooperate.

So long!

101

If this were an essay in
biology, gentlemen,
you would all get an F.

Thank you, madam,
for your explanations,
but we still have no
intention of changing
our declaration.

Even if we were persuaded that
not all people are biologically
equal, we must believe that we
are all equal in essence.

Only on
this premise
can we
establish
a stable and
prosperous
society.

You know, we have
a war to win, and a
nation to establish.

Do you think your
text would inspire
anyone to fight the
redcoats?

Or pay taxes to the
Federal Government?

My text may not be
scientifically accurate,
but if people believe
in it, it will create a
better world!

I’m way out of my depth
talking about wars and taxes,
gentlemen. Please, you go ahead
and imagine whatever you need to
keep your society in order....

That’s
exactly why
we call it
an “imagined
order.”

We all believe in SOME kind of imagined order. Not because it’s
objectively true—nuh-uh! It’s just that believing in it helps us
cooperate and keep society in better shape.

A word of counsel, though.
Should you draft again
anon, pray invite women to
contribute their wisdom too.

But what are we to
deduce from this? Do you
mean that these imagined
orders are all lies?

Or
conspiracies???

Neither!

Imagined orders are just
the only way to get
lots of strangers to
cooperate.

So long!

Isn’t it, like, shocking to say that human rights are just as much a
myth as Hammurabi’s terrible code?

It’s shocking to us, Zoe, because it’s OUR myth. But then
the Babylonians would have been shocked by your attitude
to their sacred code.

Yes, I guess
they
would....

A French writer called Voltaire
neatly summarized this problem.
He said: “Perhaps God doesn’t
exist, but don’t tell my servant
or he might steal my things.”
Hammurabi would have said the
same thing about his principle of
hierarchy,

Thomas
Jefferson
about human
rights,
And the
chairperson of
the Federal
Reserve
about
dollars.

Homo sapiens has
no natural rights.
No more than that
squirrel does...

A natural order is
stable, unchanging.
Take gravity, for
example, that’s
a natural order.
It stays the same,
whether we believe
in it or not.

And pine cones
are nutritious,
no matter what
we imagine.
Dollars on the
other hand...

Ok, I get it! All these imagined
orders are UN stable!

Shall we have
an ice cream,
Uncle Yuval?

If just one individual doesn’t want to believe in the imagined
order—be it human rights or the dollar bill—it’s not a
big deal.

You tryin’a make
me believe this
scrap of paper is
worth something,
young lady?

Because there are enough
other people who do
believe in it.

102

Imagine what would happen if
all cashiers and shop managers
stopped believing in money....

If everyone stopped
believing in it, everything
would fall apart!

But nothing that extreme
ever happens, right?

Actually, it does....
And more often than
people realize...

In Hungary in 1946, inflation hit
41.9 quadrillion percent. Prices
doubled every 15 hours!

HISTORIK
CHANNEL

1945–1946: Hyperinflation!!!

The joke went that people preferred
taking buses to taxis, because in a bus you
pay when you board, whereas in a taxi you
pay at the end....

HISTORIK
CHANNEL

Things like that could happen anywhere. It
all depends on whether people trust the
imagined order.

Breaking News!

Since beginning of Covid-19 crisis,
Federal Reserve creates
trillions of additional USD!

103

Isn’t it, like, shocking to say that human rights are just as much a
myth as Hammurabi’s terrible code?

It’s shocking to us, Zoe, because it’s OUR myth. But then
the Babylonians would have been shocked by your attitude
to their sacred code.

Yes, I guess
they
would....

A French writer called Voltaire
neatly summarized this problem.
He said: “Perhaps God doesn’t
exist, but don’t tell my servant
or he might steal my things.”
Hammurabi would have said the
same thing about his principle of
hierarchy,

Thomas
Jefferson
about human
rights,
And the
chairperson of
the Federal
Reserve
about
dollars.

Homo sapiens has
no natural rights.
No more than that
squirrel does...

A natural order is
stable, unchanging.
Take gravity, for
example, that’s
a natural order.
It stays the same,
whether we believe
in it or not.

And pine cones
are nutritious,
no matter what
we imagine.
Dollars on the
other hand...

Ok, I get it! All these imagined
orders are UN stable!

Shall we have
an ice cream,
Uncle Yuval?

If just one individual doesn’t want to believe in the imagined
order—be it human rights or the dollar bill—it’s not a
big deal.

You tryin’a make
me believe this
scrap of paper is
worth something,
young lady?

Because there are enough
other people who do
believe in it.

Imagine what would happen if
all cashiers and shop managers
stopped believing in money....

If everyone stopped
believing in it, everything
would fall apart!

But nothing that extreme
ever happens, right?

Actually, it does....
And more often than
people realize...

In Hungary in 1946, inflation hit
41.9 quadrillion percent. Prices
doubled every 15 hours!

The joke went that people preferred
taking buses to taxis, because in a bus you
pay when you board, whereas in a taxi you
pay at the end....

Things like that could happen anywhere. It
all depends on whether people trust the
imagined order.

Breaking News!

Since beginning of Covid-19 crisis,
Federal Reserve creates
trillions of additional USD!

HISTORIK
CHANNEL

1945–1946: Hyperinflation!!!

HISTORIK
CHANNEL

No wonder Sapiens work
so hard to keep their
imagined orders going.

Exactly right. Imagined
orders constantly
run the risk of
collapsing.

Gravity will
still be there tomorrow
morning. But human rights
and the dollar...
Who knows...

NO MORE BILLS
AND COINS!

BARTER
IS
BETTER!

SAY NO

TO MONEY!

It’s constant work safeguarding an imagined order.
And it often calls for violent measures. Armies,
police forces, trials and prisons work round the clock
forcing people to comply with imagined orders. So,
ironically, even protecting human rights sometimes
requires violence!

And it’s been the same for thousands of
years. If an ancient Babylonian blinded his
neighbor, it took an act of violence to
enforce the law of “an eye for an eye”!

And when, in 1860, a majority of American voters
concluded that African slaves were human beings and
should have a right to liberty, it took a bloody civil
war to make the southern states agree to this.

But it takes more
than violence and
coercion to sustain
an imagined order.
Some people have to
really believe in it...

Including
soldiers, police
officers,
judges and
politicians...

To cooperate with one
another, the elites have to
believe in something.

And that
could be
what? God,
money...

Yes, or
honor,
patriotism,
manliness...

104

What if whoever’s at the top of the heap doesn’t
believe in anything? What if, say, a society’s led by
a total cynic?

That rarely happens.
Real cynics, people who don’t
believe in any myths, don’t
have much use for power or
wealth. So they wouldn’t
even try to reach the top.

You see, it doesn’t take much to provide the basic
biological needs of a Sapiens. Beyond a little food
and shelter, what do you need wealth and power for?
You can build palaces, take holidays around the world,
finance election campaigns or fund your favorite
terrorist organization...

but a true cynic
would find all that
sort of thing utterly
meaningless.

Diogenes, the Greek philosopher who founded the Cynical
school, was perfectly happy to live in a barrel.

Alexander the Great once
visited him and offered to give him
anything he wanted.

What can I do
for you,
Diogenes?

If you could just move a
little to the side, that
would be perfect.... You’re
blocking my sun.

Empires are far more likely to be built
by true believers than cynics.

105

No wonder Sapiens work
so hard to keep their
imagined orders going.

Exactly right. Imagined
orders constantly
run the risk of
collapsing.

Gravity will
still be there tomorrow
morning. But human rights
and the dollar...
Who knows...

NO MORE BILLS
AND COINS!

BARTER
IS
BETTER!

SAY NO

TO MONEY!

It’s constant work safeguarding an imagined order.
And it often calls for violent measures. Armies,
police forces, trials and prisons work round the clock
forcing people to comply with imagined orders. So,
ironically, even protecting human rights sometimes
requires violence!

And it’s been the same for thousands of
years. If an ancient Babylonian blinded his
neighbor, it took an act of violence to
enforce the law of “an eye for an eye”!

And when, in 1860, a majority of American voters
concluded that African slaves were human beings and
should have a right to liberty, it took a bloody civil
war to make the southern states agree to this.

But it takes more
than violence and
coercion to sustain
an imagined order.
Some people have to
really believe in it...

Including
soldiers, police
officers,
judges and
politicians...

To cooperate with one
another, the elites have to
believe in something.

And that
could be
what? God,
money...

Yes, or
honor,
patriotism,
manliness...

What if whoever’s at the top of the heap doesn’t
believe in anything? What if, say, a society’s led by
a total cynic?

That rarely happens.
Real cynics, people who don’t
believe in any myths, don’t
have much use for power or
wealth. So they wouldn’t
even try to reach the top.

You see, it doesn’t take much to provide the basic
biological needs of a Sapiens. Beyond a little food
and shelter, what do you need wealth and power for?
You can build palaces, take holidays around the world,
finance election campaigns or fund your favorite
terrorist organization...

but a true cynic
would find all that
sort of thing utterly
meaningless.

Diogenes, the Greek philosopher who founded the Cynical
school, was perfectly happy to live in a barrel.

Alexander the Great once
visited him and offered to give him
anything he wanted.

What can I do
for you,
Diogenes?

If you could just move a
little to the side, that
would be perfect.... You’re
blocking my sun.

Empires are far more likely to be built
by true believers than cynics.

Christianity wouldn’t have lasted
2,000 years unless at least some
of its leaders honestly believed
the Christian myths....

If bankers and investors didn’t
have a deep faith in capitalism,
our current economic system
would have collapsed long ago.

106

THRUMP!

How exactly do you get people to
believe in an imagined order?

Christianity

Capitalism

Democracy

First of all...

CA
CH
D

Everyone concerned
needs to believe that
the imagined order is
real—absolutely NOT
imagined....

You must never admit that a
bunch of people invented it. You
should insist that the order your
society is based on is an
objective reality...

D
CA
CH

created by great
gods or laws of
nature.

Wouldn’t you agree,
Jefferson? All people
are equal, right?

CA
CH
D

It was not I who
said that, it is
self-evident!

How about you, Adam Smith? A free market
is the best economic system, right?

CH

CA

I did not invent
that rule. The
Invisible Hand
enforces it!

107

Christianity wouldn’t have lasted
2,000 years unless at least some
of its leaders honestly believed
the Christian myths....

If bankers and investors didn’t
have a deep faith in capitalism,
our current economic system
would have collapsed long ago.

How exactly do you get people to
believe in an imagined order?

First of all...

Everyone concerned
needs to believe that
the imagined order is
real—absolutely NOT
imagined....

You must never admit that a
bunch of people invented it. You
should insist that the order your
society is based on is an
objective reality...

created by great
gods or laws of
nature.

Wouldn’t you agree,
Jefferson? All people
are equal, right?

It was not I who
said that, it is
self-evident!

How about you, Adam Smith? A free market
is the best economic system, right?

I did not invent
that rule. The
Invisible Hand
enforces it!

THRUMP!

Christianity

Capitalism

Democracy

Secondly...

an imagined order takes
constant teaching, from
the cradle to the grave!

The principles of an
imagined order are instilled
from a very early age.

Like millions of other humans in her
generation, Zoe here is taught to
believe in the values of equality
and liberty through fairy tales,
TV shows, paintings, songs, etiquette
and fashion....

Even through architecture... It’s super important to
integrate the imagined order into the material world.

Look at Zoe’s bedroom, for example... it
fits in with one of the big contemporary
beliefs in the Western world: individualism.
I mean, the belief that every human being
is a unique individual with their own
desires and opinions.

Modern houses often turn this abstract concept
of individualism into a concrete reality. For
example, the house where Zoe was raised has
several separate bedrooms. Her brother and
sister also have their own private spaces.

These private spaces shelter children from other people’s
authority—even their parents’! And ensure maximum
autonomy.

They allow a child to develop
individual tastes and opinions,
and a rich inner world.

Hey! Who dares
to enter my
territory
unannounced?!?

Stay back,
intruder!

108

Hmm! Maybe we should
go look at the big
sister’s room....

This room also has a door that
Zoe’s sister can lock whenever
she likes. Better ask permission
before going in! Even her
parents do...

KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK

A child growing up like this
can’t help seeing herself
as an “individual.”

A child growing up like this
can’t help seeing herself
as an “individual.”

EPIC
WIN

The myth of the
individual has been
turned into bricks
and mortar! You get
a house divided into
private individual
spaces, with a few
common areas like
the living room
and kitchen.

This layout constantly teaches kids the
difference between private and public, and
demonstrates every individual’s right to have a
private life. It also tells kids that their true
value comes from inside themselves and
not from outside.

You totally have to be true to yourself.
If anybody laughs at something you say or do,
just ignore them and shut the door.
They don’t know the real you.

But it hasn’t
always been
like this.

109

Secondly...

an imagined order takes
constant teaching, from
the cradle to the grave!

The principles of an
imagined order are instilled
from a very early age.

Like millions of other humans in her
generation, Zoe here is taught to
believe in the values of equality
and liberty through fairy tales,
TV shows, paintings, songs, etiquette
and fashion....

Even through architecture... It’s super important to
integrate the imagined order into the material world.

Look at Zoe’s bedroom, for example... it
fits in with one of the big contemporary
beliefs in the Western world: individualism.
I mean, the belief that every human being
is a unique individual with their own
desires and opinions.

Modern houses often turn this abstract concept
of individualism into a concrete reality. For
example, the house where Zoe was raised has
several separate bedrooms. Her brother and
sister also have their own private spaces.

These private spaces shelter children from other people’s
authority—even their parents’! And ensure maximum
autonomy.

They allow a child to develop
individual tastes and opinions,
and a rich inner world.

Hey! Who dares
to enter my
territory
unannounced?!?

Stay back,
intruder!

Hmm! Maybe we should
go look at the big
sister’s room....

This room also has a door that
Zoe’s sister can lock whenever
she likes. Better ask permission
before going in! Even her
parents do...

A child growing up like this
can’t help seeing herself
as an “individual.”

The myth of the
individual has been
turned into bricks
and mortar! You get
a house divided into
private individual
spaces, with a few
common areas like
the living room
and kitchen.

This layout constantly teaches kids the
difference between private and public, and
demonstrates every individual’s right to have a
private life. It also tells kids that their true
value comes from inside themselves and
not from outside.

You totally have to be true to yourself.
If anybody laughs at something you say or do,
just ignore them and shut the door.
They don’t know the real you.

But it hasn’t
always been
like this.

KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK

EPIC
WIN

Take Europe in the Middle
Ages: people didn’t believe
in individualism—or privacy.

Your status depended on where you were in the social
hierarchy and what other people said about you. Being
laughed at was the worst thing in the world.

Very good, my son! If anyone should laugh at you,
you must defend your honor, even if it costs you
your life!

Like our modern
individualism, the
value system in
the Middle Ages
shaped even the
architecture of
their castles.

Come with me,
I’ll show you!

Obviously, there wasn’t a whole
lot of privacy in a peasant’s
hovel. But surprisingly, even
rich people’s castles rarely
had children’s bedrooms.

Or, come to think of
it, separate bedrooms
for anyone.

No way you would ever see a
scene like this back then....

Wait! Who
dares cross
my threshold
unannounced?!?

Our young nobleman actually slept in a large room
with a bunch of siblings, servants and retainers.

He was on show the whole time, so he always had to think
about what other people might see and say.

With a childhood
like that, of course
he didn’t believe in
individualism or the
right to privacy.

110

Most humans would never
accept that their lives
are governed by an
imagined order. But let’s
get this straight: All
humans live inside the
dreams of dead people.
Humans are born into a
world shaped by the myths
of their ancestors...
and none of them ever
really break free.

Even supposedly
personal desires are
often determined by
the imagined order.

I mean, let’s take a
look at the myths that
dictate what present-day
Westerners want. These
myths could be...

Romantic...

Nationalist...

Or capitalist...

Those are all myths created by
generations of humans—they’re
not laws of nature.

111

Take Europe in the Middle
Ages: people didn’t believe
in individualism—or privacy.

Your status depended on where you were in the social
hierarchy and what other people said about you. Being
laughed at was the worst thing in the world.

Very good, my son! If anyone should laugh at you,
you must defend your honor, even if it costs you
your life!

Like our modern
individualism, the
value system in
the Middle Ages
shaped even the
architecture of
their castles.

Come with me,
I’ll show you!

Obviously, there wasn’t a whole
lot of privacy in a peasant’s
hovel. But surprisingly, even
rich people’s castles rarely
had children’s bedrooms.

Or, come to think of
it, separate bedrooms
for anyone.

No way you would ever see a
scene like this back then....

Wait! Who
dares cross
my threshold
unannounced?!?

Our young nobleman actually slept in a large room
with a bunch of siblings, servants and retainers.

He was on show the whole time, so he always had to think
about what other people might see and say.

With a childhood
like that, of course
he didn’t believe in
individualism or the
right to privacy.

Most humans would never
accept that their lives
are governed by an
imagined order. But let’s
get this straight: All
humans live inside the
dreams of dead people.
Humans are born into a
world shaped by the myths
of their ancestors...
and none of them ever
really break free.

Even supposedly
personal desires are
often determined by
the imagined order.

I mean, let’s take a
look at the myths that
dictate what present-day
Westerners want. These
myths could be...

Romantic...

Nationalist...

Or capitalist...

Those are all myths created by
generations of humans—they’re
not laws of nature.

Let’s take just one example out of SO
many.... The myth of romantic consumerism,
which makes people do
things like spend a ton
of money on a vacation
in some far-off place.

GATE A

GATE B

People can work for months to save money
for vacations like this, thinking what
they’re doing is perfectly natural....

But it just wouldn’t occur to a family of chimpanzees
to go on vacation in a neighboring band’s territory.

When people go on vacation, they’re not fulfilling
some biological need. They’re driven by a cultural
desire for something called “experiences.”

But they honestly believe that it’s
natural—essential, even—for humans to
want these “experiences.”

And they believe it thanks to the
myths of consumerism and romanticism.

112

Consumerism tells us that in
order to be happy we must
consume as many products and
services as possible.

If we feel something’s missing or not
quite right, well, then we probably
need to buy some product...

...or
service.

Every TV commercial is another
little fairy tale convincing us
that having a new product or
service will make life better.

Meanwhile romanticism is all
about feelings, emotions and
experiences. Romanticism tells
us that to live life to the
fullest, we need more feelings
and more experiences. So
romanticism and consumerism are
perfect bedfellows.

Romanticism wants experiences and consumerism
is only too keen to provide them—for a fee.
These two have a love child: the infinite
“market of experiences” that underpins the
modern tourism industry.

This industry doesn’t sell airline tickets or
hotel rooms, it sells experiences. And billions
of people are happy to pay for them!

113

Let’s take just one example out of SO
many.... The myth of romantic consumerism,
which makes people do
things like spend a ton
of money on a vacation
in some far-off place.

People can work for months to save money
for vacations like this, thinking what
they’re doing is perfectly natural....

But it just wouldn’t occur to a family of chimpanzees
to go on vacation in a neighboring band’s territory.

When people go on vacation, they’re not fulfilling
some biological need. They’re driven by a cultural
desire for something called “experiences.”

But they honestly believe that it’s
natural—essential, even—for humans to
want these “experiences.”

And they believe it thanks to the
myths of consumerism and romanticism.

Consumerism tells us that in
order to be happy we must
consume as many products and
services as possible.

If we feel something’s missing or not
quite right, well, then we probably
need to buy some product...

...or
service.

Every TV commercial is another
little fairy tale convincing us
that having a new product or
service will make life better.

Meanwhile romanticism is all
about feelings, emotions and
experiences. Romanticism tells
us that to live life to the
fullest, we need more feelings
and more experiences. So
romanticism and consumerism are
perfect bedfellows.

Romanticism wants experiences and consumerism
is only too keen to provide them—for a fee.
These two have a love child: the infinite
“market of experiences” that underpins the
modern tourism industry.

This industry doesn’t sell airline tickets or
hotel rooms, it sells experiences. And billions
of people are happy to pay for them!

GATE A

GATE B

So, when a couple finds their relationship’s
in trouble, they decide to break into a
savings account and take a trip to Paris.
This trip doesn’t reflect some independent
desire, just an ardent belief in the myths
of romantic consumerism.

Never in his wildest dreams would a wealthy ancient
Egyptian have thought of solving a marital crisis
by taking his wife on vacation to Babylon. No, he
probably would have built her the sumptuous tomb
she’d always wanted.

Like the ancient Egyptian elite, most people in
most cultures spend their lives building pyramids.
It’s only the name, shape and size of these
pyramids that differ from one culture to
another.

114

It would take a
superhuman effort
to free my personal
desires from the
imagined order....

And if I did succeed,
I’m just this one
person.

9
7 8 2
8 22644845
3
9
782 82264453

To really change the imagined order,
I’d need to convince millions of strangers
to cooperate with me.

Because an imagined order is NOT
something subjective that exists
in my personal imagination. It’s
what’s called an intersubjective
reality: it exists in the shared
imagination of thousands and
millions of people.

115

So, when a couple finds their relationship’s
in trouble, they decide to break into a
savings account and take a trip to Paris.
This trip doesn’t reflect some independent
desire, just an ardent belief in the myths
of romantic consumerism.

Never in his wildest dreams would a wealthy ancient
Egyptian have thought of solving a marital crisis
by taking his wife on vacation to Babylon. No, he
probably would have built her the sumptuous tomb
she’d always wanted.

Like the ancient Egyptian elite, most people in
most cultures spend their lives building pyramids.
It’s only the name, shape and size of these
pyramids that differ from one culture to
another.

It would take a
superhuman effort
to free my personal
desires from the
imagined order....

And if I did succeed,
I’m just this one
person.

To really change the imagined order,
I’d need to convince millions of strangers
to cooperate with me.

Because an imagined order is NOT
something subjective that exists
in my personal imagination. It’s
what’s called an intersubjective
reality: it exists in the shared
imagination of thousands and
millions of people.

And for that to make sense we
need to understand the difference
between “objective,” “subjective”

and “intersubjective.”

Something objective
doesn’t depend on
human consciousness
and beliefs at
all. For example,
radioactivity is
objective.

Radioactive emissions didn’t wait
for us to discover them in order to
exist, and they’re dangerous even
to people who don’t believe in
them. Marie Curie spent many years
studying radioactive materials, but
didn’t know they might be harmful.

She didn’t realize radioactivity could kill her... but
she still died of aplastic anemia, a fatal illness caused
by overexposure to radioactive materials.

She was laid to
rest here, at the
Panthéon in Paris.

In contrast, something subjective depends on an
individual’s consciousness and beliefs. It exists in just one
person’s mind. If that person changes their beliefs, then
that subjective thing alters or disappears....

For example, many children believe in an imaginary
friend that no one else in the world can see or hear.

The imaginary friend exists only in the child’s subjective
consciousness. When the child grows up and stops believing
in it, the imaginary friend fades away.

116

Something intersubjective exists
within a communication network
that links the minds of many
individuals.

If one person changes their beliefs or
even dies, it doesn’t matter much.

But if enough people in the network
die or change their beliefs, the
intersubjective phenomenon mutates or
disappears. Intersubjective things don’t
exist in the same way as radioactivity,
but they still have a huge impact on
the world.

Laws, human rights, gods, nations,
corporations and money are
intersubjective rather than objective
things, yet they’ve been some of the
most important forces shaping history.

117

And for that to make sense we
need to understand the difference
between “objective,” “subjective”

and “intersubjective.”

Something objective
doesn’t depend on
human consciousness
and beliefs at
all. For example,
radioactivity is
objective.

Radioactive emissions didn’t wait
for us to discover them in order to
exist, and they’re dangerous even
to people who don’t believe in
them. Marie Curie spent many years
studying radioactive materials, but
didn’t know they might be harmful.

She didn’t realize radioactivity could kill her... but
she still died of aplastic anemia, a fatal illness caused
by overexposure to radioactive materials.

She was laid to
rest here, at the
Panthéon in Paris.

In contrast, something subjective depends on an
individual’s consciousness and beliefs. It exists in just one
person’s mind. If that person changes their beliefs, then
that subjective thing alters or disappears....

For example, many children believe in an imaginary
friend that no one else in the world can see or hear.

The imaginary friend exists only in the child’s subjective
consciousness. When the child grows up and stops believing
in it, the imaginary friend fades away.

Something intersubjective exists
within a communication network
that links the minds of many
individuals.

If one person changes their beliefs or
even dies, it doesn’t matter much.

But if enough people in the network
die or change their beliefs, the
intersubjective phenomenon mutates or
disappears. Intersubjective things don’t
exist in the same way as radioactivity,
but they still have a huge impact on
the world.

Laws, human rights, gods, nations,
corporations and money are
intersubjective rather than objective
things, yet they’ve been some of the
most important forces shaping history.

For example, Peugeot isn’t
the imaginary friend of
the Peugeot company’s CEO.

The Peugeot company exists
in the shared imagination
of millions of people.

The CEO believes in
the existence of the
company because the
board of directors
believes in it too...

Along with the company’s
lawyers...

workers on the factory
lines...

tellers at the
bank...

brokers on the stock
exchange...

...and car dealers from France
all the way to Australia.

If just the CEO suddenly stopped
believing in Peugeot, he’d soon
find himself in a psychiatric
hospital and someone else would
take his job.

It’s all pure fiction! This
time-traveling Doctor from
the future told me! It’s all
fake! Peugeot doesn’t exist!

118

If I were the only person to stop believing
in the Euro or human rights or the country
of France, it wouldn’t matter much.

A Bill and Cindy
Comic, please.

The Euro, human rights and France exist in the shared imagination
of millions of people, so an individual loss of faith wouldn’t threaten
their existence.

Imagined orders are
intersubjective, which means that to
change them we’d need to change the
minds of millions of people at the same
time, and that’s not easy.

HE CHANGED
HISTORY

A REALISTIC
DYSTOPIA?

WHO IS
BUDDHA BOY?

Change on that scale can only happen with
the help of a complex organization.

A political
party, an
ideological
movement or a
religious group.

If you want to establish such
complex organizations, you have to
convince lots and lots of strangers
to believe in new shared myths. So
the only way to change an existing
imagined order is to substitute it
with ANOTHER imagined order.

So, for example, to dismantle Peugeot,
you’d have to rely on a more powerful
imagined order, like the French legal
system.

To change that system,
you’d need to appeal to an
even more powerful myth,
like the French nation.

And to dismantle the
French nation... well,
you’d have to find a
really powerful story....

119

For example, Peugeot isn’t
the imaginary friend of
the Peugeot company’s CEO.

The Peugeot company exists
in the shared imagination
of millions of people.

The CEO believes in
the existence of the
company because the
board of directors
believes in it too...

Along with the company’s
lawyers...

workers on the factory
lines...

tellers at the
bank...

brokers on the stock
exchange...

...and car dealers from France
all the way to Australia.

If just the CEO suddenly stopped
believing in Peugeot, he’d soon
find himself in a psychiatric
hospital and someone else would
take his job.

It’s all pure fiction! This
time-traveling Doctor from
the future told me! It’s all
fake! Peugeot doesn’t exist!

If I were the only person to stop believing
in the Euro or human rights or the country
of France, it wouldn’t matter much.

A Bill and Cindy
Comic, please.

The Euro, human rights and France exist in the shared imagination
of millions of people, so an individual loss of faith wouldn’t threaten
their existence.

Imagined orders are
intersubjective, which means that to
change them we’d need to change the
minds of millions of people at the same
time, and that’s not easy.

Change on that scale can only happen with
the help of a complex organization.

A political
party, an
ideological
movement or a
religious group.

If you want to establish such
complex organizations, you have to
convince lots and lots of strangers
to believe in new shared myths. So
the only way to change an existing
imagined order is to substitute it
with ANOTHER imagined order.

So, for example, to dismantle Peugeot,
you’d have to rely on a more powerful
imagined order, like the French legal
system.

To change that system,
you’d need to appeal to an
even more powerful myth,
like the French nation.

And to dismantle the
French nation... well,
you’d have to find a
really powerful story....

HE CHANGED
HISTORY

A REALISTIC
DYSTOPIA?

WHO IS
BUDDHA BOY?

There’s no way out of the
imagined order. If you break
down your prison walls and
run toward freedom, you’re
actually just running into a
more spacious exercise yard in
a bigger prison.

120

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SAPIENS

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121

There’s no way out of the
imagined order. If you break
down your prison walls and
run toward freedom, you’re
actually just running into a
more spacious exercise yard in
a bigger prison.

UP NEXT IN

SAPIENS

REQUEST UNITED-07
N°: 4.8.15.16.23.42

ADMISSION FORM REQUIRED FOR ACCESS TO FOLLOWING CHAPTER

Warning! Before you are
authorized to continue
reading you need a UNIS-O7
certificate. You will be
given your certificate if
and only if the form below
is returned to us correctly
completed.

Please fill in
the form by
completing
the blanks in
legible writing.

SECTION A

I, the undersigned, ………….............................…………. (*) do hereby give my sworn statement that I have fully and accurately read the preceding chapters and I undertake to continue reading Sapiens respecting all the rules, regulations and decrees issued by the interdepartmental committee for administrative affairs, duly following the page numbers at the bottom of each page.

SECTION B* PLEASE FILL IN

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☐ Attila the Hun

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Into the

Labyrinth

Into the

Labyrinth

Go, Zoe, go!
Just ten minutes
left to score!

PRAGUE UTD

FC TEL aviv

Aargh, this is too
close to call!

It’s too much for me,
I need to sit down....

Come on, pass it to Zoe! Pass
the damn ball to Zoe!!!

124

That’s more like it! Go, Zoe!
Shoot! For Pete’s sake, shoot!!!

TuuuuuT!

YAY!!!!

PRAGUE UTD

FC TEL aviv

Wait,
what...

PRAGUE UTD

FC TEL aviv

Hey! You didn’t change the
score! It’s 2–1!!!

What?

BUT...
?!?

IT’S rigged!

Oohh!
Crooked ref!!!

Hmm... Actually,
the goal didn’t
count because
the player was
offside....

Go, Zoe, go!
Just ten minutes
left to score!

Aargh, this is too
close to call!

It’s too much for me,
I need to sit down....

Come on, pass it to Zoe! Pass
the damn ball to Zoe!!!

That’s more like it! Go, Zoe!
Shoot! For Pete’s sake, shoot!!!

TuuuuuT!

YAY!!!!

Wait,
what...

Hey! You didn’t change the
score! It’s 2–1!!!

What?

BUT...
?!?

IT’S rigged!

Oohh!
Crooked ref!!!

Hmm... Actually,
the goal didn’t
count because
the player was
offside....

PRAGUE UTD

FC TEL aviv

PRAGUE UTD

FC TEL aviv

PRAGUE UTD

FC TEL aviv

Offside? What
do you mean
offside?

So you’re trying to tell me
my niece didn’t score?

Don’t you know the
offside rule? Unusual
for soccer fans...

Look at your niece and the other players on
the pitch. They’re not getting all steamed up
like you... because they know the rules!

But it’s
not fair!

Where did a stupid rule
like that come from? It
completely ruins the game!

Well, yes, the rules are dreamed up out
of nowhere. But they don’t ruin the game.
Without them, there would be no game.
Thanks to these rules, 22 people from two
different countries, who have never met before,
manage to play very nicely together!

I see what you mean.... But
I wonder if we humans don’t
sometimes overdo it with all
our rules.

You know, other
animals play games
too. Take Kiki, for
example.

126

Speaking of
Kiki...

Where’s she gone?

I think
that’s her
having a spat
with my dog
over there.

Oh! I’m so sorry!

Kiki !!!

It’s fine,
no harm in them
having a bit
of fun.

Aren’t they adorable... but, crucially,
the rules of their games are largely
written in their genes.

Perhaps that’s why dogs
have never invented games
as complex as soccer!

Exactly! The girls here
don’t have a soccer gene,
but—as you said—they’ve all
learned the same rules, which
is how they can play together.

But still, that offside
rule really is unfair!

Definitely! Zoe scored
a goal! I saw it with
my own eyes!

127

Offside? What
do you mean
offside?

So you’re trying to tell me
my niece didn’t score?

Don’t you know the
offside rule? Unusual
for soccer fans...

Look at your niece and the other players on
the pitch. They’re not getting all steamed up
like you... because they know the rules!

But it’s
not fair!

Where did a stupid rule
like that come from? It
completely ruins the game!

Well, yes, the rules are dreamed up out
of nowhere. But they don’t ruin the game.
Without them, there would be no game.
Thanks to these rules, 22 people from two
different countries, who have never met before,
manage to play very nicely together!

I see what you mean.... But
I wonder if we humans don’t
sometimes overdo it with all
our rules.

You know, other
animals play games
too. Take Kiki, for
example.

Speaking of
Kiki...

Where’s she gone?

I think
that’s her
having a spat
with my dog
over there.

Oh! I’m so sorry!

Kiki !!!

It’s fine,
no harm in them
having a bit
of fun.

Aren’t they adorable... but, crucially,
the rules of their games are largely
written in their genes.

Perhaps that’s why dogs
have never invented games
as complex as soccer!

Exactly! The girls here
don’t have a soccer gene,
but—as you said—they’ve all
learned the same rules, which
is how they can play together.

But still, that offside
rule really is unfair!

Definitely! Zoe scored
a goal! I saw it with
my own eyes!

OH NOOO!!!

Wow... They’ve just
scored in overtime!

What?!? But isn’t it
against the rules to score
in overtime?!?

Did you hear that? The ref’s
blown the whistle! It
means she won’t accept
that outrageous goal!

Err, no... She’s
just announcing
the end of the
match.

What??? That goal was
allowed??? There’s no justice
in the world.

Well, anyway, thank you for
your explanations, Mr....

Mr., actually what
is your name?

Mr. K... Please
call me Franz.

Franz K.

Insurance lawyer

• Trials?
• Missing persons?
• Bug infestations in the bedroom?

Better call Franz !

Na poříčí, n°7

128

An insurance lawyer!
I’m not surprised you’re
so hot on the rules!

Have we met?
Your name rings
a bell....

Yours does too. Are you that historian
who tells anyone prepared to listen
that human societies are built
on fictions?

And lawyers are
sort of like shamans?!

It’s not a criticism
of you, you know....

Oh, I completely
agree!

But you did miss one detail.
Fictions are absolutely essential
as the basis of large-scale
societies. But they’re not
all it takes.

What would you say
is missing?

Good question, but I hope we’re not keeping
you from anything. I know you insurance
lawyers are very busy.

Oh no, don’t worry, I’m
free for a little while. I’m
waiting on an important
trial, which keeps being
postponed.

What I meant was, to establish a large-scale
society, you also need to store and handle huge
amounts of information. Have you ever seen the
paperwork in a government office?!

I see what you mean. You have
to store mountains of information
just to remember all the bizarre
fictions that hold society together.

129

OH NOOO!!!

Wow... They’ve just
scored in overtime!

What?!? But isn’t it
against the rules to score
in overtime?!?

Did you hear that? The ref’s
blown the whistle! It
means she won’t accept
that outrageous goal!

Err, no... She’s
just announcing
the end of the
match.

What??? That goal was
allowed??? There’s no justice
in the world.

Well, anyway, thank you for
your explanations, Mr....

Mr., actually what
is your name?

Mr. K... Please
call me Franz.

Franz K.

Insurance lawyer

• Trials?
• Missing persons?
• Bug infestations in the bedroom?

Better call Franz !

Na poříčí, n°7

An insurance lawyer!
I’m not surprised you’re
so hot on the rules!

Have we met?
Your name rings
a bell....

Yours does too. Are you that historian
who tells anyone prepared to listen
that human societies are built
on fictions?

And lawyers are
sort of like shamans?!

It’s not a criticism
of you, you know....

Oh, I completely
agree!

But you did miss one detail.
Fictions are absolutely essential
as the basis of large-scale
societies. But they’re not
all it takes.

What would you say
is missing?

Good question, but I hope we’re not keeping
you from anything. I know you insurance
lawyers are very busy.

Oh no, don’t worry, I’m
free for a little while. I’m
waiting on an important
trial, which keeps being
postponed.

What I meant was, to establish a large-scale
society, you also need to store and handle huge
amounts of information. Have you ever seen the
paperwork in a government office?!

I see what you mean. You have
to store mountains of information
just to remember all the bizarre
fictions that hold society together.

soccer is relatively
easy. Everyone
can remember
the rules.

Even
the offside
rule!

What? Did you...
did you hear us?

Of course!
I heard you
swear too!

I’m just going to change
and I’ll be right with you!

Did you
hear me
swear?

It must
have been the
dogs barking....

Hmm! Yes, must have been...
but what I wanted to say was
that most people couldn’t
possibly remember all the
rules and regulations of a
country.

Particularly
as those rules
keep changing!

Social animals like bees have very
stable, unchanging societies.
So they’ve actually been able
to codify their society’s rules
in their DNA!

130

A bee growing up in a hive can only take on one of
three roles: queen, nurse or worker. And the basic
rules for these roles are programmed into the
bee’s genome.

Which explains why
researchers have never
identified any lawyer
bees!

They’re not needed because there’s no
danger any bees will forget or try to
violate the constitution of the hive.

Hey! Is this a
revolution!?!

The queen never cheats her subjects out of food,
and they never go on strike to demand a pay raise.

But humans spend a lot of their
time trying to get around laws,
or thinking about changing
them....

Absolutely! And it’s
all because our social
order is based on
imaginary concepts!

And that’s why, when we lose a soccer
match or an election, we blame unfair rules.
Sometimes we’ll even take the issue to court.
Or it could start a war....

Hmm! Yes, but that’s not very common,
thank goodness....

131

soccer is relatively
easy. Everyone
can remember
the rules.

Even
the offside
rule!

What? Did you...
did you hear us?

Of course!
I heard you
swear too!

I’m just going to change
and I’ll be right with you!

Did you
hear me
swear?

It must
have been the
dogs barking....

Hmm! Yes, must have been...
but what I wanted to say was
that most people couldn’t
possibly remember all the
rules and regulations of a
country.

Particularly
as those rules
keep changing!

Social animals like bees have very
stable, unchanging societies.
So they’ve actually been able
to codify their society’s rules
in their DNA!

A bee growing up in a hive can only take on one of
three roles: queen, nurse or worker. And the basic
rules for these roles are programmed into the
bee’s genome.

Which explains why
researchers have never
identified any lawyer
bees!

They’re not needed because there’s no
danger any bees will forget or try to
violate the constitution of the hive.

Hey! Is this a
revolution!?!

The queen never cheats her subjects out of food,
and they never go on strike to demand a pay raise.

But humans spend a lot of their
time trying to get around laws,
or thinking about changing
them....

Absolutely! And it’s
all because our social
order is based on
imaginary concepts!

And that’s why, when we lose a soccer
match or an election, we blame unfair rules.
Sometimes we’ll even take the issue to court.
Or it could start a war....

Hmm! Yes, but that’s not very common,
thank goodness....

Some positions in human societies are similar to
bees’ positions in their hives.... Except that the
rules about what to do in each position aren’t
written into human DNA! So We go to great
lengths to teach our society’s rules to
younger generations.

Queen

Worker

Nanny

When the Babylonian King Hammurabi
passed on his DNA to his son, that
didn’t guarantee that the boy would
remember his law of “an eye for an eye.”

In order to maintain his empire, Hammurabi
had to painstakingly teach his son
every law.

And, anyway, remembering laws is just the start.
In an empire, there were so many other things to
remember: countless transactions and taxes...

...cargos of merchant ships or military
supplies...

132

Ah! Ready to go, Zoe?

Zoe, this is Franz. We met
him during the match.

My sincerest
condolences.

Oh, I’m over it, but it
sounds like you were
having an interesting
conversation.

Yes, we were thinking about
how human societies manage to
remember their various laws and
all the other information they
need to function....

For millions of years,
humans stored
information in just
one place....

Unfortunately, the human brain isn’t a good storage
device for empire-size databases! It has three serious
drawbacks.

Its limited
capacity?

Yes,
that’s the
first one.

A brilliant lawyer
might know all of their
country’s tax laws by
heart, but not the
details of every citizen’s
tax return.

133

Some positions in human societies are similar to
bees’ positions in their hives.... Except that the
rules about what to do in each position aren’t
written into human DNA! So We go to great
lengths to teach our society’s rules to
younger generations.

Queen

Worker

Nanny

When the Babylonian King Hammurabi
passed on his DNA to his son, that
didn’t guarantee that the boy would
remember his law of “an eye for an eye.”

In order to maintain his empire, Hammurabi
had to painstakingly teach his son
every law.

And, anyway, remembering laws is just the start.
In an empire, there were so many other things to
remember: countless transactions and taxes...

...cargos of merchant ships or military
supplies...

Ah! Ready to go, Zoe?

Zoe, this is Franz. We met
him during the match.

My sincerest
condolences.

Oh, I’m over it, but it
sounds like you were
having an interesting
conversation.

Yes, we were thinking about
how human societies manage to
remember their various laws and
all the other information they
need to function....

For millions of years,
humans stored
information in just
one place....

Unfortunately, the human brain isn’t a good storage
device for empire-size databases! It has three serious
drawbacks.

Its limited
capacity?

Yes,
that’s the
first one.

A brilliant lawyer
might know all of their
country’s tax laws by
heart, but not the
details of every citizen’s
tax return.

I’m guessing another problem is
that information stored in a human
brain doesn’t stick around forever...
people end up dying and their
memories die with them!

Pffft!

Exactly. It’s perfectly possible to pass on
memories from one brain to another, but
after a while, the information has a way
of getting garbled or lost.

Ok, so that makes two drawbacks...
but I can’t think of the third....

Go on,
Professor
Saraswati,
I can see
you’re dying
to tell me!

The human brain is selective. It easily
stores some types of information, but
can’t handle others. You see, it evolved
to store and process information that
was useful for survival on the ancient
savanna.

134

In order to survive, hunter-gatherers needed to remember
the characteristics and behavior patterns of thousands of
species—both plants and animals.

Which mushroom was a good remedy
for an upset stomach and which was
poisonous...

It was even more important to remember
what everyone else in their immediate band
thought and felt. Humans are social animals
who depend on others for survival.

I’ve told you a thousand times I don’t
like sushi! Have you really forgotten
what happened in Rome?

Sheesh, no! How could
I forget the scene you
made! But maybe you’ve
forgotten it’s always
you who chooses the
restaurant!
Can’t we do what
I want for a change?

Evolutionary pressures adapted
the human brain for storing huge
quantities of information about
plants, animals, local geography
and social interactions.

But when really complex societies started to
appear after the Agricultural Revolution, a
completely new type of information became
vital...

...Numbers!

Prague UTD

FC TEL aviv

135

I’m guessing another problem is
that information stored in a human
brain doesn’t stick around forever...
people end up dying and their
memories die with them!

Pffft!

Exactly. It’s perfectly possible to pass on
memories from one brain to another, but
after a while, the information has a way
of getting garbled or lost.

Ok, so that makes two drawbacks...
but I can’t think of the third....

Go on,
Professor
Saraswati,
I can see
you’re dying
to tell me!

The human brain is selective. It easily
stores some types of information, but
can’t handle others. You see, it evolved
to store and process information that
was useful for survival on the ancient
savanna.

In order to survive, hunter-gatherers needed to remember
the characteristics and behavior patterns of thousands of
species—both plants and animals.

Which mushroom was a good remedy
for an upset stomach and which was
poisonous...

It was even more important to remember
what everyone else in their immediate band
thought and felt. Humans are social animals
who depend on others for survival.

I’ve told you a thousand times I don’t
like sushi! Have you really forgotten
what happened in Rome?

Sheesh, no! How could
I forget the scene you
made! But maybe you’ve
forgotten it’s always
you who chooses the
restaurant!
Can’t we do what
I want for a change?

Evolutionary pressures adapted
the human brain for storing huge
quantities of information about
plants, animals, local geography
and social interactions.

But when really complex societies started to
appear after the Agricultural Revolution, a
completely new type of information became
vital...

...Numbers!

Prague UTD

FC TEL aviv

Foragers never needed to remember
or process large amounts of
mathematical data!

You see, a forager
didn’t need to
remember exactly how
many apples or nuts
were on each tree in
the forest.

So the human brain was never adapted to storing and processing
numbers. That’s why Sapiens had real problems establishing big
kingdoms and empires, even after the
agricultural revolution.

To achieve that, they had to
find a system for recording
and processing large
amounts of mathematical
data.

Telling stories about gods was no longer enough. Sure, a good story
could help convince millions of people to pay their taxes more
or less honestly. But for the fiscal system to work, it needed to
gather and process endless information about peoples’ incomes and
assets, their payments, arrears, debts and fines, and their discounts
and exemptions.

If a state couldn’t store and process all
those numbers, it couldn’t make the most
of its resources, or even know what its
resources were!

And there’s one big problem with numbers—most
people think they’re terribly boring!

If you ask people to store, recall and
process lots of numbers, most of them
give up or their brains
switch off altogether!

136

Human mental limitations had a direct impact on
the size and complexity of societies. When the
number of people and accumulated assets went
beyond a critical threshold, there was just too
much information to remember.

The limited human brain couldn’t cope with
all the data so the system collapsed. That’s
why human communities stayed relatively small
and simple for thousands of years after the
Agricultural Revolution!

The Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia were the
first to crack the problem. The fertile soil
of Sumer gave them abundant harvests, so the
population kept on growing and real cities started
to appear.

But to keep their city-states going, the
Sumerians had to process increasingly large
amounts of information.

Starting with
all those boring
numbers!

Exactly!
Well, their brains
couldn’t do it, but just
over 5,000 years ago
some brilliant Sumerian
geeks managed
to outsource
the problem!

They invented a
system for processing
and storing data
OUTSIDE the human
brain!

The Sumerians were suddenly released from the
limitations of their own brains! They never looked
back and were soon building city-states, kingdoms and
empires. And that data processing system invented by
the Sumerians was what we call...

Writing!

137

Foragers never needed to remember
or process large amounts of
mathematical data!

You see, a forager
didn’t need to
remember exactly how
many apples or nuts
were on each tree in
the forest.

So the human brain was never adapted to storing and processing
numbers. That’s why Sapiens had real problems establishing big
kingdoms and empires, even after the
agricultural revolution.

To achieve that, they had to
find a system for recording
and processing large
amounts of mathematical
data.

Telling stories about gods was no longer enough. Sure, a good story
could help convince millions of people to pay their taxes more
or less honestly. But for the fiscal system to work, it needed to
gather and process endless information about peoples’ incomes and
assets, their payments, arrears, debts and fines, and their discounts
and exemptions.

If a state couldn’t store and process all
those numbers, it couldn’t make the most
of its resources, or even know what its
resources were!

And there’s one big problem with numbers—most
people think they’re terribly boring!

If you ask people to store, recall and
process lots of numbers, most of them
give up or their brains
switch off altogether!

Human mental limitations had a direct impact on
the size and complexity of societies. When the
number of people and accumulated assets went
beyond a critical threshold, there was just too
much information to remember.

The limited human brain couldn’t cope with
all the data so the system collapsed. That’s
why human communities stayed relatively small
and simple for thousands of years after the
Agricultural Revolution!

The Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia were the
first to crack the problem. The fertile soil
of Sumer gave them abundant harvests, so the
population kept on growing and real cities started
to appear.

But to keep their city-states going, the
Sumerians had to process increasingly large
amounts of information.

Starting with
all those boring
numbers!

Exactly!
Well, their brains
couldn’t do it, but just
over 5,000 years ago
some brilliant Sumerian
geeks managed
to outsource
the problem!

They invented a
system for processing
and storing data
OUTSIDE the human
brain!

The Sumerians were suddenly released from the
limitations of their own brains! They never looked
back and were soon building city-states, kingdoms and
empires. And that data processing system invented by
the Sumerians was what we call...

Writing!

Aaah... All those
little doodles
governing the world
and making us follow
laws... It all started
with those Sumerian,
erm, geeks.

It was their idea to write down
information by imprinting signs onto clay
tablets. Extraordinary, really—problems
that human brain cells couldn’t handle
were solved with what amounted to lumps
of mud!

One set of signs represented
numbers, with signs for 1, 10,
60, 600, 3,600 and 36,000.
You see, the Sumerian numbering
system was a combination
of base 6 and base 10.

That’s
bizarre!

Well, not as strange
as you might think...
Their base-6 system has
left us some important
legacies: hours are divided
into 60 minutes and
circles into 360 degrees....

The other set
of signs represented
people, animals, goods,
land and days...
anything that
can be counted.

138

Using a combination of these two
sets, the Sumerians managed to use
their lumps of mud to store various
kinds of information that no human
brain could remember!

Or any DNA chain
could encode!

I’ll never look at mud the same
way again....

So what was the first
thing that was ever
written? Their creation
story, I’m guessing!

I’m afraid you
may be a little
disappointed,
Miss Zoe.... The
first Sumerian
texts weren’t
legends, poems
or adventure
stories....

They weren’t even laws.... They
were humdrum economic records
registering one person’s property,
someone else’s assets, accumulated
debts, payments of levies,
outstanding taxes....

You see, they could remember
all the interesting stories
in their heads! They invented
writing to archive
the boring bits.

That’s why they started out only inventing
signs for numbers and actual objects... they
couldn’t have written poetry or historic
tales even if they wanted to.

CTCH 22

Hey, you, over
there! What are
you doing?!

?

139

Aaah... All those
little doodles
governing the world
and making us follow
laws... It all started
with those Sumerian,
erm, geeks.

It was their idea to write down
information by imprinting signs onto clay
tablets. Extraordinary, really—problems
that human brain cells couldn’t handle
were solved with what amounted to lumps
of mud!

One set of signs represented
numbers, with signs for 1, 10,
60, 600, 3,600 and 36,000.
You see, the Sumerian numbering
system was a combination
of base 6 and base 10.

That’s
bizarre!

Well, not as strange
as you might think...
Their base-6 system has
left us some important
legacies: hours are divided
into 60 minutes and
circles into 360 degrees....

The other set
of signs represented
people, animals, goods,
land and days...
anything that
can be counted.

Using a combination of these two
sets, the Sumerians managed to use
their lumps of mud to store various
kinds of information that no human
brain could remember!

Or any DNA chain
could encode!

I’ll never look at mud the same
way again....

So what was the first
thing that was ever
written? Their creation
story, I’m guessing!

I’m afraid you
may be a little
disappointed,
Miss Zoe.... The
first Sumerian
texts weren’t
legends, poems
or adventure
stories....

They weren’t even laws.... They
were humdrum economic records
registering one person’s property,
someone else’s assets, accumulated
debts, payments of levies,
outstanding taxes....

You see, they could remember
all the interesting stories
in their heads! They invented
writing to archive
the boring bits.

That’s why they started out only inventing
signs for numbers and actual objects... they
couldn’t have written poetry or historic
tales even if they wanted to.

CTCH 22

Hey, you, over
there! What are
you doing?!

?

Me? I’m... I’m not doing
anything, officer....

Yes, you are! You’ve
broken municipal law
number C-22/b7c7!

Excuse me? Wait a minute.... What have
I done wrong?

I’m telling you, you have
broken municipal law
number C-22/b7c7!

Number C-22 b what now?
What on earth is that???

If you want an
official explanation,
please fill out
form G-64.

Three
copies of it!

What? How? Who???

Where can we get a
copy of form G-64,
Officer?

At the
central
office.

Have
a nice
day!

Oh, my goodness! What
the hell is happening?

It’s too soon
to panic,
let’s have
a look at this.

Come on, I’ll take you
to the central office,
I’m used to this sort
of procedure....

140

a bit later...

Here we are, then...
But which counter,
that’s a whole other
question....

141

Me? I’m... I’m not doing
anything, officer....

Yes, you are! You’ve
broken municipal law
number C-22/b7c7!

Excuse me? Wait a minute.... What have
I done wrong?

I’m telling you, you have
broken municipal law
number C-22/b7c7!

Number C-22 b what now?
What on earth is that???

If you want an
official explanation,
please fill out
form G-64.

Three
copies of it!

What? How? Who???

Where can we get a
copy of form G-64,
Officer?

At the
central
office.

Have
a nice
day!

Oh, my goodness! What
the hell is happening?

It’s too soon
to panic,
let’s have
a look at this.

Come on, I’ll take you
to the central office,
I’m used to this sort
of procedure....

a bit later...

Here we are, then...
But which counter,
that’s a whole other
question....

Excuse me, do you know where the
information desk is, please?

They’ll be able to tell
you on the third floor....

I think it must be
this way....

That’s odd, I think we’re
already on the fourth floor,
aren’t we?

Where’s the third
floor, please?

It’s undergoing
renovations.

Excuse me, we’re looking for
the information desk....

Take the second
staircase on the right
and go all the way UP to
the third floor.

No, this isn’t
it either....

142

An hour later...

Aha! I think this
must be it!

Oh my... Look
at all these
people!

Excuse me, have you been
waiting long?

Must be about
5,000 years...

5,000 years! But we have tickets for a movie at eight!
We’ll miss the start!

If you don’t mind my asking, why
are you here?

To make a claim.
I’ve brought this
tablet that proves
that I own some
disputed assets.

Oh, look! Just as we were saying,
a clay tablet with Mesopotamian
writing on it!

143

Excuse me, do you know where the
information desk is, please?

They’ll be able to tell
you on the third floor....

I think it must be
this way....

That’s odd, I think we’re
already on the fourth floor,
aren’t we?

Where’s the third
floor, please?

It’s undergoing
renovations.

Excuse me, we’re looking for
the information desk....

Take the second
staircase on the right
and go all the way UP to
the third floor.

No, this isn’t
it either....

An hour later...

Aha! I think this
must be it!

Oh my... Look
at all these
people!

Excuse me, have you been
waiting long?

Must be about
5,000 years...

5,000 years! But we have tickets for a movie at eight!
We’ll miss the start!

If you don’t mind my asking, why
are you here?

To make a claim.
I’ve brought this
tablet that proves
that I own some
disputed assets.

Oh, look! Just as we were saying,
a clay tablet with Mesopotamian
writing on it!

You see, that’s proof of
my assets.... It says:
“A total of 135,000 pounds
of barley was received
over 37 months.”

barley

135,000 pounds

37 months

Kushim

And this
is my
name,
Kushim....

That’s incredible, Kushim! You
may be the very first human
being whose name we know!

Holy barley
grains, I may
just be....

Most of the names we use for
ancient people and places
were actually introduced in
modern times.

We have no idea what sort
of names the Neanderthals
had, for example.... Maybe the
Stadel cave was really called
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, and Göbekli
Tepe was known as Gabba
Gabba Hey!

144

But we know Kushim really was
called Kushim!

I think
your
writing’s
very
pretty.

Thank
you!

I’ve got a tablet too! Would
you like to read my latest
story?

Read a story?
What a
peculiar idea!

Why would
anyone need
to write a story,
Miss???

Oh, the young these days... So lazy!
Can’t keep anything in their brains.
They want everything done for them!

Don’t take this the wrong way, young lady, but we
Incas agree with the Sumerians—we don’t see any
point in writing down our stories. We just keep them in
our brains and when we want to tell them, we use our
mouths....

Exactly,
thank you, Ma’am!
The only thing
writing’s useful
for is recording
information
we can’t
remember.

Do you use clay tablets too?

No, we use
khipus.
They can store
huuuuuuuuge
amounts of
information
about numbers.

That’s beautiful!
But... how does
it work?

By making knots on these
colored strings! Where the
knots are, how many of
them there are, how long
the string is—it all means
something! A combination of
lots of strands and knots
can record a whole empire’s
worth of taxes!

Amazing! Just
like my clay
tablet, who’d have
thought...

145

You see, that’s proof of
my assets.... It says:
“A total of 135,000 pounds
of barley was received
over 37 months.”

barley

135,000 pounds

37 months

Kushim

And this
is my
name,
Kushim....

That’s incredible, Kushim! You
may be the very first human
being whose name we know!

Holy barley
grains, I may
just be....

Most of the names we use for
ancient people and places
were actually introduced in
modern times.

We have no idea what sort
of names the Neanderthals
had, for example.... Maybe the
Stadel cave was really called
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, and Göbekli
Tepe was known as Gabba
Gabba Hey!

But we know Kushim really was
called Kushim!

I think
your
writing’s
very
pretty.

Thank
you!

I’ve got a tablet too! Would
you like to read my latest
story?

Read a story?
What a
peculiar idea!

Why would
anyone need
to write a story,
Miss???

Oh, the young these days... So lazy!
Can’t keep anything in their brains.
They want everything done for them!

Don’t take this the wrong way, young lady, but we
Incas agree with the Sumerians—we don’t see any
point in writing down our stories. We just keep them in
our brains and when we want to tell them, we use our
mouths....

Exactly,
thank you, Ma’am!
The only thing
writing’s useful
for is recording
information
we can’t
remember.

Do you use clay tablets too?

No, we use
khipus.
They can store
huuuuuuuuge
amounts of
information
about numbers.

That’s beautiful!
But... how does
it work?

By making knots on these
colored strings! Where the
knots are, how many of
them there are, how long
the string is—it all means
something! A combination of
lots of strands and knots
can record a whole empire’s
worth of taxes!

Amazing! Just
like my clay
tablet, who’d have
thought...

Our khipus were so efficient and
accurate that when the Spaniards
invaded our empire, they used our
knowledge of the khipus to run
their occupied territories.

The problem was the fools didn’t know how to make khipus, or
even how to read them! They needed us and—to be honest—we
kind of tied them in knots.... Just sometimes we’d, erm, mislead
them and cheat them, ha! ha!

When the invaders realized this, they trashed our khipus
and started using European writing instead.

146

Only a few Khipus survived the Spanish occupation,
but they’re indecipherable now because no one
knows how to read them....

I came here in the
hope there’d be some
specialists who can
decipher mine....

Best
of luck,
Ma’am...

The European
writing used by the
Conquistadors was a
distant descendant
of the signs Kushim
used.

Over time the
Mesopotamians invented
more and more signs. Their
writing diversified so it
was no longer just boring
lists of taxes. And that’s
how cuneiform script
was born!

4,500 years ago, Mesopotamian kings used
cuneiform to issue decrees... priests used
it to record oracles, there were even
some highborn citizens who used it to
write letters!

Meanwhile, the Egyptians were
fine-tuning a different type of
writing—hieroglyphics!

By 3,000 years ago, the Chinese
were developing their remarkable
writing system....

And some centuries later, a completely
different kind of writing was invented
in central America!

147

Our khipus were so efficient and
accurate that when the Spaniards
invaded our empire, they used our
knowledge of the khipus to run
their occupied territories.

The problem was the fools didn’t know how to make khipus, or
even how to read them! They needed us and—to be honest—we
kind of tied them in knots.... Just sometimes we’d, erm, mislead
them and cheat them, ha! ha!

When the invaders realized this, they trashed our khipus
and started using European writing instead.

Only a few Khipus survived the Spanish occupation,
but they’re indecipherable now because no one
knows how to read them....

I came here in the
hope there’d be some
specialists who can
decipher mine....

Best
of luck,
Ma’am...

The European
writing used by the
Conquistadors was a
distant descendant
of the signs Kushim
used.

Over time the
Mesopotamians invented
more and more signs. Their
writing diversified so it
was no longer just boring
lists of taxes. And that’s
how cuneiform script
was born!

4,500 years ago, Mesopotamian kings used
cuneiform to issue decrees... priests used
it to record oracles, there were even
some highborn citizens who used it to
write letters!

Meanwhile, the Egyptians were
fine-tuning a different type of
writing—hieroglyphics!

By 3,000 years ago, the Chinese
were developing their remarkable
writing system....

And some centuries later, a completely
different kind of writing was invented
in central America!

Writing systems spread far and
wide from these initial hubs.
They evolved and changed.

People started writing poetry,
history books, novels, plays,
prophecies—even recipe books!

But the most important
function of writing remained
storing boring numbers.

The Greek Iliad, the Hindu Mahabharata,
the Buddhist Tipitaka and the Hebrew
Bible all started out as spoken works.

They were passed
on orally for many
generations and would
have lived on even if
writing had never been
invented.

But without writing
we’d never have an
elaborate fiscal
system!

148

But here
I am talking
when you’re
in danger
of missing
your film!

I shall go and see whether I can speed
things up!

I’ll come
with you!

Thank you, Franz!
I’ll keep our place
in the queue—you
never know!

So many people!
I think we’ll just
have to wait....

Yes! It’ll give us
time to talk!
Now, where was I?

Oh, yes!
More and more
people took
to writing more
and more things.

Particularly things like lists of taxes or property
ownership... which led to a whole new problem.

Ah!
There it is!

Excuse me,
I wonder if
I could ask
a quick
question....

Good afternoon, Madam, we just want to know
where we can get hold of a form G-64?

That depends, what’s it for?

Umm...
a C-22/b7c7,
I think...

149

Writing systems spread far and
wide from these initial hubs.
They evolved and changed.

People started writing poetry,
history books, novels, plays,
prophecies—even recipe books!

But the most important
function of writing remained
storing boring numbers.

The Greek Iliad, the Hindu Mahabharata,
the Buddhist Tipitaka and the Hebrew
Bible all started out as spoken works.

They were passed
on orally for many
generations and would
have lived on even if
writing had never been
invented.

But without writing
we’d never have an
elaborate fiscal
system!

But here
I am talking
when you’re
in danger
of missing
your film!

I shall go and see whether I can speed
things up!

I’ll come
with you!

Thank you, Franz!
I’ll keep our place
in the queue—you
never know!

So many people!
I think we’ll just
have to wait....

Yes! It’ll give us
time to talk!
Now, where was I?

Oh, yes!
More and more
people took
to writing more
and more things.

Particularly things like lists of taxes or property
ownership... which led to a whole new problem.

Ah!
There it is!

Excuse me,
I wonder if
I could ask
a quick
question....

Good afternoon, Madam, we just want to know
where we can get hold of a form G-64?

That depends, what’s it for?

Umm...
a C-22/b7c7,
I think...

We don’t handle any C issues here, you need
counter B25 on the fourth floor for that.
Now could you make way for this gentleman,
he was here before you.

Um, yes, yes,
of course...
my apologies.

Take the second staircase on the left, then turn
right, then left! Then ask someone else the way
from there....

Thank you,
Madam!

What a charming, helpful woman,
she’s saved us precious time! Good!
But what was I saying?

Oh, yes! As the number of
texts multiplied, a new problem
appeared... administrative archives
reached gigantic proportions!
So how could anyone find
the information they
needed?

The information stored
in a human brain is easy
to retrieve. Though our
brains store billions
of bits of information,
we can almost instantly
recall the capital of Iraq
and immediately afterward
remember our first kiss.

We don’t
know how
the brain
does it.

Yes,
that’s still
a mystery.
We just
know that
the brain’s
retrieval
system is
incredibly
efficient.

Except
when we’re
trying to
remember
where we put
the car keys!

Meanwhile...

They’re taking their time...
we’re really going to miss
this film....

Hmm...

MESOPOTAMIC
BILL and CINDY
in LAND REGISTRY
LABYRINTH!

150

Why don’t you get out, Cindy,
instead of watching that
science fiction fantasy?

HMm...

And the Lord said: “Thou
shalt not covet thy
neighbor’s field! Love thy
neighbor as thyself!”

Come to think
of it, isn’t it
date season?

Bingo! Our tree’s
groaning with dates!

Don’t mind me, don’t hold
back, please! I’d just
like to point out THOSE
ARE OUR DATES!

Ugh... don’t I
just love my
neighbor....

Five minutes
later...

Uh-oh,
what’s
going on
here?

Hang on in
there, Kurt,
I’m coming!

Hello there, dearest neighbor! Your
husband’s got some nerve, stealing our
dates like that!

Say what?!
That’s OUR
date palm,
it’s on
OUR land!

Pfff! Dream on! I can prove it’s
ours! It’s all recorded by the
municipal land registry!

Is that so?

Well, let’s go
take a look
together, then!

Damn
right!

And no one had
better touch
those dates till
we’re back!

151

We don’t handle any C issues here, you need
counter B25 on the fourth floor for that.
Now could you make way for this gentleman,
he was here before you.

Um, yes, yes,
of course...
my apologies.

Take the second staircase on the left, then turn
right, then left! Then ask someone else the way
from there....

Thank you,
Madam!

What a charming, helpful woman,
she’s saved us precious time! Good!
But what was I saying?

Oh, yes! As the number of
texts multiplied, a new problem
appeared... administrative archives
reached gigantic proportions!
So how could anyone find
the information they
needed?

The information stored
in a human brain is easy
to retrieve. Though our
brains store billions
of bits of information,
we can almost instantly
recall the capital of Iraq
and immediately afterward
remember our first kiss.

We don’t
know how
the brain
does it.

Yes,
that’s still
a mystery.
We just
know that
the brain’s
retrieval
system is
incredibly
efficient.

Except
when we’re
trying to
remember
where we put
the car keys!

Meanwhile...

They’re taking their time...
we’re really going to miss
this film....

Hmm...

Why don’t you get out, Cindy,
instead of watching that
science fiction fantasy?

HMm...

And the Lord said: “Thou
shalt not covet thy
neighbor’s field! Love thy
neighbor as thyself!”

Come to think
of it, isn’t it
date season?

Bingo! Our tree’s
groaning with dates!

Don’t mind me, don’t hold
back, please! I’d just
like to point out THOSE
ARE OUR DATES!

Ugh... don’t I
just love my
neighbor....

Five minutes
later...

Uh-oh,
what’s
going on
here?

Hang on in
there, Kurt,
I’m coming!

Hello there, dearest neighbor! Your
husband’s got some nerve, stealing our
dates like that!

Say what?!
That’s OUR
date palm,
it’s on
OUR land!

Pfff! Dream on! I can prove it’s
ours! It’s all recorded by the
municipal land registry!

Is that so?

Well, let’s go
take a look
together, then!

Damn
right!

And no one had
better touch
those dates till
we’re back!

MESOPOTAMIC
BILL and CINDY
in LAND REGISTRY
LABYRINTH!

Good morning, Mr., erm, Land
Registry person. I’d like to see
the tablet that shows the
exact boundaries of my garden.

Yes!
Me
too!

Follow me... what street
do you live on, ladies?

Harmony
Street.

...It’s a
dead end!

Harmony, Harmony...
in District 3, right?

Or could it be here?

How do you ever
find anything
in all this mess!?

I’m sorry, we haven’t invented
archiving yet.... We hired these
two guys to improve the system,
but so far they haven’t come up
with anything useful....

Much later...

Ah! Here it is!

Ha! Look!
It definitely
says the
tree’s
on our
land!

I KNEW that tree was in our
garden!

So now... bring on the
date harvest!

Ha! Ha! You
should see
your face,
Olga!

Say, the city’s really
changed.... Do you remember
the way home?

152

Ah! There they are!

I quite agree with your
point.... I remember my first
kiss so clearly. It was at
a Nirvana gig in Tacoma in
1987!

Well
???

Your case hasn’t
been dealt with yet
but we’re getting
somewhere!

The next
stage happens on
the fourth floor,
come with us!

We just need to find
the second staircase
on the left....

It’s probably
just beyond
this big lobby....

This place is huge!

Indeed it is! When societies started accumulating
texts, they needed to invent efficient new
ways of cataloging them and processing them.
That was an even bigger challenge than
inventing writing....

I can see that! And of
course, just writing
information down on clay
tablets or pieces of
paper wasn’t enough!

Yes, they then had to
store, archive, retrieve and
process items from all that
accumulated information....

Absolutely! There are
twin pillars to every
large-scale human
order—mythology and...
BUREAUCRACY!

153

Good morning, Mr., erm, Land
Registry person. I’d like to see
the tablet that shows the
exact boundaries of my garden.

Yes!
Me
too!

Follow me... what street
do you live on, ladies?

Harmony
Street.

...It’s a
dead end!

Harmony, Harmony...
in District 3, right?

Or could it be here?

How do you ever
find anything
in all this mess!?

I’m sorry, we haven’t invented
archiving yet.... We hired these
two guys to improve the system,
but so far they haven’t come up
with anything useful....

Much later...

Ah! Here it is!

Ha! Look!
It definitely
says the
tree’s
on our
land!

I KNEW that tree was in our
garden!

So now... bring on the
date harvest!

Ha! Ha! You
should see
your face,
Olga!

Say, the city’s really
changed.... Do you remember
the way home?

Ah! There they are!

I quite agree with your
point.... I remember my first
kiss so clearly. It was at
a Nirvana gig in Tacoma in
1987!

Well
???

Your case hasn’t
been dealt with yet
but we’re getting
somewhere!

The next
stage happens on
the fourth floor,
come with us!

We just need to find
the second staircase
on the left....

It’s probably
just beyond
this big lobby....

This place is huge!

Indeed it is! When societies started accumulating
texts, they needed to invent efficient new
ways of cataloging them and processing them.
That was an even bigger challenge than
inventing writing....

I can see that! And of
course, just writing
information down on clay
tablets or pieces of
paper wasn’t enough!

Yes, they then had to
store, archive, retrieve and
process items from all that
accumulated information....

Absolutely! There are
twin pillars to every
large-scale human
order—mythology and...
BUREAUCRACY!

Coming up with ways of
handling written material
definitely proved a lot
harder than inventing
writing!

Many cultures invented writing systems.
What’s special about the Sumerians,
Egyptians, Chinese and Inca was that they
developed not only writing systems...

...but also
bureaucracy!

Bureaucracy was a new way
of thinking. It can process
data in a very different way
to the human brain!

In our brains, all the
information is freely
associated.

So, for example, this official here reminds ME of the
adviser who handles my mortgage... which I signed the
day I met Milena. I wonder if she’ll agree to marry
me? Oh, my darling Milena... that would certainly help
my tax return problems. But will the fellows at the
tax office give me my tax cut? They’d better; if not
I’ll take them to court! Actually, the courthouse
is being overhauled at the moment. New curtains
and everything. Orange ones. But I’m not very keen
on oranges. Too sour... Um, what were we saying?

But in bureaucracy things have to be
kept separate. One drawer for mortgages,
another for marriage certificates, a third
for taxes and a fourth for lawsuits.

Otherwise, how would you ever
find anything? Things that
belong in more than one
drawer, like a lawsuit about
taxation, are a terrible
headache! Should the documents
be filed under “lawsuits” or
under “taxes,” or does it need
a whole new category?

So the drawers are
forever being added to
and reorganized.

For the system to work, the people
who operate these drawers need to
be reprogrammed to stop thinking
like humans and start thinking
like clerks and accountants.

And everyone from
ancient times right
up to today knows:
clerks and accountants
aren’t allowed to
think like humans!

To do their job,
they need to think
like filing cabinets!!

And here’s the greatest impact
that writing had on human
history: it gradually changed the
way humans saw the world and
thought about it. Free association
and holistic thought have given
way to compartmentalization
and bureaucracy.

Coming up with ways of
handling written material
definitely proved a lot
harder than inventing
writing!

Many cultures invented writing systems.
What’s special about the Sumerians,
Egyptians, Chinese and Inca was that they
developed not only writing systems...

...but also
bureaucracy!

Bureaucracy was a new way
of thinking. It can process
data in a very different way
to the human brain!

In our brains, all the
information is freely
associated.

So, for example, this official here reminds ME of the
adviser who handles my mortgage... which I signed the
day I met Milena. I wonder if she’ll agree to marry
me? Oh, my darling Milena... that would certainly help
my tax return problems. But will the fellows at the
tax office give me my tax cut? They’d better; if not
I’ll take them to court! Actually, the courthouse
is being overhauled at the moment. New curtains
and everything. Orange ones. But I’m not very keen
on oranges. Too sour... Um, what were we saying?

But in bureaucracy things have to be
kept separate. One drawer for mortgages,
another for marriage certificates, a third
for taxes and a fourth for lawsuits.

Otherwise, how would you ever
find anything? Things that
belong in more than one
drawer, like a lawsuit about
taxation, are a terrible
headache! Should the documents
be filed under “lawsuits” or
under “taxes,” or does it need
a whole new category?

So the drawers are
forever being added to
and reorganized.

For the system to work, the people
who operate these drawers need to
be reprogrammed to stop thinking
like humans and start thinking
like clerks and accountants.

And everyone from
ancient times right
up to today knows:
clerks and accountants
aren’t allowed to
think like humans!

To do their job,
they need to think
like filing cabinets!!

And here’s the greatest impact
that writing had on human
history: it gradually changed the
way humans saw the world and
thought about it. Free association
and holistic thought have given
way to compartmentalization
and bureaucracy.

Over the centuries, methods of bureaucratic
data processing grew ever more different from
the way humans naturally think—and ever
more important, of course....

One particularly momentous shift began some time
before the ninth Century CE, when a new script
was invented—a wonder script that could store and
process mathematical data more efficiently than
anything that had come before.

Oh! Look! Isn’t that the one we
need, over there?

So it is!

We’re in luck,
there’s only one
person ahead
of us!

About time
too!

So, this writing I was talking about was incredibly simple. It
was even simpler than Kushim’s script. It couldn’t be used to
write history, poetry, cookery books or laws. It had only one
type of symbols...

...Numbers!

156

What do you mean,
not admissible?!?

Just look for yourself! My total tax
liability for the year 718 is zero. Ze-ro!
Look! It’s written right here!!!

Zero? Never
heard of it...
What kind of
numbers are you
making up over
there in India?

I think we’re going
to be waiting awhile
longer....

I think you’re
right....

Oh noooo!

Well,
I’ll use the
time looking
for the next
binge-worthy
series....

The
Computer
Monthly
157

Over the centuries, methods of bureaucratic
data processing grew ever more different from
the way humans naturally think—and ever
more important, of course....

One particularly momentous shift began some time
before the ninth Century CE, when a new script
was invented—a wonder script that could store and
process mathematical data more efficiently than
anything that had come before.

Oh! Look! Isn’t that the one we
need, over there?

So it is!

We’re in luck,
there’s only one
person ahead
of us!

About time
too!

So, this writing I was talking about was incredibly simple. It
was even simpler than Kushim’s script. It couldn’t be used to
write history, poetry, cookery books or laws. It had only one
type of symbols...

...Numbers!

What do you mean,
not admissible?!?

Just look for yourself! My total tax
liability for the year 718 is zero. Ze-ro!
Look! It’s written right here!!!

Zero? Never
heard of it...
What kind of
numbers are you
making up over
there in India?

I think we’re going
to be waiting awhile
longer....

I think you’re
right....

Oh noooo!

Well,
I’ll use the
time looking
for the next
binge-worthy
series....

PRAŽSKÝ

ON TV1 at 8 pm |
SERIES

THE NUMBER GOLEM

The servant that enslaved
its masters!

Recap of season 1

Its language is made up of just ten little signs but it has mesmerized humans the world over! Whether they speak Arabic, Hindi, English or Norwegian, almost all countries, businesses and organizations have turned to Number Golem to record and process their data!

Humans of all nations, I am your
humble servant...

Crunch!

Crunch
those
numbers!

Crunch!

I can store, communicate
and process any amount of
information at lightning
speed—on condition that
you translate it into
numbers!

ON TV2 at 9 pm |
ENTERTAINMENT

AT HOME WITH THE
STARS

This week: Albert Einstein

This is my Nobel Prize. I hung it up myself,
not without some difficulty, hA! hA!...

Nobel
Prize

So, do you have
any hobbies,
Professor Einstein?

Of course!

Obviously, it’s a little
difficult with a
bandage…

ON NERDFIX at 10 pm |
SERIES

THE PRISONERS OF 01

The chart-topping Prisoners of 01 is the science fiction hit that’s making waves! Imagine a world where computers have overtaken humans in the very field that allowed Homo Sapiens to become mas- ters of the world: Intelligence and com- munication!

It all started in the Euphrates Valley 5,000 years ago when Sumerian geeks out- sourced data-processing from the human brain to clay tablets. In a mysterious village in Silicon Valley, this process reaches its peak thanks to a far more elaborate type of tablet.

Humans can no longer make sense of their world. Like Bill and Cindy, they’ve become prisoners of CLOUD_01, a new world leader, a monstrous cloud made up of an incalculable succession of zeros and ones!

158

tv magazín

N° 1010 / Week of October 10

SEASON 2

THE NUMBER GOLEM
TAKES OVER!

Speak in numbers, you fools! Only
numbers count! If it isn’t a number—
it doesn’t exist!

No point talking about
happiness any more.... How
about we translate that into
“subjective well-being level”?

And instead
of honesty...
maybe “credit
worthiness”?

Most people panic or freeze when they see equations like this. This isn’t due
to a lack of curiosity or intelligence.

K
R
A
Ï
Ï
Ï
Ï
A
Ï
Ï
Ï
Ï K

The human brain never
evolved to understand
the concepts of
relativity or quantum
mechanics. I’ve managed
to grapple with them by
using complex
math... and basically
outsourcing some of my
thought processes to
this blackboard!

Apart from that, I like relaxing
and watching a good series in the
evening, I love Prisoners of 01 , do you
know it?

D’you like your tea
nice and hot?

Like countless others, Bill and Cindy
Sapiens are held in Village 01 by a
mysterious bipolar cloud!

Sometimes I say 1
And sometimes I say 0....

We’re not numbers!

159

PRAŽSKÝ

ON TV1 at 8 pm |
SERIES

THE NUMBER GOLEM

The servant that enslaved
its masters!

Recap of season 1

Its language is made up of just ten little signs but it has mesmerized humans the world over! Whether they speak Arabic, Hindi, English or Norwegian, almost all countries, businesses and organizations have turned to Number Golem to record and process their data!

Humans of all nations, I am your
humble servant...

Crunch!

Crunch
those
numbers!

Crunch!

I can store, communicate
and process any amount of
information at lightning
speed—on condition that
you translate it into
numbers!

ON TV2 at 9 pm |
ENTERTAINMENT

AT HOME WITH THE
STARS

This week: Albert Einstein

ON NERDFIX at 10 pm |
SERIES

This is my Nobel Prize. I hung it up myself,
not without some difficulty, hA! hA!...

Nobel
Prize

So, do you have
any hobbies,
Professor Einstein?

Of course!

Obviously, it’s a little
difficult with a
bandage…

THE PRISONERS OF 01

The chart-topping Prisoners of 01 is the science fiction hit that’s making waves! Imagine a world where computers have overtaken humans in the very field that allowed Homo Sapiens to become mas- ters of the world: Intelligence and com- munication!

It all started in the Euphrates Valley 5,000 years ago when Sumerian geeks out- sourced data-processing from the human brain to clay tablets. In a mysterious village in Silicon Valley, this process reaches its peak thanks to a far more elaborate type of tablet.

Humans can no longer make sense of their world. Like Bill and Cindy, they’ve become prisoners of CLOUD_01, a new world leader, a monstrous cloud made up of an incalculable succession of zeros and ones!

tv magazín

N° 1010 / Week of October 10

SEASON 2

THE NUMBER GOLEM
TAKES OVER!

Speak in numbers, you fools! Only
numbers count! If it isn’t a number—
it doesn’t exist!

No point talking about
happiness any more.... How
about we translate that into
“subjective well-being level”?

And instead
of honesty...
maybe “credit
worthiness”?

Most people panic or freeze when they see equations like this. This isn’t due
to a lack of curiosity or intelligence.

K
R
A
Ï
Ï
Ï
Ï
A
Ï
Ï
Ï
Ï K

The human brain never
evolved to understand
the concepts of
relativity or quantum
mechanics. I’ve managed
to grapple with them by
using complex
math... and basically
outsourcing some of my
thought processes to
this blackboard!

Apart from that, I like relaxing
and watching a good series in the
evening, I love Prisoners of 01 , do you
know it?

D’you like your tea
nice and hot?

Like countless others, Bill and Cindy
Sapiens are held in Village 01 by a
mysterious bipolar cloud!

Sometimes I say 1
And sometimes I say 0....

We’re not numbers!

Next!

Hello, sir, I was given this fine,
but the officer didn’t tell me
what for, and...

Let’s have
a look....

Hmm... what you have here is a stub
from a C-22/b7c7....

Um... Yes...?

You’re in luck, mister! I see that
a new R-14b just came through.
You shouldn’t have troubled
yourself. So you don’t need to
worry about this anymore.

E... Excuse me?!?

Everything’s
in order. Have
a nice day.

What? But we’ve wasted an entire day on this!

If you want to issue a
complaint, go to desk
P3 and fill out a W71 in
duplicate!

It’s not like it’s
complicated or
anything....

Just forget it, Uncle Yuval.
We’ll miss our movie if
we don’t go now.

160

You’re right! We need to hurry. Would
you like to join us, Franz?

That’s very kind but I still have
work to do this evening. My big
trial is about to resume.

Thank you again for
your help, Franz....

Goodbye!

That Franz really is
delightful....

By the way, what film
are we watching?

A film about recent
developments in writing!

In writing?
Not a boring
documentary,
please!

Absolutely not,
it’s an action
film!

Yeah right... full of
bureaucrats beating
each other up with
folders and paper clips!

Trust me, you’re going to love
it. It’s set in the future....
it’s about what will happen
when binary computer code
becomes really powerful.

Hmm...
Whatever...

161

Next!

Hello, sir, I was given this fine,
but the officer didn’t tell me
what for, and...

Let’s have
a look....

Hmm... what you have here is a stub
from a C-22/b7c7....

Um... Yes...?

You’re in luck, mister! I see that
a new R-14b just came through.
You shouldn’t have troubled
yourself. So you don’t need to
worry about this anymore.

E... Excuse me?!?

Everything’s
in order. Have
a nice day.

What? But we’ve wasted an entire day on this!

If you want to issue a
complaint, go to desk
P3 and fill out a W71 in
duplicate!

It’s not like it’s
complicated or
anything....

Just forget it, Uncle Yuval.
We’ll miss our movie if
we don’t go now.

You’re right! We need to hurry. Would
you like to join us, Franz?

That’s very kind but I still have
work to do this evening. My big
trial is about to resume.

Thank you again for
your help, Franz....

Goodbye!

That Franz really is
delightful....

By the way, what film
are we watching?

A film about recent
developments in writing!

In writing?
Not a boring
documentary,
please!

Absolutely not,
it’s an action
film!

Yeah right... full of
bureaucrats beating
each other up with
folders and paper clips!

Trust me, you’re going to love
it. It’s set in the future....
it’s about what will happen
when binary computer code
becomes really powerful.

Hmm...
Whatever...

BILL SCHWARZENBERGER

It’s set in a time when humans
realize that they’re losing
control of their creation—
writing. Hyperintelligent
computers are about to take
over the world. Humans try to
stop these binary monsters,
but the long lines of code have
other ideas and wipe out almost
the entire human race....

TERMINATOR 17
TWILIGHT OF THE SAPIENS

162

Next up in Sapiens!

THE FICTION
CONNECTION

Detective Lopez begins a new investigation!

Why is the world so unfair?
The vise is closing in on the prime suspect… DOCTOR FICTION!

163

It’s set in a time when humans
realize that they’re losing
control of their creation—
writing. Hyperintelligent
computers are about to take
over the world. Humans try to
stop these binary monsters,
but the long lines of code have
other ideas and wipe out almost
the entire human race....

Next up in Sapiens!

Detective Lopez begins a new investigation!

Why is the world so unfair?
The vise is closing in on the prime suspect… DOCTOR FICTION!

BILL SCHWARZENBERGER

TERMINATOR 17
TWILIGHT OF THE SAPIENS

THE FICTION
CONNECTION

The Cabinet
of Doctor Fiction

New York

165

The Cabinet
of Doctor Fiction

New York

Sapiens
File

CASE ADJOURNED

CASE ADJOURNED

Archives

166

Archives

?

Pfff...

BILL AND
CINDY
167

?

Pfff...

Sapiens
File

Archives

CASE ADJOURNED

CASE ADJOURNED

Hi there,
Doc?

Well, well,
Detective, you still up?
It’s three a.m....

I’m thinking, Doc...

Still that
Sapiens case,
right?

You seem to know
everything about me! ... I
just think we gave up on
this case a liiiiittle too
quickly....

I was
wondering....

How d’you
feel about
talking
it over
tonight?

Ok,
I’m on
my way....

Thanks,
Doc....

What’s eating
you like this,
Selena?

An answer
that I’m just
not buying...

So, talk to
me....

Ok, how come humans organized these mass-
cooperation networks when they didn’t have
the biological instincts to do it?

It’s OK, I know what you’re gonna say....
They could do it ’cause they had these
imaginary orders and they invented
writing... mythology and bureaucracy....

Well, exactly,
that’s the answer....

Nah, that’s too
easy, Doc....

But that’s what happened....
Gotta say that, biologically
speaking, Sapiens weren’t
exactly equipped to be the
greatest cooperators....

Yeah...

I get the feeling my answers
aren’t really cutting it....

Don’t mess with me,
Doc, I’m not in the
mood!

OK, so this ability to
make up stories helped
Sapiens set up their mass-
cooperation networks, I
get that....

...But if you dig a little
deeper, it’s obvious all
these networks have
something in common.
They’re never fair!

I thought about all this a lot, Doc. At first
sight, it’s like humans invented a whole
bunch of very different stuff. Gods, nations,
money, you name it. But take a closer look...
and it’s the exact same thing again and
again—unfair hierarchies!

How do you mean?
I’m not sure
I get what
you’re saying,

Selena....

169

Hi there,
Doc?

Well, well,
Detective, you still up?
It’s three a.m....

I’m thinking, Doc...

Still that
Sapiens case,
right?

You seem to know
everything about me! ... I
just think we gave up on
this case a liiiiittle too
quickly....

I was
wondering....

How d’you
feel about
talking
it over
tonight?

Ok,
I’m on
my way....

Thanks,
Doc....

What’s eating
you like this,
Selena?

An answer
that I’m just
not buying...

So, talk to
me....

Ok, how come humans organized these mass-
cooperation networks when they didn’t have
the biological instincts to do it?

It’s OK, I know what you’re gonna say....
They could do it ’cause they had these
imaginary orders and they invented
writing... mythology and bureaucracy....

Well, exactly,
that’s the answer....

Nah, that’s too
easy, Doc....

But that’s what happened....
Gotta say that, biologically
speaking, Sapiens weren’t
exactly equipped to be the
greatest cooperators....

Yeah...

I get the feeling my answers
aren’t really cutting it....

Don’t mess with me,
Doc, I’m not in the
mood!

OK, so this ability to
make up stories helped
Sapiens set up their mass-
cooperation networks, I
get that....

...But if you dig a little
deeper, it’s obvious all
these networks have
something in common.
They’re never fair!

I thought about all this a lot, Doc. At first
sight, it’s like humans invented a whole
bunch of very different stuff. Gods, nations,
money, you name it. But take a closer look...
and it’s the exact same thing again and
again—unfair hierarchies!

How do you mean?
I’m not sure
I get what
you’re saying,

Selena....

You know exactly what I’m saying! What these imagined orders
mostly did is give power and a truckload of privilege to the
guys at the top of the heap! And dumped discrimination and
oppression on the saps at the bottom!

You think so,
Selena?

Doesn’t matter what
Selena thinks, right now
it’s Detective Lopez
talking, ok?

Ok, ok...

So, exhibit A: Hammurabi’s code, which set up this
hierarchy with noblemen, commoners and slaves—
would you say that was fair?

That was more than
3,700 years ago....

Ok, so that’s how you wanna
play it.... Let’s jump to
1776 and talk about the
inequalities established by
the imagined order in the
US, huh?

I can’t help it if the fictions used by Sapiens aren’t
all that fair.... I’m amazed by their inventions,
but it’s up to them which stories they create and
believe....

I wish I
could believe you, Doc, but it’s
my job to be suspicious and
investigate.... I wonder if you
could do more than just be
amazed....

And don’t you go off radar,
make sure I can get ahold of ya.
I’m gonna be needing
you some more....

No problem,
Detective.

170

Later...

In 1776 when the Americans established an
imaginary order proclaiming equal rights and
freedom for all, this didn’t stop a hierarchy
from developing.

Men had much more
freedom and many
more benefits
than women....

...And “inalienable rights” applied
mostly to white people. Native
Americans and people of African
descent were considered inferior beings
with no claim to equal rights.

Several signatories of the Declaration
of Independence owned slaves.

They didn’t see themselves as hypocrites. In their view,
human rights had little to do with black people. And
they thought “freedom” meant that white people were
free to own slaves, without the state telling them
what to do with their “property.”

171

You know exactly what I’m saying! What these imagined orders
mostly did is give power and a truckload of privilege to the
guys at the top of the heap! And dumped discrimination and
oppression on the saps at the bottom!

You think so,
Selena?

Doesn’t matter what
Selena thinks, right now
it’s Detective Lopez
talking, ok?

Ok, ok...

So, exhibit A: Hammurabi’s code, which set up this
hierarchy with noblemen, commoners and slaves—
would you say that was fair?

That was more than
3,700 years ago....

Ok, so that’s how you wanna
play it.... Let’s jump to
1776 and talk about the
inequalities established by
the imagined order in the
US, huh?

I can’t help it if the fictions used by Sapiens aren’t
all that fair.... I’m amazed by their inventions,
but it’s up to them which stories they create and
believe....

I wish I
could believe you, Doc, but it’s
my job to be suspicious and
investigate.... I wonder if you
could do more than just be
amazed....

And don’t you go off radar,
make sure I can get ahold of ya.
I’m gonna be needing
you some more....

No problem,
Detective.

Later...

In 1776 when the Americans established an
imaginary order proclaiming equal rights and
freedom for all, this didn’t stop a hierarchy
from developing.

Men had much more
freedom and many
more benefits
than women....

...And “inalienable rights” applied
mostly to white people. Native
Americans and people of African
descent were considered inferior beings
with no claim to equal rights.

Several signatories of the Declaration
of Independence owned slaves.

They didn’t see themselves as hypocrites. In their view,
human rights had little to do with black people. And
they thought “freedom” meant that white people were
free to own slaves, without the state telling them
what to do with their “property.”

The American order
also sanctioned the
hierarchy between
rich and poor.

Wealthy parents tend to pass on their money and
businesses to their children, and to this day, many
Americans see nothing shocking about the resulting
inequality.

The fact that poor kids
get worse education,
worse healthcare and
far fewer opportunities
in life seems perfectly
fair.

These kids may be just as
talented and hardworking
as their rich peers...

...but they apparently haven’t
worked hard enough to acquire
rich parents.

Humpf!

Some Americans cling to the idea that
the hierarchy of wealth was sanctified by God....

...While others see it as an expression of the immutable
laws of Nature, as if corporate laws and tax exemptions
are coded in human DNA.

172

All the hierarchies between free people and
slaves, white and black people, rich and poor,
and men and women were rooted in fictions.

But one of the few iron laws of history is that
every imagined hierarchy disowns its fictional
origins and claims to be natural and inevitable.

For example, slave owners rarely acknowledged
that slavery was a human invention.

Hammurabi believed that the hierarchy between
masters and slaves was prescribed by the gods.

Aristotle argued that slaves had a servile
nature, while other people were free by nature.

Tssss...

So the great ancient Greek philosopher believed
that people’s place in society was just a reflection
of their natural essence.

173

The American order
also sanctioned the
hierarchy between
rich and poor.

Wealthy parents tend to pass on their money and
businesses to their children, and to this day, many
Americans see nothing shocking about the resulting
inequality.

The fact that poor kids
get worse education,
worse healthcare and
far fewer opportunities
in life seems perfectly
fair.

These kids may be just as
talented and hardworking
as their rich peers...

...but they apparently haven’t
worked hard enough to acquire
rich parents.

Humpf!

Some Americans cling to the idea that
the hierarchy of wealth was sanctified by God....

...While others see it as an expression of the immutable
laws of Nature, as if corporate laws and tax exemptions
are coded in human DNA.

All the hierarchies between free people and
slaves, white and black people, rich and poor,
and men and women were rooted in fictions.

But one of the few iron laws of history is that
every imagined hierarchy disowns its fictional
origins and claims to be natural and inevitable.

For example, slave owners rarely acknowledged
that slavery was a human invention.

Hammurabi believed that the hierarchy between
masters and slaves was prescribed by the gods.

Aristotle argued that slaves had a servile
nature, while other people were free by nature.

Tssss...

So the great ancient Greek philosopher believed
that people’s place in society was just a reflection
of their natural essence.

19th-century slave owners
had excuses all their own....

We’ve arrived in the
19th century, Ma’am!

Can I help you, sir... or perhaps it’s madam?

Great start!

Good afternoon, Miss
O’Hara. Just call me
Detective, that’ll be fine.

And what can I do
for you, um...
Detective?

I’m here on an
official investigation,
and I have one
very simple
question:

How come white
people get to own
black people?

Your question sure does sound simple
to me, wouldn’t you say so, pastor?

It surely is!

Quite simply because
the good Lord ordained
it that way!

But perhaps you haven’t
read your Bible,
Detective?

Whenever in doubt, the Good Book
provides us with all the answers we
need. Just read Genesis, chapter 9,
verse 25.

Amen!

Doctor Fleming,
you are a man
of science.
What say you?

Science concurs with
the Good Book.... You
need only read the
brilliant race scientist
de Gobineau on the
superiority of the white
race.*

*Arthur de Gobineau’s The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races(1856)

174

This whole matter can be compared to breeds of
horses. You see, some breeds are good for riding,
others make fine draft horses whilst others lend
themselves to the noble cause of war....

And the same can be
said of people. People
are also divided into
distinct breeds.

Countless scientific studies
have proved that the white
race is incontestably the
most intelligent!

And the most
virtuous!

And the most
diligent too!

Whereas black people are the least
intelligent. They’re often ruled by
their... erm, passions.

And so lazy! Oh,
my word!

They need a master,
otherwise they’d
never lift a finger!

These are the
scientific facts
of the matter!

And where exactly did you find
these “scientific facts” of
yours?

At my alma mater, the
University of Virginia,
my dear! It’s the finest
scientific institution
in all of Dixie! I studied
medicine and natural
philosophy.

And you’re sure
ALL
your professors agreed
with this theory?

Why,
naturally!

My professor of natural
philosophy personally owns
a few slaves.

The university as well. Who do you
think built it?

But then... What about the slaves?
What do they think about all this?

The slaves?
Frankly, my dear,
we don’t give a
damn.

Next, you’ll be asking a horse’s
opinion before riding it!

I can see, madam, that you
doubt us.

That’s no surprise....
After all, women are
not rational enough to
understand the complexities
of science.

175

19th-century slave owners
had excuses all their own....

We’ve arrived in the
19th century, Ma’am!

Can I help you, sir... or perhaps it’s madam?

Great start!

Good afternoon, Miss
O’Hara. Just call me
Detective, that’ll be fine.

And what can I do
for you, um...
Detective?

I’m here on an
official investigation,
and I have one
very simple
question:

How come white
people get to own
black people?

Your question sure does sound simple
to me, wouldn’t you say so, pastor?

It surely is!

Quite simply because
the good Lord ordained
it that way!

But perhaps you haven’t
read your Bible,
Detective?

Whenever in doubt, the Good Book
provides us with all the answers we
need. Just read Genesis, chapter 9,
verse 25.

Amen!

Doctor Fleming,
you are a man
of science.
What say you?

Science concurs with
the Good Book.... You
need only read the
brilliant race scientist
de Gobineau on the
superiority of the white
race.*

This whole matter can be compared to breeds of
horses. You see, some breeds are good for riding,
others make fine draft horses whilst others lend
themselves to the noble cause of war....

And the same can be
said of people. People
are also divided into
distinct breeds.

Countless scientific studies
have proved that the white
race is incontestably the
most intelligent!

And the most
virtuous!

And the most
diligent too!

Whereas black people are the least
intelligent. They’re often ruled by
their... erm, passions.

And so lazy! Oh,
my word!

They need a master,
otherwise they’d
never lift a finger!

These are the
scientific facts
of the matter!

And where exactly did you find
these “scientific facts” of
yours?

At my alma mater, the
University of Virginia,
my dear! It’s the finest
scientific institution
in all of Dixie! I studied
medicine and natural
philosophy.

And you’re sure
ALL
your professors agreed
with this theory?

Why,
naturally!

My professor of natural
philosophy personally owns
a few slaves.

The university as well. Who do you
think built it?

But then... What about the slaves?
What do they think about all this?

The slaves?
Frankly, my dear,
we don’t give a
damn.

Next, you’ll be asking a horse’s
opinion before riding it!

I can see, madam, that you
doubt us.

That’s no surprise....
After all, women are
not rational enough to
understand the complexities
of science.

*Arthur de Gobineau’s The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races (1856)

Don’t trouble yourself. As our learned men of science gather
further proof, the difference between races will become
more and more obvious to everyone... even you.

I ain’t so sure of that! You
know what they say, Miss
O’Hara.... after all, tomorrow
is another day....

Is she leaving
already?

Ok, thank you... That’ll
be all!

Well, what
more is there to say,
Mr. Butler?
The scientific
evidence is simply
overwhelming.

New York
city

Scientific
evidence...

My ass! If these people
were scientists, then
I’m an opera singer!

Pseudoscience, sure!

New York
city

New Jersey

176

Later...

Miaow

Hi, Marlowe.
You hungry?

...on the Janice
Young Show today
we’re talking
about everyone’s
favorite topic—social
hierarchies!
I’m happy to welcome
Professor Harari,
thank you so mu—

Hey, Marlowe,
would you believe
the coincidence?!

So, Professor Harari, here’s the first question
I just can’t wait to ask....
How do the privileged justify their
superior position?

Fictional
stories,
of course.

I know this guy!
He’s been to my office!

Take the famous Hindu caste system,
for example. The people who
benefited most from the caste
system—the Brahmin priests—claimed
that the system was created by
cosmic forces.... They said that in the
beginning, the universe contained
just a single entity, the giant
Purusha. Then the great gods cut the
giant into pieces and fashioned the
whole universe from different parts
of him.

They made the sun from Purusha’s eye, the moon from his
brain, Brahmin priests from his mouth, Ksatriya warriors
from his arms, Vaisya peasants and tradesmen from his
thighs, Sudra servants from his FEET...

According to this creation
myth, the difference
between Brahmin priests
and Sudra servants was
an essential and eternal
constituent of the cosmos.
It was as natural as the
difference between the sun
and the moon.

177

Don’t trouble yourself. As our learned men of science gather
further proof, the difference between races will become
more and more obvious to everyone... even you.

I ain’t so sure of that! You
know what they say, Miss
O’Hara.... after all, tomorrow
is another day....

Is she leaving
already?

Ok, thank you... That’ll
be all!

Well, what
more is there to say,
Mr. Butler?
The scientific
evidence is simply
overwhelming.

Scientific
evidence...

My ass! If these people
were scientists, then
I’m an opera singer!

Pseudoscience, sure!

Later...

Miaow

Hi, Marlowe.
You hungry?

...on the Janice
Young Show today
we’re talking
about everyone’s
favorite topic—social
hierarchies!
I’m happy to welcome
Professor Harari,
thank you so mu—

Hey, Marlowe,
would you believe
the coincidence?!

So, Professor Harari, here’s the first question
I just can’t wait to ask....
How do the privileged justify their
superior position?

Fictional
stories,
of course.

I know this guy!
He’s been to my office!

Take the famous Hindu caste system,
for example. The people who
benefited most from the caste
system—the Brahmin priests—claimed
that the system was created by
cosmic forces.... They said that in the
beginning, the universe contained
just a single entity, the giant
Purusha. Then the great gods cut the
giant into pieces and fashioned the
whole universe from different parts
of him.

They made the sun from Purusha’s eye, the moon from his
brain, Brahmin priests from his mouth, Ksatriya warriors
from his arms, Vaisya peasants and tradesmen from his
thighs, Sudra servants from his FEET...

According to this creation
myth, the difference
between Brahmin priests
and Sudra servants was
an essential and eternal
constituent of the cosmos.
It was as natural as the
difference between the sun
and the moon.

New York
city

New York
city

New Jersey

Many civilizations had similar stories. According to
Chinese mythology, it was the goddess Nüwa who created
humans from earth. She apparently used handsome
yellow clay to make aristocrats and brown dirt to
make everyone else.

ZAP!

...We are God’s chosen
people! They are
stinking barbarians!

What the hell are
you doing, Marlowe?

ZAP!

They
breed like
rabbits
and
multiply
like
vermin....

ZAP!

...monkeys

ZAP!

...mad
dogs!

ZAP!

...dangerous
microbes!

ZAP!

...kill those
Cockroaches!

ZAP!

...Like all these myths,
the story of the
Purusha isn’t scientific,
to put it mildly. We now
know that, whereas
the sun and the moon
are about 4.5 billion
years old...

Hey, Marlowe! I was listening
to Professor Harari!

...the differences
between Hindu castes
go back no more
than 3,000 years. The
caste hierarchy has
nothing to do with
divine creation or
the laws of nature.
It’s invented human
laws that made some
people masters and
others servants.

178

If you’d like to ask our guest a question,
now’s the time! Our number should be up on
the screen right now.

Call 1-800-342-4458

Hmm... We
won’t make
them beg, hey,
Marlowe, what
d’ya think?

Miaow...

We have a first caller. We’re
listening....

Thank you,
Janice.

Professor, would
you say there are
any large human
societies that have
gotten by without
these crazy-ass
stories?

For large-scale societies like the
ones I’ve been talking about, no.

And could you give a ballpark
figure for how many people
throughout history have been
killed or enslaved because of these
stories?

It’s impossible to quantify.
Probably in the billions.

Thank you for those excellent
questions! Would you mind introducing
yourself?

Hmm! I better not go
into details.... Let’s
say I’m a detective
who’s investigating
this....

Well, we sure didn’t expect
that! It’s great that you
called us....

Sure is, ma’am, and I can promise that
I’m about to reveal the culprit behind
this historical crime to the whole
world.

Yes, Marlowe, you’re hungry,
ok, ok...

Wow, that would be
amazing. We’d be happy
to invite you to our studio
to tell us all about it.
Goodbye, detective.

And now, to our next
caller.

179

Many civilizations had similar stories. According to
Chinese mythology, it was the goddess Nüwa who created
humans from earth. She apparently used handsome
yellow clay to make aristocrats and brown dirt to
make everyone else.

ZAP!

...We are God’s chosen
people! They are
stinking barbarians!

What the hell are
you doing, Marlowe?

ZAP!

They
breed like
rabbits
and
multiply
like
vermin....

ZAP!

...monkeys

ZAP!

...mad
dogs!

ZAP!

...dangerous
microbes!

ZAP!

...kill those
Cockroaches!

ZAP!

...Like all these myths,
the story of the
Purusha isn’t scientific,
to put it mildly. We now
know that, whereas
the sun and the moon
are about 4.5 billion
years old...

Hey, Marlowe! I was listening
to Professor Harari!

...the differences
between Hindu castes
go back no more
than 3,000 years. The
caste hierarchy has
nothing to do with
divine creation or
the laws of nature.
It’s invented human
laws that made some
people masters and
others servants.

If you’d like to ask our guest a question,
now’s the time! Our number should be up on
the screen right now.

Hmm... We
won’t make
them beg, hey,
Marlowe, what
d’ya think?

Miaow...

We have a first caller. We’re
listening....

Thank you,
Janice.

Professor, would
you say there are
any large human
societies that have
gotten by without
these crazy-ass
stories?

For large-scale societies like the
ones I’ve been talking about, no.

And could you give a ballpark
figure for how many people
throughout history have been
killed or enslaved because of these
stories?

It’s impossible to quantify.
Probably in the billions.

Thank you for those excellent
questions! Would you mind introducing
yourself?

Hmm! I better not go
into details.... Let’s
say I’m a detective
who’s investigating
this....

Well, we sure didn’t expect
that! It’s great that you
called us....

Sure is, ma’am, and I can promise that
I’m about to reveal the culprit behind
this historical crime to the whole
world.

Yes, Marlowe, you’re hungry,
ok, ok...

Wow, that would be
amazing. We’d be happy
to invite you to our studio
to tell us all about it.
Goodbye, detective.

And now, to our next
caller.

Call 1-800-342-4458

Did you hear that,
Marlowe? Some of
the stuff people
believe is just so
whacky!!

Yeah, yeah, so you’re hungry...
Gimme a break, kitty cat!

Darn it! Someone’s
calling me....

BRR...
BRR...

THE LONG GOODBYE

Aargh! It’s
the boss.

BRR...
BRR...

Lopez! What the hell were you thinking
talking about such a sensitive case
on national TV?!

You heard me on the
Janice Young Show, chief?

The whole
goddamn world
heard you.
Come see me
in my office
right away,
Detective!

180

POLICE CHIEF
HAMILTON

UNPD

UNITED NATIONS
POLICE DEPARTMENT

No, Lopez! You’re gonna drop
this case right now, d’you
hear me?!?

It’s way too hot. I got orders straight
from the top—drop it!

Hey, come on... Like I said, there’s something off
about this Doctor Fiction.... All the different
orders that humans imagined somehow involved
unfair hierarchies and terrible discrimination....
Don’t you think we should investigate this??!! It’s
gotta be the worst crime in History!!! Isn’t that
our job—stopping crime?

Were you born yesterday, Detective?! Our job is
to maintain social order. Stopping crime... well...
that too, sometimes. As for discrimination... It’s
just the way of the world!

Some societies may be better, some may be
worse, but everybody knows there’s not a single
decent-size civilization that got by without
discrimination—get a grip!

If we’re gonna live in
large-scale societies,
we need to put
people into imagined
categories....

Yeah...

Like Brahmins
and Sudras...

I know...
I know...

...Or rich and poor. Categories like that have
been regulating relationships between billions
of people for thousands of years, Lopez! And, yes,
they’ve made some people legally, politically or
socially superior to others, sure they did.... But
what the police have been doing for thousands of
years is protecting this order—not undermining it,
goddammit! Do you get how fragile this order is?
You start messing with Doctor Fiction, and the
whole of civilization
could come crashing down
around your ears!

181

Did you hear that,
Marlowe? Some of
the stuff people
believe is just so
whacky!!

Yeah, yeah, so you’re hungry...
Gimme a break, kitty cat!

Darn it! Someone’s
calling me....

BRR...
BRR...

Aargh! It’s
the boss.

BRR...
BRR...

Lopez! What the hell were you thinking
talking about such a sensitive case
on national TV?!

You heard me on the
Janice Young Show, chief?

The whole
goddamn world
heard you.
Come see me
in my office
right away,
Detective!

No, Lopez! You’re gonna drop
this case right now, d’you
hear me?!?

It’s way too hot. I got orders straight
from the top—drop it!

Hey, come on... Like I said, there’s something off
about this Doctor Fiction.... All the different
orders that humans imagined somehow involved
unfair hierarchies and terrible discrimination....
Don’t you think we should investigate this??!! It’s
gotta be the worst crime in History!!! Isn’t that
our job—stopping crime?

Were you born yesterday, Detective?! Our job is
to maintain social order. Stopping crime... well...
that too, sometimes. As for discrimination... It’s
just the way of the world!

Some societies may be better, some may be
worse, but everybody knows there’s not a single
decent-size civilization that got by without
discrimination—get a grip!

If we’re gonna live in
large-scale societies,
we need to put
people into imagined
categories....

Yeah...

Like Brahmins
and Sudras...

I know...
I know...

...Or rich and poor. Categories like that have
been regulating relationships between billions
of people for thousands of years, Lopez! And, yes,
they’ve made some people legally, politically or
socially superior to others, sure they did.... But
what the police have been doing for thousands of
years is protecting this order—not undermining it,
goddammit! Do you get how fragile this order is?
You start messing with Doctor Fiction, and the
whole of civilization
could come crashing down
around your ears!

THE LONG GOODBYE

POLICE CHIEF
HAMILTON

UNPD

UNITED NATIONS
POLICE DEPARTMENT

I’m your superior officer and
I expect you to obey me!
UNDERSTAND?!? The chain of
command, Lopez!

Adamski, well, what
d’ya know! How’s
things?

More of the same, I’m here
to defend a client.... How
about you?

SHUT THE DOOR!

More of the same
for me too...

I can tell you’re concerned about
something.... Would you like to take
a little walk?

Why not...

So, here’s the thing, he’s making me
drop this case.... I’m guessing Doctor
Fiction has friends in very high
places....

I understand how
you feel, Detective.
But then again, I should
tell you that your boss isn’t
altogether wrong when he
says that hierarchies play an
essential role....

Sure, some hierarchies are clearly wrong.
I am not a racist, you know. I don’t even
see race. White? Black? It’s all the
same to me.

Tsss...

But whenever you
get millions of people
together...

...different people are bound to have different abilities, so they reach
different rungs on the social ladder and get different perks. It’s totally
natural.

!?!

182

Oh, so it’s all nature’s doing, is it?
Are you gonna start telling stories
about the sun and the moon like
the others?

The sun and
the moon...?

No, what I meant was... Take us
lawyers, for example....

The other day in court
I was up against this poor
sap who was so bad you
wonder how he ever got
a law degree!

The guy cited the wrong
legal precedents, couldn’t
speak straight to the
judge, tripped up his own
witness and never noticed
my tricks....

Does that make it my fault that I charge
my clients $10,000 an hour when he gets
maybe $100?

And you think you just have your
amazing DNA to thank for having such
an edge?

Of course! What else
would it be? No one
ever gave me any
discounts, you know.

Well, let me tell ya something,
Mr. Natural Talent....

I’d love to hear this....
But I have to go. Time
is money, Detective...
and my time’s a loooot
of money!!

????

183

I’m your superior officer and
I expect you to obey me!
UNDERSTAND?!? The chain of
command, Lopez!

Adamski, well, what
d’ya know! How’s
things?

More of the same, I’m here
to defend a client.... How
about you?

SHUT THE DOOR!

More of the same
for me too...

I can tell you’re concerned about
something.... Would you like to take
a little walk?

Why not...

So, here’s the thing, he’s making me
drop this case.... I’m guessing Doctor
Fiction has friends in very high
places....

I understand how
you feel, Detective.
But then again, I should
tell you that your boss isn’t
altogether wrong when he
says that hierarchies play an
essential role....

Sure, some hierarchies are clearly wrong.
I am not a racist, you know. I don’t even
see race. White? Black? It’s all the
same to me.

Tsss...

But whenever you
get millions of people
together...

...different people are bound to have different abilities, so they reach
different rungs on the social ladder and get different perks. It’s totally
natural.

!?!

Oh, so it’s all nature’s doing, is it?
Are you gonna start telling stories
about the sun and the moon like
the others?

The sun and
the moon...?

No, what I meant was... Take us
lawyers, for example....

The other day in court
I was up against this poor
sap who was so bad you
wonder how he ever got
a law degree!

The guy cited the wrong
legal precedents, couldn’t
speak straight to the
judge, tripped up his own
witness and never noticed
my tricks....

Does that make it my fault that I charge
my clients $10,000 an hour when he gets
maybe $100?

And you think you just have your
amazing DNA to thank for having such
an edge?

Of course! What else
would it be? No one
ever gave me any
discounts, you know.

Well, let me tell ya something,
Mr. Natural Talent....

I’d love to hear this....
But I have to go. Time
is money, Detective...
and my time’s a loooot
of money!!

It was good to see you again, Detective. As for your
doubts about Doctor Fiction, I can only encourage you
to listen to your superiors and drop this particular
case....

Yeah, right... Thanks
all the same,
Adamski....

I can’t drop it. Doctor Fiction
may fool the commissioner and
Adamski and all the others, but
I won’t be fooled any longer....

Say, the boss
is leaving
already....

Jeez... Talk about
a boomer car!

Ha, of course he’s leaving,
it’s seven p.m. already....

It’s tumbleweed city here.... How ’bout I
track down the file in the archives....

!!!

Hi there...

184

The hell are you
doing here? Wait, let
me guess.... You been
spying on my every
move since forever,
right?

So I sometimes
follow your
investigation, yes....
I’d like to convince
you that I’m not
who you think I am,
Selena.

You’re wasting your
time, Doc. I dropped
the case....

Sure, and that’s how come we both
happen to be in the archive room
right now....

Humph!

I heard your conversation with
Adamski earlier....

Well,
congratulations!
This just keeps
getting better!

What were
you going to say
when he cut
you short?

That a lot of these “natural”
differences in abilities that he’s
so proud of are also rooted in
fictional stories,
Doctor... Fiction!!

Brilliant, detective.
You’ve no idea how
right you are.

How d’you
mean?

–37? I never noticed there
was a –37 button....

Yep, it’s
my place....

It’s obvious if you think about it....
Of course fictional stories don’t
mess directly with anyone’s DNA. But
talent by itself goes untapped if
it isn’t encouraged, nurtured and
developed.

Take our friend Adamski... I
bet you didn’t know he has an
identical twin brother called
Chuck....

Huh?

185

It was good to see you again, Detective. As for your
doubts about Doctor Fiction, I can only encourage you
to listen to your superiors and drop this particular
case....

Yeah, right... Thanks
all the same,
Adamski....

I can’t drop it. Doctor Fiction
may fool the commissioner and
Adamski and all the others, but
I won’t be fooled any longer....

Say, the boss
is leaving
already....

Jeez... Talk about
a boomer car!

Ha, of course he’s leaving,
it’s seven p.m. already....

It’s tumbleweed city here.... How ’bout I
track down the file in the archives....

!!!

Hi there...

The hell are you
doing here? Wait, let
me guess.... You been
spying on my every
move since forever,
right?

So I sometimes
follow your
investigation, yes....
I’d like to convince
you that I’m not
who you think I am,
Selena.

You’re wasting your
time, Doc. I dropped
the case....

Sure, and that’s how come we both
happen to be in the archive room
right now....

Humph!

I heard your conversation with
Adamski earlier....

Well,
congratulations!
This just keeps
getting better!

What were
you going to say
when he cut
you short?

That a lot of these “natural”
differences in abilities that he’s
so proud of are also rooted in
fictional stories,
Doctor... Fiction!!

Brilliant, detective.
You’ve no idea how
right you are.

How d’you
mean?

–37? I never noticed there
was a –37 button....

Yep, it’s
my place....

It’s obvious if you think about it....
Of course fictional stories don’t
mess directly with anyone’s DNA. But
talent by itself goes untapped if
it isn’t encouraged, nurtured and
developed.

Take our friend Adamski... I
bet you didn’t know he has an
identical twin brother called
Chuck....

Huh?

Adamski doesn’t know this himself, they
were separated at birth, a mix-up with
wrist tags.

Adamski’s brother had a raw deal, trailing from
one orphanage to another. His foster family
did basically nothing to help him, his schooling
was... let’s say chaotic...

...and his most secure, best-paid job boiled
down to this....

The Adamski you know grew up in a totally
different environment. His parents were super-
rich. He was raised with a silver spoon in his
mouth and was lavished with the most expensive
private education.

He grew up to be a brilliant lawyer who
handles the biggest cases.

Ok, I geddit. So they have the same genes but
had different opportunities... and fictional
stories determine who gets which opportunities.

Exactly.

Ah! Here we are!

186

Even though the two brothers had identical
genetic baggage, the minute they fell into
those different social classes, there was little
chance they’d enjoy the same success.

It’s
this way.

Let me tell you,
EVERY society is based on
imagined hierarchies. I could have told you the
Adamski brothers’ story about twin brothers in
17th-century France or twin sisters in 19th-
century India accidentally raised in different
castes....

Ok... But one thing I don’t get.
Why do cultures come up with
so many different ways to divide
people?

And exactly why does Indian
civilization divide people into
castes while the Ottoman Empire
classified them by religion and
modern America by race?

By chance, really. In most cases,
hierarchies emerge thanks to
all kinds of accidental historical
circumstances, and then they’re
perpetuated and refined over many
generations... as various groups
cultivate their own vested interest
in the system.

Hi there,
it’s me!

Welcome to my humble abode,
Selena.

!!!

Hi...

Hey

Hello

187

Adamski doesn’t know this himself, they
were separated at birth, a mix-up with
wrist tags.

Adamski’s brother had a raw deal, trailing from
one orphanage to another. His foster family
did basically nothing to help him, his schooling
was... let’s say chaotic...

...and his most secure, best-paid job boiled
down to this....

The Adamski you know grew up in a totally
different environment. His parents were super-
rich. He was raised with a silver spoon in his
mouth and was lavished with the most expensive
private education.

He grew up to be a brilliant lawyer who
handles the biggest cases.

Ok, I geddit. So they have the same genes but
had different opportunities... and fictional
stories determine who gets which opportunities.

Exactly.

Ah! Here we are!

Even though the two brothers had identical
genetic baggage, the minute they fell into
those different social classes, there was little
chance they’d enjoy the same success.

It’s
this way.

Let me tell you,
EVERY society is based on
imagined hierarchies. I could have told you the
Adamski brothers’ story about twin brothers in
17th-century France or twin sisters in 19th-
century India accidentally raised in different
castes....

Ok... But one thing I don’t get.
Why do cultures come up with
so many different ways to divide
people?

And exactly why does Indian
civilization divide people into
castes while the Ottoman Empire
classified them by religion and
modern America by race?

By chance, really. In most cases,
hierarchies emerge thanks to
all kinds of accidental historical
circumstances, and then they’re
perpetuated and refined over many
generations... as various groups
cultivate their own vested interest
in the system.

Hi there,
it’s me!

Welcome to my humble abode,
Selena.

!!!

Hi...

Hey

Hello

Come on over,
sit down!

Thanks, but I don’t
have time to hang out
watching TV and eating
pizza!

This is no ordinary program.
These images are from
surveillance cameras
around the world.

TAP

TAP

Oh, OK! You just wanna show
me how you spy on me,
is that your game?

Just watch, you’ll
get the picture.
When you press
the rewind button,
you can see
everything that
happened, way back
to the distant
past....

Jeez!!!

It’s a great way to understand human history,
right?

Do you have images of ancient
India? Could we somehow
rewind to when the caste
system first started?

No problem.

Hmm... Just like I
thought... no gods
slicing up a giant
Purusha. More like a
bunch of humans slicing
up other humans.

188

The caste system didn’t
drop down from heaven
fully formed. It evolved
gradually. It’s difficult
to get a clear picture
because you can’t
exactly see caste.

It’s all in the mind. Anyhow, something like
the caste system may have started about 3,000
years ago when people from central Asia
conquered parts of northern India. Or perhaps
it started later. There were so many wars, it’s
hard to tell....

What is clear is the process.
The victors became the
kings, warriors and priests.
They took the best land
for themselves, and spent
their time doing the most
interesting things. Like riding
elephants to battle, building
temples and composing myths.

Meanwhile, the natives
were reduced to the ranks of
servants and slaves....

The new elite wanted to be sure to keep their
assets and their privileged status.

No surprise there...
And how did they do
that???

They were especially keen for their children to be
rich and powerful too. So, to stop their servants’
children competing with their own, the priests and
warriors insisted that people always did the same
job as their parents.

189

Come on over,
sit down!

Thanks, but I don’t
have time to hang out
watching TV and eating
pizza!

This is no ordinary program.
These images are from
surveillance cameras
around the world.

Oh, OK! You just wanna show
me how you spy on me,
is that your game?

Just watch, you’ll
get the picture.
When you press
the rewind button,
you can see
everything that
happened, way back
to the distant
past....

Jeez!!!

It’s a great way to understand human history,
right?

Do you have images of ancient
India? Could we somehow
rewind to when the caste
system first started?

No problem.

Hmm... Just like I
thought... no gods
slicing up a giant
Purusha. More like a
bunch of humans slicing
up other humans.

The caste system didn’t
drop down from heaven
fully formed. It evolved
gradually. It’s difficult
to get a clear picture
because you can’t
exactly see caste.

It’s all in the mind. Anyhow, something like
the caste system may have started about 3,000
years ago when people from central Asia
conquered parts of northern India. Or perhaps
it started later. There were so many wars, it’s
hard to tell....

What is clear is the process.
The victors became the
kings, warriors and priests.
They took the best land
for themselves, and spent
their time doing the most
interesting things. Like riding
elephants to battle, building
temples and composing myths.

Meanwhile, the natives
were reduced to the ranks of
servants and slaves....

The new elite wanted to be sure to keep their
assets and their privileged status.

No surprise there...
And how did they do
that???

They were especially keen for their children to be
rich and powerful too. So, to stop their servants’
children competing with their own, the priests and
warriors insisted that people always did the same
job as their parents.

I’m so sorry.... Your parents
are servants, aren’t they?

So you too must be a servant
when you grow up. This class
is not for you.

But I don’t want
to be a servant
like my parents!
I want to be
a priest!

Nobody
cares what
you want.
Servants cannot
become priests.

But why
not?

Because the gods said so. The gods made
priests different from servants, and things
that the gods made separate, people should
keep separate.

Not the
best line of
argument I
ever heard...

But that’s
the basic
principle of
the caste
system.

But watch, there’s more. To play up the
impression that servants and priests were
completely different entities, they made
each caste wear different clothes, live in
different neighborhoods and avoid doing things
together....

Now listen to
this Brahmin family....

You will play ONLY with
Brahmin kids, never with
those filthy Sudras, DO YOU
UNDERSTAND?

Yes,
father!

Very good! And make sure you talk to them
as little as possible. And if I ever catch you
eating with them, there’ll be trouble!

It’s nuts....
And none
of these
kids ever
questioned
all this?

Oh yes, some
did.... Wait
and see....

190

And you can forget all about that girl,
you’ll never be allowed to marry her!
She’s a Sudra!

But I
love her,
father!

What’s love got to do with it? Don’t you remember
the story of the giant Purusha? We Brahmins were
made from Purusha’s mouth, while the Sudras were
made from Purusha’s feet. Things that the gods made
separate, people should keep separate.

That’s just a legend you
tell children.

Blasphemy!
You insolent
boy!

The gods clearly separated Brahmins from Sudras,
just as they separated the Sun from the Moon and
day from night. If people start mixing up the castes,
it will destroy the order that the gods created, and
the whole universe will collapse into chaos.

Do you WANT the sun and moon
to fall from the sky???

And that’s how the caste system became an integral part of
religion, society and even romance.

...Anyone for a slice of
Quattro stagioni?

Did they remember to separate
the olives from the mushrooms?
You know I don’t like them all
mixed-up.

191

I’m so sorry.... Your parents
are servants, aren’t they?

So you too must be a servant
when you grow up. This class
is not for you.

But I don’t want
to be a servant
like my parents!
I want to be
a priest!

Nobody
cares what
you want.
Servants cannot
become priests.

But why
not?

Because the gods said so. The gods made
priests different from servants, and things
that the gods made separate, people should
keep separate.

Not the
best line of
argument I
ever heard...

But that’s
the basic
principle of
the caste
system.

But watch, there’s more. To play up the
impression that servants and priests were
completely different entities, they made
each caste wear different clothes, live in
different neighborhoods and avoid doing things
together....

Now listen to
this Brahmin family....

You will play ONLY with
Brahmin kids, never with
those filthy Sudras, DO YOU
UNDERSTAND?

Yes,
father!

Very good! And make sure you talk to them
as little as possible. And if I ever catch you
eating with them, there’ll be trouble!

It’s nuts....
And none
of these
kids ever
questioned
all this?

Oh yes, some
did.... Wait
and see....

And you can forget all about that girl,
you’ll never be allowed to marry her!
She’s a Sudra!

But I
love her,
father!

What’s love got to do with it? Don’t you remember
the story of the giant Purusha? We Brahmins were
made from Purusha’s mouth, while the Sudras were
made from Purusha’s feet. Things that the gods made
separate, people should keep separate.

That’s just a legend you
tell children.

Blasphemy!
You insolent
boy!

The gods clearly separated Brahmins from Sudras,
just as they separated the Sun from the Moon and
day from night. If people start mixing up the castes,
it will destroy the order that the gods created, and
the whole universe will collapse into chaos.

Do you WANT the sun and moon
to fall from the sky???

And that’s how the caste system became an integral part of
religion, society and even romance.

...Anyone for a slice of
Quattro stagioni?

Did they remember to separate
the olives from the mushrooms?
You know I don’t like them all
mixed-up.

Nothing happens
by mere
chance....

...The caste system is an
eternal cosmic reality....

The guys who clambered to the top of the pyramid would
never admit that their privileged status was the result
of some random historical development, like a war.

To keep the system stable and prevent different
castes from mixing, a magical ingredient was added
to the social recipe: The concept of purity and
pollution!

Pious Hindus were taught that close contact with
someone of a different caste could pollute them
personally, and general mixing of castes would make
the whole of society impure.

Chomp

PURE
ImPURE
192

I’m not getting
very friendly
vibes from this
purity talk!

The Hindus weren’t the
only ones with these
ideas. All over the
world and all through
the ages, notions of
purity and pollution
underpinned human
hierarchies.

Social theories about purity and
pollution hijacked biological disgust
mechanisms that are essential for
human survival.

Humans are instinctively
disgusted by anything that
might carry disease...

...like, say,
a dead rat....

Eeeeew!
Back off
already!!!

If you wanna isolate and oppress a group of humans, the
best way to do it is to convince everyone else that they’re
a source of pollution.

I mean, it’s been said of Jews, Roma,
gays, black people, women....
Sometimes these groups were said
to carry actual diseases.

More often, they were
seen as a “source of
racial or religious
impurity,”

whatever that
means....

193

Nothing happens
by mere
chance....

...The caste system is an
eternal cosmic reality....

The guys who clambered to the top of the pyramid would
never admit that their privileged status was the result
of some random historical development, like a war.

To keep the system stable and prevent different
castes from mixing, a magical ingredient was added
to the social recipe: The concept of purity and
pollution!

Pious Hindus were taught that close contact with
someone of a different caste could pollute them
personally, and general mixing of castes would make
the whole of society impure.

I’m not getting
very friendly
vibes from this
purity talk!

The Hindus weren’t the
only ones with these
ideas. All over the
world and all through
the ages, notions of
purity and pollution
underpinned human
hierarchies.

Social theories about purity and
pollution hijacked biological disgust
mechanisms that are essential for
human survival.

Humans are instinctively
disgusted by anything that
might carry disease...

...like, say,
a dead rat....

Eeeeew!
Back off
already!!!

If you wanna isolate and oppress a group of humans, the
best way to do it is to convince everyone else that they’re
a source of pollution.

I mean, it’s been said of Jews, Roma,
gays, black people, women....
Sometimes these groups were said
to carry actual diseases.

More often, they were
seen as a “source of
racial or religious
impurity,”

whatever that
means....

Chomp

In India, the link between caste and purity
became so deeply embedded that people believed
in it for centuries.

That’s exactly the
problem with your
stories, Doc!

They’re not my stories, Selena.
Don’t shoot the messenger!
It was people who came up
with the specific story
of caste, and then kept
elaborating on it....

Over time, Hindus defined more and more castes, sub-castes
and sub-sub-castes. Eventually, there were, like, 3,000
of these groupings! These were called jati, which, if you
translate it literally, means “birth.”

But all that diversity didn’t change the
main principle of the system. Every person
was born into a particular jati, and
breaching the rules of your jati would
pollute you and the whole of society.

A person’s jati determined their job, what they
could eat, where they lived and who they could
marry....

Just like Lionman said, you could usually
marry only someone in your own caste, and
your kids inherited the same status.

194

Every time a new job became a thing or
a new group of people came on the scene,
those people had to be recognized as a
separate caste and given their place in
society.

cook

Delivery

If some group couldn’t get recognition as a caste, they
were literally out-castes. They weren’t considered a
part of society—not even on its lowest rung. They were
utterly impure, and any contact with them polluted you.
They were known as Untouchables.

They had to live separately from other people
and to scrape a humiliating living by doing things
like sifting through garbage. Even people in the
lowest castes shunned them.

In modern India, democratic governments have
worked hard to dismantle the caste system and
convince people that caste mixing won’t pollute
them.

But caste
myths persist,
so employment
decisions and
marriages are
often still
influenced by
caste....

That’s how, over time, a
weird story with obscure
origins became a rigid
social hierarchy.

A similar vicious circle underpins the racial hierarchy in modern America.
From the 16th to the 19th Century, European conquerors transported
millions of African slaves to work in mines and on plantations.

1619, Point Comfort, Virginia

195

In India, the link between caste and purity
became so deeply embedded that people believed
in it for centuries.

That’s exactly the
problem with your
stories, Doc!

They’re not my stories, Selena.
Don’t shoot the messenger!
It was people who came up
with the specific story
of caste, and then kept
elaborating on it....

Over time, Hindus defined more and more castes, sub-castes
and sub-sub-castes. Eventually, there were, like, 3,000
of these groupings! These were called jati, which, if you
translate it literally, means “birth.”

But all that diversity didn’t change the
main principle of the system. Every person
was born into a particular jati, and
breaching the rules of your jati would
pollute you and the whole of society.

A person’s jati determined their job, what they
could eat, where they lived and who they could
marry....

Just like Lionman said, you could usually
marry only someone in your own caste, and
your kids inherited the same status.

Every time a new job became a thing or
a new group of people came on the scene,
those people had to be recognized as a
separate caste and given their place in
society.

If some group couldn’t get recognition as a caste, they
were literally out-castes. They weren’t considered a
part of society—not even on its lowest rung. They were
utterly impure, and any contact with them polluted you.
They were known as Untouchables.

They had to live separately from other people
and to scrape a humiliating living by doing things
like sifting through garbage. Even people in the
lowest castes shunned them.

In modern India, democratic governments have
worked hard to dismantle the caste system and
convince people that caste mixing won’t pollute
them.

But caste
myths persist,
so employment
decisions and
marriages are
often still
influenced by
caste....

That’s how, over time, a
weird story with obscure
origins became a rigid
social hierarchy.

A similar vicious circle underpins the racial hierarchy in modern America.
From the 16th to the 19th Century, European conquerors transported
millions of African slaves to work in mines and on plantations.

cook

Delivery

1619, Point Comfort, Virginia

Hmm... How come Africans
were used as slaves?
I mean, why not Europeans
or Asians?

So there are three
reasons. First of all, Africa
was closer—it was cheaper
to import slaves from
Senegal than, say, Vietnam.

Second, there was already a well-
established slave trade in Africa,
exporting slaves mainly to the Middle
East. Slavery was rare in Europe... and it
was easier to buy slaves in an existing
market than to start from scratch.

And third, plantations in places like Virginia, Jamaica and Brazil all had outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever,
which came originally from Africa. Over many generations Africans had built up partial immunity to these
tropical diseases while defenseless Europeans died in the thousands.

It made way more sense for a plantation owner to invest in
an immunized African slave than a European slave who might
soon die.

Ok... so you’re telling
me Africans were, like,
biologically superior, but
that’s exactly why they ended
up at the bottom of the
social ladder?!

Exactly right...
Africans were more
adapted to tropical
climates than
Europeans and that’s
why they ended up as
slaves to European
masters!

196

So, it was a bunch of random
factors that divided America’s
new societies into a ruling
caste of white Europeans and
an enslaved caste of black
Africans....

And I bet you can guess that America’s
white masters didn’t want anyone
thinking that slavery was the outcome
of brute military power and economic
interests. People rarely admit their
cruelty and selfishness.

Which is why they used
religious and scientific
myths to help justify
the new artificial
division between black
and white people.

You don’t
say!

Theologians dug out a passage
in the bible that said the
descendants of one of Noah’s
sons were destined to be
slaves.

Ham!!! You and your
offspring shall be
forever cursed for what
you did!

Biologists even claimed that Africans were less
intelligent than Europeans and lacked a developed
moral sense.

Doctors warned that black
people were a source of
pollution.

Keep away from them, they live caked in filth,
surrounded by rats—they pass on diseases! You’ll
get tuberculosis!

197

Hmm... How come Africans
were used as slaves?
I mean, why not Europeans
or Asians?

So there are three
reasons. First of all, Africa
was closer—it was cheaper
to import slaves from
Senegal than, say, Vietnam.

Second, there was already a well-
established slave trade in Africa,
exporting slaves mainly to the Middle
East. Slavery was rare in Europe... and it
was easier to buy slaves in an existing
market than to start from scratch.

And third, plantations in places like Virginia, Jamaica and Brazil all had outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever,
which came originally from Africa. Over many generations Africans had built up partial immunity to these
tropical diseases while defenseless Europeans died in the thousands.

It made way more sense for a plantation owner to invest in
an immunized African slave than a European slave who might
soon die.

Ok... so you’re telling
me Africans were, like,
biologically superior, but
that’s exactly why they ended
up at the bottom of the
social ladder?!

Exactly right...
Africans were more
adapted to tropical
climates than
Europeans and that’s
why they ended up as
slaves to European
masters!

So, it was a bunch of random
factors that divided America’s
new societies into a ruling
caste of white Europeans and
an enslaved caste of black
Africans....

And I bet you can guess that America’s
white masters didn’t want anyone
thinking that slavery was the outcome
of brute military power and economic
interests. People rarely admit their
cruelty and selfishness.

Which is why they used
religious and scientific
myths to help justify
the new artificial
division between black
and white people.

You don’t
say!

Theologians dug out a passage
in the bible that said the
descendants of one of Noah’s
sons were destined to be
slaves.

Ham!!! You and your
offspring shall be
forever cursed for what
you did!

Biologists even claimed that Africans were less
intelligent than Europeans and lacked a developed
moral sense.

Doctors warned that black
people were a source of
pollution.

Keep away from them, they live caked in filth,
surrounded by rats—they pass on diseases! You’ll
get tuberculosis!

These
myths were
originally
invented
to justify
slavery.

around 1800, slavery gradually
started disappearing. Slaves in
Haiti staged a successful revolt,
while european and american
abolitionists helped outlaw
slavery, and stop the Atlantic
slave trade....

Over the next century,
slavery was gradually
abolished across all
of the American
continent.

But the end of
slavery didn’t mean
the end of all those
racist myths.

You bet it didn’t....
I can tell you a thing
or two about that....
Would you pass the
remote....

Just look at
all this crap....

Montgomery 1955

WHITE

Yes... So the historical phenomenon that
generated these racist myths—I mean
slavery—may have ended...

...But the myths lived
on and even developed
further....

!!!

That’s the vicious circle I
was talking about....

Wait... What are
you even doing???

I’m trying to explain what
happened. Come on over here,
we need to go back in time to
understand....

198

Ok, I’m right
behind you....

Sheesh, it’s hot! Stinking hot!
Where even are we?

Georgia,
July 1868.

It’s three years
since the Civil War
ended. Slavery has been
abolished...

...and black folks are
theoretically now
fully equal to whites
throughout the US of A!

Hmm... The world is suddenly perfect
but only on paper, right?

Well, it was never gonna be easy leveling the playing field
between white and black people like nothing had happened,
and thinking black people would suddenly have the same
opportunities as whites.

Just look, the
inequality’s so
clear. After
two centuries
of slavery, the
average black
person was
poorer and less
educated than the
average white.

199

These
myths were
originally
invented
to justify
slavery.

around 1800, slavery gradually
started disappearing. Slaves in
Haiti staged a successful revolt,
while european and american
abolitionists helped outlaw
slavery, and stop the Atlantic
slave trade....

Over the next century,
slavery was gradually
abolished across all
of the American
continent.

But the end of
slavery didn’t mean
the end of all those
racist myths.

You bet it didn’t....
I can tell you a thing
or two about that....
Would you pass the
remote....

Just look at
all this crap....

Yes... So the historical phenomenon that
generated these racist myths—I mean
slavery—may have ended...

...But the myths lived
on and even developed
further....

!!!

That’s the vicious circle I
was talking about....

Wait... What are
you even doing???

I’m trying to explain what
happened. Come on over here,
we need to go back in time to
understand....

Ok, I’m right
behind you....

Sheesh, it’s hot! Stinking hot!
Where even are we?

Georgia,
July 1868.

It’s three years
since the Civil War
ended. Slavery has been
abolished...

...and black folks are
theoretically now
fully equal to whites
throughout the US of A!

Hmm... The world is suddenly perfect
but only on paper, right?

Well, it was never gonna be easy leveling the playing field
between white and black people like nothing had happened,
and thinking black people would suddenly have the same
opportunities as whites.

Just look, the
inequality’s so
clear. After
two centuries
of slavery, the
average black
person was
poorer and less
educated than the
average white.

Montgomery 1955

WHITE

This black teenager born in Atlanta in
1865 had way less chance of getting a good
education and finding well-paid work than a
white boy the same age.

BANG!

Poverty

1880

A generation later, the black guy with the
meager salary couldn’t afford to send his kids to a
decent elementary school, while the white guy’s
kids went all the way to college.

PovertY

1895

Ok, Doc... but
surely the
difference
wasn’t just
about money....

Of
course...

There
were plenty
of poor
uneducated white
people too.

Besides, the Industrial Revolution and huge waves of
immigration made the States a super-fluid society, so any old
rags could turn into a mighty fine three-piece suit....

Only
for some
people!!

Dare to believe!
Everything’s
possible in
America!

If money were the only thing that mattered, the
divide between the races would soon have been
erased....

But that ain’t what
happened at all....

If you ask me, I think democracy is fine
I mean democracy without the color line
Uncle Sam says, “We’ll live the American Way”
Let’s get together and kill Jim Crow today*

Absolutely not... Even after slavery
was abolished, long-standing racist
myths made a lot of people believe
terrible things—for example, that
black people were stupid, violent,
lazy and immoral.

Ha, yeah... basically, social
pollutants...

200

*Josh White Grandpa

If a black person somehow managed to get a good
education and applied for a respectable job... like,
say, being a bank teller...

The
bank is
recruiting

...his chances of getting that job were way below the
chances of some white guy with the same qualifications.

The stigma of being labeled intrinsically lazy,
less reliable and less intelligent always played
against black applicants.

You’d have thought people would gradually realize
these labels were pure myths and black people could
start proving they were just as competent, law-
abiding and clean as whites.

But the exact opposite happened: the prejudices just
kept getting worse!

1958

Because white people had all
the best jobs, it was easy to
believe black people really
were inferior.

As you see, Mr. Butler, these
blacks have been free for
generations, and, if I may say so,
there are no black teachers,
lawyers, doctors or even bank
tellers! Surely that proves that
black people are simply less
intelligent and hardworking.

Black people were trapped in a vicious circle: They
weren’t recruited into white-collar jobs because of
this reputation for being stupid and unreliable.

Oh, didn’t I tell you? We’ve
already found someone for
the secretarial position....

And if anyone wanted proof of their
inferiority... well, there were no black people
in white-collar jobs. A vicious circle in all its
glory... A random historical situation translated
into a rigid social system, a terrible burden
passed from generation to generation...

PovertY

Prejudice

New discriminatory
laws

201

This black teenager born in Atlanta in
1865 had way less chance of getting a good
education and finding well-paid work than a
white boy the same age.

A generation later, the black guy with the
meager salary couldn’t afford to send his kids to a
decent elementary school, while the white guy’s
kids went all the way to college.

Ok, Doc... but
surely the
difference
wasn’t just
about money....

Of
course...

There
were plenty
of poor
uneducated white
people too.

Besides, the Industrial Revolution and huge waves of
immigration made the States a super-fluid society, so any old
rags could turn into a mighty fine three-piece suit....

Only
for some
people!!

Dare to believe!
Everything’s
possible in
America!

If money were the only thing that mattered, the
divide between the races would soon have been
erased....

But that ain’t what
happened at all....

If you ask me, I think democracy is fine
I mean democracy without the color line
Uncle Sam says, “We’ll live the American Way”
Let’s get together and kill Jim Crow today*

Absolutely not... Even after slavery
was abolished, long-standing racist
myths made a lot of people believe
terrible things—for example, that
black people were stupid, violent,
lazy and immoral.

Ha, yeah... basically, social
pollutants...

If a black person somehow managed to get a good
education and applied for a respectable job... like,
say, being a bank teller...

...his chances of getting that job were way below the
chances of some white guy with the same qualifications.

The stigma of being labeled intrinsically lazy,
less reliable and less intelligent always played
against black applicants.

You’d have thought people would gradually realize
these labels were pure myths and black people could
start proving they were just as competent, law-
abiding and clean as whites.

But the exact opposite happened: the prejudices just
kept getting worse!

1958

Because white people had all
the best jobs, it was easy to
believe black people really
were inferior.

As you see, Mr. Butler, these
blacks have been free for
generations, and, if I may say so,
there are no black teachers,
lawyers, doctors or even bank
tellers! Surely that proves that
black people are simply less
intelligent and hardworking.

Black people were trapped in a vicious circle: They
weren’t recruited into white-collar jobs because of
this reputation for being stupid and unreliable.

Oh, didn’t I tell you? We’ve
already found someone for
the secretarial position....

And if anyone wanted proof of their
inferiority... well, there were no black people
in white-collar jobs. A vicious circle in all its
glory... A random historical situation translated
into a rigid social system, a terrible burden
passed from generation to generation...

PovertY

Prejudice

New discriminatory
laws

BANG!

PovertY

1880

Poverty

1895

*Josh White Grandpa

The
bank is
recruiting

The vicious circle didn’t stop there. As racist myths
grew stronger, whites felt the need to create
new rules to keep black people in their place
and protect white society from the supposedly
polluting effects of race mixture.

Damn,
where can
a man get
a simple
cup of
coffee....

White
people
only

This new regime of racial segregation was
known as the “Jim Crow Laws,” after the
fictitious character Jim Crow, who embodied
racist stereotypes about black people.

WHITE
only
COLORED

These laws were justified by racist myths—and in
turn strengthened those myths.

Black people were banned from voting.

They’re all
ignorant and
immoral, quite
incapable
of voting
intelligently!

Black children were banned from white schools.

Oh my, no, for
pity’s sake!

They’ll pass on
their wickedness and
disgusting influences
to our children!

Black people were banned from white shops.

We sure don’t
need thieves on
our premises!

202

Black people were banned from white restaurants.

We do have
hygiene standards,
you know!

Black people were banned from white hotels.

Absolutely not!
They’ll infest
the bedding!

The justification was always the same.

What God and nature
made separate, people
should keep separate.
If you allow any
mixing, civilization
will collapse!

And, of course, these fears were substantiated by
pseudoscientific studies that “proved” all this....

Here’s confirmation
that black people
are indeed less
educated....

Madison
Grant
The Passing
of the
Great
Race
1916

Diseases are more widespread among them,
and the crime rate is far higher in their
communities!

These studies failed to acknowledge that sickness and
crime were largely the result of social discrimination
rather than innate biological tendencies....

Whites
Only

Dr. Fleming,
walk-in
consultations

203

The vicious circle didn’t stop there. As racist myths
grew stronger, whites felt the need to create
new rules to keep black people in their place
and protect white society from the supposedly
polluting effects of race mixture.

Damn,
where can
a man get
a simple
cup of
coffee....

This new regime of racial segregation was
known as the “Jim Crow Laws,” after the
fictitious character Jim Crow, who embodied
racist stereotypes about black people.

These laws were justified by racist myths—and in
turn strengthened those myths.

Black people were banned from voting.

They’re all
ignorant and
immoral, quite
incapable
of voting
intelligently!

Black children were banned from white schools.

Oh my, no, for
pity’s sake!

They’ll pass on
their wickedness and
disgusting influences
to our children!

Black people were banned from white shops.

We sure don’t
need thieves on
our premises!

Black people were banned from white restaurants.

We do have
hygiene standards,
you know!

Black people were banned from white hotels.

Absolutely not!
They’ll infest
the bedding!

The justification was always the same.

What God and nature
made separate, people
should keep separate.
If you allow any
mixing, civilization
will collapse!

And, of course, these fears were substantiated by
pseudoscientific studies that “proved” all this....

Here’s confirmation
that black people
are indeed less
educated....

Diseases are more widespread among them,
and the crime rate is far higher in their
communities!

These studies failed to acknowledge that sickness and
crime were largely the result of social discrimination
rather than innate biological tendencies....

White
people
only

WHITE>
ONLY
<COLORED

Whites
Only

Dr. Fleming,
walk-in
consultations

As time passed, things got worse rather than better.
Instead of racial differences being gradually washed
away, they became entrenched.

Whites
Only!

The myths spawned
laws, and the laws
propagated more
myths.

In 1958 a black student
tried to enroll at this
university.

That’s him over there.

Clennon King!

Let me go! I just
want to study here!

You’re breaking
the law!

I heard his story....

Yup... The judge will rule
against him....

Lock him up in a mental
asylum! A black man must
surely be insane to think
he could enroll at the
University of Mississippi....

204

But there’s more.... The thing that really
freaked out southerners was sexual
relationships and marriage between black
men and white women.

I can tell you, a whole ton of
northerners felt the same way!

You’re right.... if there was the teensiest suggestion, proven or
invented...

Oh, my god! Wouldya do something, Doc!

No way of
changing the
past...

White supremacists in the Ku Klux Klan carried out a lot of killings like
that... all in the name of preserving the purity of the white race.

Pfff! Purity! That freakin’ myth just
never goes away!

And don’t forget Purity’s BFF—Beauty! With racist myths getting
deeper and deeper into the American imagination, the entirety
of aesthetic standards in the US were built on white standards of
beauty. White people’s physical characteristics were presented as the
go-to look...

...while Black people were kept
out of the media on the spurious
basis that Black people were less
attractive. And these prejudices
about looks took the imagined
racial hierarchy deep into the
human psyche.

205

As time passed, things got worse rather than better.
Instead of racial differences being gradually washed
away, they became entrenched.

Whites
Only!

The myths spawned
laws, and the laws
propagated more
myths.

In 1958 a black student
tried to enroll at this
university.

That’s him over there.

Clennon King!

Let me go! I just
want to study here!

You’re breaking
the law!

I heard his story....

Yup... The judge will rule
against him....

Lock him up in a mental
asylum! A black man must
surely be insane to think
he could enroll at the
University of Mississippi....

But there’s more.... The thing that really
freaked out southerners was sexual
relationships and marriage between black
men and white women.

I can tell you, a whole ton of
northerners felt the same way!

You’re right.... if there was the teensiest suggestion, proven or
invented...

Oh, my god! Wouldya do something, Doc!

No way of
changing the
past...

White supremacists in the Ku Klux Klan carried out a lot of killings like
that... all in the name of preserving the purity of the white race.

Pfff! Purity! That freakin’ myth just
never goes away!

And don’t forget Purity’s BFF—Beauty! With racist myths getting
deeper and deeper into the American imagination, the entirety
of aesthetic standards in the US were built on white standards of
beauty. White people’s physical characteristics were presented as the
go-to look...

...while Black people were kept
out of the media on the spurious
basis that Black people were less
attractive. And these prejudices
about looks took the imagined
racial hierarchy deep into the
human psyche.

Ok, Doc, I’ve seen enough,
this is seriously depressing....

No worries, I’ll
take you back.
Follow me.

A vicious circle like that can last for
centuries or even millennia, long after
people have forgotten the random
historical event that started it all.

So, to summarize, it all
started with a chance
historical event...

which led to slavery

which resulted in
racist myths and
discriminatory laws

which trapped black
people in poverty
and denied them a
good education

which fueled
more prejudice
and more
discrimination

206

New York

Hey,
Marlowe...

Miaooow...!

I know, I know, I’m
late... I’m sorry, I
was just grilling my
suspect.

Miaow?

Nah, you two
have never
met. Doctor
Fiction doesn’t
ring any bells,
right?

I have this horrible feeling I’ve been taken
for a ride listening to their explanations....

All that injustice
and discrimination
that just keeps on
getting worse... a
vicious circle...

Miaow!

A tidy description
like a band-aid
covering a truth
I already knew...

Money just makes more
money and poverty more
poverty. Education sets
the scene for more
education and ignorance
for more ignorance....

Like we didn’t already know that the privileged are
the most likely to be privileged again and victims
are the most likely to be victimized again, huh?
Ain’t that right, Marlowe?

Good! I’ll have to find
out more about this
case....

I’m leaving you already,
I’m going to Athens to
see my expert friends.

Don’t eat
it all at
once! See
you later!

207

Ok, Doc, I’ve seen enough,
this is seriously depressing....

No worries, I’ll
take you back.
Follow me.

A vicious circle like that can last for
centuries or even millennia, long after
people have forgotten the random
historical event that started it all.

So, to summarize, it all
started with a chance
historical event...

which led to slavery

which resulted in
racist myths and
discriminatory laws

which trapped black
people in poverty
and denied them a
good education

which fueled
more prejudice
and more
discrimination

Hey,
Marlowe...

Miaooow...!

I know, I know, I’m
late... I’m sorry, I
was just grilling my
suspect.

Miaow?

Nah, you two
have never
met. Doctor
Fiction doesn’t
ring any bells,
right?

I have this horrible feeling I’ve been taken
for a ride listening to their explanations....

All that injustice
and discrimination
that just keeps on
getting worse... a
vicious circle...

Miaow!

A tidy description
like a band-aid
covering a truth
I already knew...

Money just makes more
money and poverty more
poverty. Education sets
the scene for more
education and ignorance
for more ignorance....

Like we didn’t already know that the privileged are
the most likely to be privileged again and victims
are the most likely to be victimized again, huh?
Ain’t that right, Marlowe?

Good! I’ll have to find
out more about this
case....

I’m leaving you already,
I’m going to Athens to
see my expert friends.

Don’t eat
it all at
once! See
you later!

New York

The next day...

Professor Saraswati, tell me
honestly, what do you think
about all this hierarchy
business? How do you as a
biologist explain social
hierarchies?

Well, it depends on the hierarchies. In bees,
there’s a simple biological explanation for
the hierarchy between queen bees and
worker bees. They have different bodies and
brains.

But in humans it’s
nothing like that....
Brahmins don’t have
bigger brains than
Sudras.

And humans have so many
different kinds of hierarchies.
If it were a biological
mechanism, you’d expect the
same hierarchy in all human
societies—like with bee
colonies where it’s always
the same hierarchy.

As a biologist, I am not really
the person to explain the
bewildering diversity of
human hierarchies, but you
could ask my anthropologist
friend Aiko Yoshita....

You bet! So, Aiko,
what do you say?

208

The question of race is very
important to present-day
Americans...

but the
notion of
caste means
virtually
nothing.

Whereas in Medieval India race was
insignificant and caste was supremely
important.

So race and class
are clearly shaped
by culture far more
than by nature.

But there’s one hierarchy that’s been
very important in all human societies. And
in this particular hierarchy, the relations
between culture and nature are more
complicated.

I am, of course,
talking about Gender!

All societies have divided people into
men and women.

And ever since the Agricultural Revolution,
men have had the better deal everywhere.

209

The next day...

Professor Saraswati, tell me
honestly, what do you think
about all this hierarchy
business? How do you as a
biologist explain social
hierarchies?

Well, it depends on the hierarchies. In bees,
there’s a simple biological explanation for
the hierarchy between queen bees and
worker bees. They have different bodies and
brains.

But in humans it’s
nothing like that....
Brahmins don’t have
bigger brains than
Sudras.

And humans have so many
different kinds of hierarchies.
If it were a biological
mechanism, you’d expect the
same hierarchy in all human
societies—like with bee
colonies where it’s always
the same hierarchy.

As a biologist, I am not really
the person to explain the
bewildering diversity of
human hierarchies, but you
could ask my anthropologist
friend Aiko Yoshita....

You bet! So, Aiko,
what do you say?

The question of race is very
important to present-day
Americans...

but the
notion of
caste means
virtually
nothing.

Whereas in Medieval India race was
insignificant and caste was supremely
important.

So race and class
are clearly shaped
by culture far more
than by nature.

But there’s one hierarchy that’s been
very important in all human societies. And
in this particular hierarchy, the relations
between culture and nature are more
complicated.

I am, of course,
talking about Gender!

All societies have divided people into
men and women.

And ever since the Agricultural Revolution,
men have had the better deal everywhere.

China, the tomb of Lady Hao,
approximately 1,200 years BCE.

The most ancient
Chinese texts were
engraved on what
are called oracle
bones.

These texts record
predictions about
the future—as well
as what actually
happened later on.

turtle
shell

There’s a question
engraved on this
shell....

Will lady
Hao’s
childbearing
be lucky?

And then the
prediction...

If the child is born
on a ding day, lucky.

On a geng day,
very auspicious.

But Lady Hao actually
gave birth on a
jiayin day.

Unlucky.
It was a girl.

Today, More than 3,000 years later, there are still
a lot of people who believe that having a baby
girl is bad luck....

Some parents abort female fetuses, and baby
girls are sometimes abandoned, neglected—
or worse. In recent decades, such practices
have resulted in a skewed sex ratio in some
provinces of china, India and several other
countries. An extreme example comes from a
2005 survey in the province of Jiangxi, which
found that between ages one and four, there
were only 699 girls for every 1,000 boys!

210

In lots of societies a
woman was just the
property of a man,
usually her father or
her husband.

How much do
you want
for your
daughter?

Give me
your land
beyond the
river, and
she’s yours!

In many legal systems, rape was regarded
as a violation of property rights.

In other words,
the victim
wasn’t the
woman who’d
been raped,
but the man
who owned her.

private property—
keep away

So if a man raped an unmarried woman, the rapist
just had to pay a bride price to the woman’s
father or brother... and she then became the
rapist’s legal property.

If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and
seizes her and lies with her, and they are found,
then the man who lay with her shall give fifty
shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and
she shall be his wife.*

*Deuteronomy 22, 28–29.

The ancient Hebrews thought
this arrangement was
perfectly reasonable....

Finding and picking up a coin in the
street wasn’t considered
a crime at all....

...well, neither was raping
a woman who didn’t belong
to any man.

And a husband
who raped
his own wife
wasn’t seen to
have committed
a crime either.

211

China, the tomb of Lady Hao,
approximately 1,200 years BCE.

The most ancient
Chinese texts were
engraved on what
are called oracle
bones.

These texts record
predictions about
the future—as well
as what actually
happened later on.

There’s a question
engraved on this
shell....

Will lady
Hao’s
childbearing
be lucky?

And then the
prediction...

If the child is born
on a ding day, lucky.

On a geng day,
very auspicious.

But Lady Hao actually
gave birth on a
jiayin day.

Unlucky.
It was a girl.

Today, More than 3,000 years later, there are still
a lot of people who believe that having a baby
girl is bad luck....

Some parents abort female fetuses, and baby
girls are sometimes abandoned, neglected—
or worse. In recent decades, such practices
have resulted in a skewed sex ratio in some
provinces of china, India and several other
countries. An extreme example comes from a
2005 survey in the province of Jiangxi, which
found that between ages one and four, there
were only 699 girls for every 1,000 boys!

In lots of societies a
woman was just the
property of a man,
usually her father or
her husband.

How much do
you want
for your
daughter?

Give me
your land
beyond the
river, and
she’s yours!

In many legal systems, rape was regarded
as a violation of property rights.

In other words,
the victim
wasn’t the
woman who’d
been raped,
but the man
who owned her.

private property—
keep away

So if a man raped an unmarried woman, the rapist
just had to pay a bride price to the woman’s
father or brother... and she then became the
rapist’s legal property.

If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and
seizes her and lies with her, and they are found,
then the man who lay with her shall give fifty
shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and
she shall be his wife.*

*Deuteronomy 22, 28–29.

The ancient Hebrews thought
this arrangement was
perfectly reasonable....

Finding and picking up a coin in the
street wasn’t considered
a crime at all....

...well, neither was raping
a woman who didn’t belong
to any man.

And a husband
who raped
his own wife
wasn’t seen to
have committed
a crime either.

turtle
shell

Being a husband meant having
complete control of your
wife’s sexuality. Saying a man
had “raped” his wife was as
illogical as saying he’d stolen
from his own money bag.

This mindset wasn’t confined to the ancient Middle East. Marital rape
wasn’t recognized by law in Greece until 2006.

To this day there are
still countries such
as Bahrain, Ethiopia,
India and Iran where
a husband can’t be
prosecuted for raping
his wife.

But... then tell me about this
distinction between men and
women?

Is it a fictional
story, like the caste
system and the
racial system?

Well, there are obvious biological differences
between the sexes. Giving birth has always
been women’s prerogative... for the simple
reason that you need a womb for it.

Correct.

So, yes, there are clear biological differences...
and this is reflected in countless cultural,
legal and political disparities between men
and women.

But every society has taken this kernel
of universal truth and then added
layers and layers of cultural ideas and
norms that have very little to do with
biology....

212

Societies attribute all
sorts of characteristics to
masculinity and femininity...
but most of them have no
firm biological basis.

Let’s imagine going back
2,500 years....

An Athenian who had a uterus and no penis was
not considered an independent legal person, and
was deprived of numerous rights and opportunities.

She wasn’t allowed to participate in popular
assemblies, vote in elections or serve as a
judge.

With a few rare exceptions, she couldn’t enjoy
a good education, do business on her own or
join in a philosophical debate.

213

Being a husband meant having
complete control of your
wife’s sexuality. Saying a man
had “raped” his wife was as
illogical as saying he’d stolen
from his own money bag.

This mindset wasn’t confined to the ancient Middle East. Marital rape
wasn’t recognized by law in Greece until 2006.

To this day there are
still countries such
as Bahrain, Ethiopia,
India and Iran where
a husband can’t be
prosecuted for raping
his wife.

But... then tell me about this
distinction between men and
women?

Is it a fictional
story, like the caste
system and the
racial system?

Well, there are obvious biological differences
between the sexes. Giving birth has always
been women’s prerogative... for the simple
reason that you need a womb for it.

Correct.

So, yes, there are clear biological differences...
and this is reflected in countless cultural,
legal and political disparities between men
and women.

But every society has taken this kernel
of universal truth and then added
layers and layers of cultural ideas and
norms that have very little to do with
biology....

Societies attribute all
sorts of characteristics to
masculinity and femininity...
but most of them have no
firm biological basis.

Let’s imagine going back
2,500 years....

An Athenian who had a uterus and no penis was
not considered an independent legal person, and
was deprived of numerous rights and opportunities.

She wasn’t allowed to participate in popular
assemblies, vote in elections or serve as a
judge.

With a few rare exceptions, she couldn’t enjoy
a good education, do business on her own or
join in a philosophical debate.

Can you see any
women here?

None of the political leaders in
Athens, none of the
great philosophers, orators,
artists or traders had wombs.

Wait, so does that mean that
just having a womb and lacking
a penis meant you couldn’t do a
whole bunch of professions???

That’s what
the ancient
Athenians
thought, yes.

214

But modern Athenians don’t think that at all. Nowadays,
women in Athens have the vote, they can be elected to
public office, make speeches, go to university and design
cars, buildings, computer software....

Of course they can! Their uteruses
don’t stop them doing any of that
stuff just as well as men!

In 2020, Greece
elected a woman as
president.

...although women are still
underrepresented in politics
and business.

So does that mean
people gradually
stop believing in
garbage?

If only it were that simple!
People sometimes stop
believing in it, but just as
often they come up with
new nonsense....

Most modern Greeks have accepted that
it’s completely normal for a woman to
serve in public office... which would have
amazed their chauvinistic ancestors.

But then many modern Greeks
also believe that people should
be attracted only to the opposite
gender... which would have amused
their more open-minded
ancestors.

215

Can you see any
women here?

None of the political leaders in
Athens, none of the
great philosophers, orators,
artists or traders had wombs.

Wait, so does that mean that
just having a womb and lacking
a penis meant you couldn’t do a
whole bunch of professions???

That’s what
the ancient
Athenians
thought, yes.

But modern Athenians don’t think that at all. Nowadays,
women in Athens have the vote, they can be elected to
public office, make speeches, go to university and design
cars, buildings, computer software....

Of course they can! Their uteruses
don’t stop them doing any of that
stuff just as well as men!

In 2020, Greece
elected a woman as
president.

...although women are still
underrepresented in politics
and business.

So does that mean
people gradually
stop believing in
garbage?

If only it were that simple!
People sometimes stop
believing in it, but just as
often they come up with
new nonsense....

Most modern Greeks have accepted that
it’s completely normal for a woman to
serve in public office... which would have
amazed their chauvinistic ancestors.

But then many modern Greeks
also believe that people should
be attracted only to the opposite
gender... which would have amused
their more open-minded
ancestors.

Homosexuality was
illegal in modern
Greece until 1951.

Many people thought this ban on
homosexuality wasn’t cultural prejudice,
but a reflection of natural laws.

Hello, I’d like to ask your opinion....
Can you spare a moment?

Certainly, yes.

So, here’s
my first
question.

What do you
think about a man
having sex with
another man?

Grosssss!!! You gay or
something?!

Would you say your answer is
based on (a) biological facts or
(b) cultural prejudices?

Wait, prejudices! Who are
you calling prejudiced?

It’s a fact: Homosexuality just
goes completely against nature!
Everybody knows that!

Would you
say...

These people
are a danger
to our society!
They corrupt
the young! They
spread disease!

What about Alexander the Great,
then? He had a lover called
Hephaestion. What about Socrates?
Have you ever read the Symposium ?

You mean Socrates was one
of them?! Actually... It’s
not the first time I’ve
heard that.

Good thing they made him
drink poison, then!

216

In the time of Socrates, Athenians
thought homosexual relationships
were pretty normal....

That’s not
why they
killed
Socrates.

In fact, some homosexuals were
considered heroes and role models.

For example, the love story
between two guys, Harmodius
and Aristogeiton, was credited
with helping to establish
democracy in Athens.

These two men lived here at a time
when Athens was ruled by a tyrant.
Harmodius decided to kill the tyrant
and Aristogeiton agreed to help his
lover in his perilous plan.

They both lost their
lives but succeeded in
killing the tyrant,
which helped Athens
become a democracy.

The Athenians
erected a statue
of the two lovers
in one of the
main squares. For
centuries, they
were celebrated
as heroes.

217

Homosexuality was
illegal in modern
Greece until 1951.

Many people thought this ban on
homosexuality wasn’t cultural prejudice,
but a reflection of natural laws.

Hello, I’d like to ask your opinion....
Can you spare a moment?

Certainly, yes.

So, here’s
my first
question.

What do you
think about a man
having sex with
another man?

Grosssss!!! You gay or
something?!

Would you say your answer is
based on (a) biological facts or
(b) cultural prejudices?

Wait, prejudices! Who are
you calling prejudiced?

It’s a fact: Homosexuality just
goes completely against nature!
Everybody knows that!

Would you
say...

These people
are a danger
to our society!
They corrupt
the young! They
spread disease!

What about Alexander the Great,
then? He had a lover called
Hephaestion. What about Socrates?
Have you ever read the Symposium ?

You mean Socrates was one
of them?! Actually... It’s
not the first time I’ve
heard that.

Good thing they made him
drink poison, then!

In the time of Socrates, Athenians
thought homosexual relationships
were pretty normal....

That’s not
why they
killed
Socrates.

In fact, some homosexuals were
considered heroes and role models.

For example, the love story
between two guys, Harmodius
and Aristogeiton, was credited
with helping to establish
democracy in Athens.

These two men lived here at a time
when Athens was ruled by a tyrant.
Harmodius decided to kill the tyrant
and Aristogeiton agreed to help his
lover in his perilous plan.

They both lost their
lives but succeeded in
killing the tyrant,
which helped Athens
become a democracy.

The Athenians
erected a statue
of the two lovers
in one of the
main squares. For
centuries, they
were celebrated
as heroes.

Biology
enables.

If we want to distinguish between what’s biologically
determined and what people simply try to justify with
biological myths, there’s an easy rule of thumb....

Culture
forbids.

La la laaa...
I have
so many
options!

Tssss... How
about getting
on with being
a mother
instead of that
irritating
singing?

Those two are terrible, they never
stop fighting.

Stop telling me
what to do!

I’ll have
children if
and when I
want to!

Nature gave you a
womb so you should
use it! Not having
children would be
unnatural!

Well, nature gave you a brain
but you don’t seem to use it very
much.... All that nonsense about
unnatural behavior...

Don’t you realize that no behavior
can ever be unnatural?

If I don’t have any kids—nature’s
fine with that. And if I decide to
drop you and try a relationship
with a woman—nature won’t
object to that either!

Everything that’s possible is
natural—by definition!

Baloney! Nature has laws, and laws
always forbid things, don’t they?

Pfff! If the laws of nature forbid
something, it just can’t happen.
Truly unnatural things—like running
faster than the speed of light—
never happen, do they?

Do you think that
if I ever run faster
than the speed
of light, some
intergalactic
cop would pop up
and issue me
a ticket?

No,
but...

Things that break the
laws of nature just
don’t exist. If something
does exist, then that
means that it complies
with the laws of
nature!

You know
I’m right!

Go ahead!
Hide behind
your newspaper!

Humph!

the Florence
Gazette
218

THE FLORENCE GAZETTE

MORNING
EDITION

Interview with Pope Julius II

November 8, 1504

Your Holiness, how do we know what
is natural behavior, and what is
unnatural?

Why, Christian theology is very clear on
this. A natural behavior is a behavior
that complies with the intentions of
the great God who created nature.

VENDÉE GLOBE:
Christopher Columbus
returns triumphant. From
our Cadiz correspondent:

Seems like
the world
is round,
after all!

When God created the human
body, he intended every limb
and organ to serve a very
particular purpose.

If we use our limbs and organs for
the purposes envisioned by God, that is
natural behavior. Using them in any
other way is unnatural.

For example, using
our sexual organs
for procreation
is natural—that
is what God
intended. But
using them for
any other purpose
is unnatural! It is
a sin!

CONTEMPORARY ART:
Our culture editor has
had a first glimpse of
Leonardo’s new portrait
of Lisa del Giocondo.

You should have
given her a bit
more of a smile....

So, what do you say to this
irrefutable argument?

Aaargh... You’re such a pain—
you shouldn’t always believe
what you read in the papers!

The thing is, evolution has no master
plan. The functions performed by
organs are constantly changing and
the way they evolve doesn’t follow
any predetermined path.

219

Biology
enables.

If we want to distinguish between what’s biologically
determined and what people simply try to justify with
biological myths, there’s an easy rule of thumb....

Culture
forbids.

La la laaa...
I have
so many
options!

Tssss... How
about getting
on with being
a mother
instead of that
irritating
singing?

Those two are terrible, they never
stop fighting.

Stop telling me
what to do!

I’ll have
children if
and when I
want to!

Nature gave you a
womb so you should
use it! Not having
children would be
unnatural!

Well, nature gave you a brain
but you don’t seem to use it very
much.... All that nonsense about
unnatural behavior...

Don’t you realize that no behavior
can ever be unnatural?

If I don’t have any kids—nature’s
fine with that. And if I decide to
drop you and try a relationship
with a woman—nature won’t
object to that either!

Everything that’s possible is
natural—by definition!

Baloney! Nature has laws, and laws
always forbid things, don’t they?

Pfff! If the laws of nature forbid
something, it just can’t happen.
Truly unnatural things—like running
faster than the speed of light—
never happen, do they?

Do you think that
if I ever run faster
than the speed
of light, some
intergalactic
cop would pop up
and issue me
a ticket?

No,
but...

Things that break the
laws of nature just
don’t exist. If something
does exist, then that
means that it complies
with the laws of
nature!

You know
I’m right!

Go ahead!
Hide behind
your newspaper!

Humph!

THE FLORENCE GAZETTE

MORNING
EDITION

Interview with Pope Julius II

November 8, 1504

Your Holiness, how do we know what
is natural behavior, and what is
unnatural?

Why, Christian theology is very clear on
this. A natural behavior is a behavior
that complies with the intentions of
the great God who created nature.

VENDÉE GLOBE:
Christopher Columbus
returns triumphant. From
our Cadiz correspondent:

Seems like
the world
is round,
after all!

When God created the human
body, he intended every limb
and organ to serve a very
particular purpose.

If we use our limbs and organs for
the purposes envisioned by God, that is
natural behavior. Using them in any
other way is unnatural.

For example, using
our sexual organs
for procreation
is natural—that
is what God
intended. But
using them for
any other purpose
is unnatural! It is
a sin!

CONTEMPORARY ART:
Our culture editor has
had a first glimpse of
Leonardo’s new portrait
of Lisa del Giocondo.

You should have
given her a bit
more of a smile....

So, what do you say to this
irrefutable argument?

Aaargh... You’re such a pain—
you shouldn’t always believe
what you read in the papers!

The thing is, evolution has no master
plan. The functions performed by
organs are constantly changing and
the way they evolve doesn’t follow
any predetermined path.

The first mouths appeared hundreds of millions of
years ago and were used
principally for ingesting food.

I still use
mine for eating
too....

...But I now
also use it for
speaking...

...for playing
the saxophone...
for kissing...

and goodness
knows what else....

It’s the same with all parts of the body.
A bird’s feathers, for example... Feathers
didn’t suddenly appear so that birds could
swoop through the air....

Feathers originally evolved from something
that helped prehistoric reptiles stay warm.

Some reptiles found that this heating
arrangement also helped them jump farther.
Which gave them an advantage when escaping
predators or pursuing prey.

Several million years
later, those reptiles had
become birds.

Should we criticize birds
for using their feathers
for a new purpose?

When God made feathers, he intended them to keep
you warm! Using feathers to fly around is unnatural,
you sinful lizard!

220

Sex is subject to the same logic.
Originally, sex was used solely
for the purposes of procreation...

...then it evolved to include courtship
rituals to evaluate a potential mate’s
fitness and suitability....

Lots of animals now use their
sexuality for all sorts of social
interactions that don’t have much
to do with making little copies of
themselves.

For example, chimpanzees use sex to
cement political alliances, establish
intimacy and defuse tensions.

Most sexual activity among chimpanzees doesn’t
lead to procreation. Is that unnatural?

The same logic applies
to humans. There
is little sense in
arguing that the
natural function of
women is to give birth,
or that homosexuality
is unnatural.

Most of the laws,
norms, rights and
obligations that
define masculinity
and femininity reflect
cultural preferences
more than biological
necessities.

221

The first mouths appeared hundreds of millions of
years ago and were used
principally for ingesting food.

I still use
mine for eating
too....

...But I now
also use it for
speaking...

...for playing
the saxophone...
for kissing...

and goodness
knows what else....

It’s the same with all parts of the body.
A bird’s feathers, for example... Feathers
didn’t suddenly appear so that birds could
swoop through the air....

Feathers originally evolved from something
that helped prehistoric reptiles stay warm.

Some reptiles found that this heating
arrangement also helped them jump farther.
Which gave them an advantage when escaping
predators or pursuing prey.

Several million years
later, those reptiles had
become birds.

Should we criticize birds
for using their feathers
for a new purpose?

When God made feathers, he intended them to keep
you warm! Using feathers to fly around is unnatural,
you sinful lizard!

Sex is subject to the same logic.
Originally, sex was used solely
for the purposes of procreation...

...then it evolved to include courtship
rituals to evaluate a potential mate’s
fitness and suitability....

Lots of animals now use their
sexuality for all sorts of social
interactions that don’t have much
to do with making little copies of
themselves.

For example, chimpanzees use sex to
cement political alliances, establish
intimacy and defuse tensions.

Most sexual activity among chimpanzees doesn’t
lead to procreation. Is that unnatural?

The same logic applies
to humans. There
is little sense in
arguing that the
natural function of
women is to give birth,
or that homosexuality
is unnatural.

Most of the laws,
norms, rights and
obligations that
define masculinity
and femininity reflect
cultural preferences
more than biological
necessities.

Biologically, humans are categorized along a
male-female spectrum.... Most male Sapiens have
one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, while
most females have two X chromosomes.

Male XY
Testosterone
Testicles

Female XX
Estrogen
Uterus

But when people say “man” or “woman” they’re
usually referring to a social construct, not a
biological category. A man isn’t a Sapiens with
XY chromosomes, but someone who’s assigned so-
called masculine roles, rights and duties by
society. While a woman isn’t a Sapiens with XX
chromosomes, but someone who plays a feminine
role in the imagined order of society.

I engage in politics,
I can vote in
elections and I must
do military service.

I raise children,
learn to weave
and must obey
my husband.

Men’s and women’s roles, rights and duties are defined by cultural stories rather than biology, so the
meanings of “masculinity” and “femininity” have varied immensely from one society to another. Just look
how they dress!

222

To make things less confusing, scholars usually
differentiate between “sex,” which is a biological
distinction, and “gender,” which is a cultural one.
Sex is divided between males and females, and these
two categories have objective qualities that have
remained constant throughout history.

Gender is generally divided between
men and women, though many cultures
recognize other categories as well.
So-called “masculine” and “feminine”
qualities are intersubjective and undergo
constant changes.

Biology = Sex

Culture = gender

Ancient
Athens

Modern
Athens

Ancient
Athens

Modern
Athens

XX
Chromosomes

Womb

Ovaries

Lots of
estrogen

Little
testosterone

Can produce
milk

XX
Chromosomes

Womb

Ovaries

Lots of
estrogen

Little
testosterone

Can produce
milk

Can’t vote

Can’t be
a judge

Can’t hold
government
office

Can’t decide
who she
marries

Typically
illiterate

Legally owned
by her father
or husband

Can
vote

Can be
a judge

Can hold
government
office

Can decide
who she
marries

Typically
literate

Legally
independent

For example, there’s a huge difference between what was
expected of women in Ancient Athens and the way a modern
Athenian woman behaves, her desires, clothes and even her body
posture.... Being a woman or a man is far more complex than being
female or male.

223

Biologically, humans are categorized along a
male-female spectrum.... Most male Sapiens have
one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, while
most females have two X chromosomes.

Male XY
Testosterone
Testicles

Female XX
Estrogen
Uterus

But when people say “man” or “woman” they’re
usually referring to a social construct, not a
biological category. A man isn’t a Sapiens with
XY chromosomes, but someone who’s assigned so-
called masculine roles, rights and duties by
society. While a woman isn’t a Sapiens with XX
chromosomes, but someone who plays a feminine
role in the imagined order of society.

I engage in politics,
I can vote in
elections and I must
do military service.

I raise children,
learn to weave
and must obey
my husband.

Men’s and women’s roles, rights and duties are defined by cultural stories rather than biology, so the
meanings of “masculinity” and “femininity” have varied immensely from one society to another. Just look
how they dress!

To make things less confusing, scholars usually
differentiate between “sex,” which is a biological
distinction, and “gender,” which is a cultural one.
Sex is divided between males and females, and these
two categories have objective qualities that have
remained constant throughout history.

Gender is generally divided between
men and women, though many cultures
recognize other categories as well.
So-called “masculine” and “feminine”
qualities are intersubjective and undergo
constant changes.

Biology = Sex

Culture = gender

Ancient
Athens

Modern
Athens

Ancient
Athens

Modern
Athens

XX
Chromosomes

Womb

Ovaries

Lots of
estrogen

Little
testosterone

Can produce
milk

XX
Chromosomes

Womb

Ovaries

Lots of
estrogen

Little
testosterone

Can produce
milk

Can’t vote

Can’t be
a judge

Can’t hold
government
office

Can’t decide
who she
marries

Typically
illiterate

Legally owned
by her father
or husband

Can
vote

Can be
a judge

Can hold
government
office

Can decide
who she
marries

Typically
literate

Legally
independent

For example, there’s a huge difference between what was
expected of women in Ancient Athens and the way a modern
Athenian woman behaves, her desires, clothes and even her body
posture.... Being a woman or a man is far more complex than being
female or male.

And the worst of
it is that I have
to keep convincing
myself and everyone
else that I’m
feminine enough!

Pfff! You think
you’re special?
It’s the same
for me, being
a man—I keep
having to prove
my masculinity!

It’s not enough
to have XY
chromosomes.
No way!

All through my life
from the cradle to
the grave, society
expects an endless
succession of rites and
performances! I live in
constant fear of
losing my claim to
masculinity!

Yes, I suppose you
men do have it quite
tough too. You’re
pushed to
engage in one
drama after
another, even
risking your
health and life....

And all so that
people say...

“Oh, my!
He’s a
real man!”

224

I can’t even dress how I
want. These days, if I
want to prove my
masculinity I have to
dress so plainly! A tiny
earring or a colorful
tie—and people might
start questioning
my manhood!

But to prove my
masculinity in
Louis XIV’s day I had
to wear a long
wig, powder my
face, squeeze into
tights and walk on
high heels....

That was the go-to
look for alpha males!

My pronouns are
she/her/hers.

My pronouns are
he/him/his.

Xy

XX

God in heaven!!! Transgender
people will sabotage the whole
natural order of things!!!

That does it—now the sun
and moon will definitely fall
out of the sky!!!

You are such
a bigot!

If people address a person
with XY chromosomes as “she,”
the laws of nature couldn’t
care less, And don’t worry—
civilization too will survive.

225

And the worst of
it is that I have
to keep convincing
myself and everyone
else that I’m
feminine enough!

Pfff! You think
you’re special?
It’s the same
for me, being
a man—I keep
having to prove
my masculinity!

It’s not enough
to have XY
chromosomes.
No way!

All through my life
from the cradle to
the grave, society
expects an endless
succession of rites and
performances! I live in
constant fear of
losing my claim to
masculinity!

Yes, I suppose you
men do have it quite
tough too. You’re
pushed to
engage in one
drama after
another, even
risking your
health and life....

And all so that
people say...

“Oh, my!
He’s a
real man!”

I can’t even dress how I
want. These days, if I
want to prove my
masculinity I have to
dress so plainly! A tiny
earring or a colorful
tie—and people might
start questioning
my manhood!

But to prove my
masculinity in
Louis XIV’s day I had
to wear a long
wig, powder my
face, squeeze into
tights and walk on
high heels....

That was the go-to
look for alpha males!

My pronouns are
she/her/hers.

My pronouns are
he/him/his.

God in heaven!!! Transgender
people will sabotage the whole
natural order of things!!!

That does it—now the sun
and moon will definitely fall
out of the sky!!!

You are such
a bigot!

If people address a person
with XY chromosomes as “she,”
the laws of nature couldn’t
care less, And don’t worry—
civilization too will survive.

So, your explanations are very
interesting.... But there’s something
I don’t get: if patriarchal
order isn’t natural, why’s it
so universal?

There are several
common theories,
but none of them is
convincing.

...You probably heard the cliché about men
being physically stronger than women.... But
that’s not always true.

Don’t get left
behind, Jacques.

Yeah! Take my boss, I can
immobilize him on the floor
in three seconds flat! Even
running the 100 meter, he
wouldn’t see me for dust!

Ha! Ha! I believe you,
Detective! You’d win a
race against me too!

I wouldn’t do too
well against
Megan Rapinoe
either!

Oh, she’s the
greatest, I’m
crazy about
her!

And actually, with other
types of physical strength
like coping with famine,
illness and exhaustion, women
usually come off better
than men.

Damn right!

And anyway, what’s the connection
between muscle power and, say,
forbidding women from serving as
judges? I mean, exactly how much
muscle power do you need to sit
around in a big chair all day listening
to Adamski’s endless speeches?

But when it came to
cleaning floors or working
in fields, everybody always
thought women had plenty
of muscle power.

226

Even more important, there’s
simply no direct link between
physical strength and social
power. Power usually depends on
social skills rather than brute
force.

The real keys to social
control are understanding
what other people think and
pulling strings with friends and
connections!

Ha! Sounds just
like my boss!

Just think about the people at
the Davos conference—the Pope,
the heavyweights at Facebook
and Alibaba, the Presidents of
the United States or China...
they’re all men but they’re
hardly boxing champions....

Megan Rapinoe could probably
pin them to the floor no
problem!

I can tell you it’s the same in the mafia. The godfather’s often
an older man who very rarely uses his own fists. He gets the
younger men around him to do the dirty work.

Anyone who thinks
you just have to punch
the don to take over
the syndicate probably
wouldn’t live long
enough to learn from
his mistake!

Even chimpanzees have worked out that
mindless violence doesn’t pay. The alpha
male establishes his power by forging a
stable coalition with other males as
well as females.

Yes, you get to be
CEO by shaking hands
and wining and dining
people, not by beating
them up!

That’s why people in their
sixties are usually more
powerful than
twentysomethings.

227

So, your explanations are very
interesting.... But there’s something
I don’t get: if patriarchal
order isn’t natural, why’s it
so universal?

There are several
common theories,
but none of them is
convincing.

...You probably heard the cliché about men
being physically stronger than women.... But
that’s not always true.

Don’t get left
behind, Jacques.

Yeah! Take my boss, I can
immobilize him on the floor
in three seconds flat! Even
running the 100 meter, he
wouldn’t see me for dust!

Ha! Ha! I believe you,
Detective! You’d win a
race against me too!

I wouldn’t do too
well against
Megan Rapinoe
either!

Oh, she’s the
greatest, I’m
crazy about
her!

And actually, with other
types of physical strength
like coping with famine,
illness and exhaustion, women
usually come off better
than men.

Damn right!

And anyway, what’s the connection
between muscle power and, say,
forbidding women from serving as
judges? I mean, exactly how much
muscle power do you need to sit
around in a big chair all day listening
to Adamski’s endless speeches?

But when it came to
cleaning floors or working
in fields, everybody always
thought women had plenty
of muscle power.

Even more important, there’s
simply no direct link between
physical strength and social
power. Power usually depends on
social skills rather than brute
force.

The real keys to social
control are understanding
what other people think and
pulling strings with friends and
connections!

Ha! Sounds just
like my boss!

Just think about the people at
the Davos conference—the Pope,
the heavyweights at Facebook
and Alibaba, the Presidents of
the United States or China...
they’re all men but they’re
hardly boxing champions....

Megan Rapinoe could probably
pin them to the floor no
problem!

I can tell you it’s the same in the mafia. The godfather’s often
an older man who very rarely uses his own fists. He gets the
younger men around him to do the dirty work.

Anyone who thinks
you just have to punch
the don to take over
the syndicate probably
wouldn’t live long
enough to learn from
his mistake!

Even chimpanzees have worked out that
mindless violence doesn’t pay. The alpha
male establishes his power by forging a
stable coalition with other males as
well as females.

Yes, you get to be
CEO by shaking hands
and wining and dining
people, not by beating
them up!

That’s why people in their
sixties are usually more
powerful than
twentysomethings.

It’s pretty weird if you
think about it.... The
strongest people often
find themselves at the
bottom of the greasy pole.

How do you explain that?

It probably has
something to do with
where Homo sapiens is
in the food chain....

If physical
strength
were all that
mattered,
Sapiens would be
on a middle rung
in the ladder.
But our social
skills have put
us at the top....

So it’s only natural that the chain of power within our
species is also determined more by social abilities than
bicep size.

So muscle power
can’t explain patriarchy....

What’re the other theories? How do you explain
that patriarchies are the most common and
stable social hierarchies in human society?

Why
Patriarchy
Muscle
power

There’s a theory that suggests that masculine
dominance results from aggression rather
than strength. Millions of years of evolution
have made men far more willing to engage in
physical violence....

That’s why, according to this theory, the vast majority
of soldiers have always been men, and why men have
consequently dominated the military.

228

Control of the military in turn gave
men control of civilian politics too.

The more political power men had,
the more wars they started.

And the more wars
there were, the more crucial
the military became.

Aaah! Another vicious circle! Wars make
men more powerful, and powerful men
make more wars.

Recent studies of men’s and women’s hormonal and cognitive systems
confirm that men generally have more violent tendencies. So they
really are better equipped to serve as soldiers.

Why
Patriarchy
Muscle
power
WAR

But something doesn’t
make sense here. if all
the cannon fodder is men,
it doesn’t follow that
the people who run the
war are also men.

That would mean that
leaders always rise up from
the ranks—which just ain’t
the way it works.

Even if men are better suited
to the battlefield, why can’t
female ministers direct an army
full of men?

That’s hardly ever happened.
But we don’t really know why.

229

It’s pretty weird if you
think about it.... The
strongest people often
find themselves at the
bottom of the greasy pole.

How do you explain that?

It probably has
something to do with
where Homo sapiens is
in the food chain....

If physical
strength
were all that
mattered,
Sapiens would be
on a middle rung
in the ladder.
But our social
skills have put
us at the top....

So it’s only natural that the chain of power within our
species is also determined more by social abilities than
bicep size.

So muscle power
can’t explain patriarchy....

What’re the other theories? How do you explain
that patriarchies are the most common and
stable social hierarchies in human society?

There’s a theory that suggests that masculine
dominance results from aggression rather
than strength. Millions of years of evolution
have made men far more willing to engage in
physical violence....

That’s why, according to this theory, the vast majority
of soldiers have always been men, and why men have
consequently dominated the military.

Control of the military in turn gave
men control of civilian politics too.

The more political power men had,
the more wars they started.

And the more wars
there were, the more crucial
the military became.

Aaah! Another vicious circle! Wars make
men more powerful, and powerful men
make more wars.

Recent studies of men’s and women’s hormonal and cognitive systems
confirm that men generally have more violent tendencies. So they
really are better equipped to serve as soldiers.

But something doesn’t
make sense here. if all
the cannon fodder is men,
it doesn’t follow that
the people who run the
war are also men.

That would mean that
leaders always rise up from
the ranks—which just ain’t
the way it works.

Even if men are better suited
to the battlefield, why can’t
female ministers direct an army
full of men?

That’s hardly ever happened.
But we don’t really know why.

You’re absolutely right that the military top brass
often came from a completely different background
than the simple grunts. In 18th-century Europe, for
example, almost all the generals were aristocrats
who never served a single day as common soldiers.

When the future Duke of Wellington enlisted in
the British army at 17, the young aristocrat was
immediately commissioned as an officer.

Nah, I don’t
think boot
camp’s really
for me.

And the “Iron Duke” was very aware that
he wasn’t from the same background as
the foot soldiers under his command. During
his battles against Napoleon he wrote to
another aristocrat....

We have in the
service the scum
of the earth as
common soldiers....

The common soldiers were usually recruited from among
the poor and ethnic minorities. They had very little
chance of working their way up the ranks to be, say, a
Colonel.

Poor
Englishmen

Irish
Catholic

Scottish
Highlanders

The most senior ranks were the preserve
of dukes, princes and kings.

Why just dukes
and not duchesses?

The war theory of
patriarchy doesn’t
explain that....

230

During the 19th century, France established a
vast colonial empire in Africa. Most of the soldiers
whose sweat and blood built this empire were
working-class Frenchmen or African men like the
famous Senegalese Tirailleurs.

The percentage of “high-born” Frenchmen
in the lower ranks was negligible.

But there was a very high proportion of
upper-class Frenchmen in the small elite that
commanded the army, governed the colonial
empire and enjoyed its fruits.

Why only French
men and not French
women?

In China there was a long tradition
of submitting the army to civilian
bureaucracy.

So mandarins who’d never held a sword often
directed wars.

Well,
naturally! You
don’t waste
good iron on
making nails!

Anyone with real talent joined the bureaucracy,
not the army. Why then were all the mandarins
men?

The War theory
of patriarchy
doesn’t explain
that.

231

You’re absolutely right that the military top brass
often came from a completely different background
than the simple grunts. In 18th-century Europe, for
example, almost all the generals were aristocrats
who never served a single day as common soldiers.

When the future Duke of Wellington enlisted in
the British army at 17, the young aristocrat was
immediately commissioned as an officer.

Nah, I don’t
think boot
camp’s really
for me.

And the “Iron Duke” was very aware that
he wasn’t from the same background as
the foot soldiers under his command. During
his battles against Napoleon he wrote to
another aristocrat....

We have in the
service the scum
of the earth as
common soldiers....

The common soldiers were usually recruited from among
the poor and ethnic minorities. They had very little
chance of working their way up the ranks to be, say, a
Colonel.

Poor
Englishmen

Irish
Catholic

Scottish
Highlanders

The most senior ranks were the preserve
of dukes, princes and kings.

Why just dukes
and not duchesses?

The war theory of
patriarchy doesn’t
explain that....

During the 19th century, France established a
vast colonial empire in Africa. Most of the soldiers
whose sweat and blood built this empire were
working-class Frenchmen or African men like the
famous Senegalese Tirailleurs.

The percentage of “high-born” Frenchmen
in the lower ranks was negligible.

But there was a very high proportion of
upper-class Frenchmen in the small elite that
commanded the army, governed the colonial
empire and enjoyed its fruits.

Why only French
men and not French
women?

In China there was a long tradition
of submitting the army to civilian
bureaucracy.

So mandarins who’d never held a sword often
directed wars.

Well,
naturally! You
don’t waste
good iron on
making nails!

Anyone with real talent joined the bureaucracy,
not the army. Why then were all the mandarins
men?

The War theory
of patriarchy
doesn’t explain
that.

On average, women aren’t as physically
strong and aggressive as men. But it’s
not our smaller biceps or our lower
levels of testosterone that stopped us
being generals or political leaders.

The keys to victory are
usually maintaining peace at
home, making allies abroad
and understanding what
other people are thinking
(especially your enemies).

To manage a war you need more
stamina and cunning than muscle
or raw aggression. Wars are a far
cry from a scuffle in a bar!

Wars are complex
undertakings that
require extraordinary
levels of organization,
cooperation and
placation.

232

An aggressive brute is probably the worst choice to
run a war. Better to have someone who can cooperate,
appease, manipulate and appreciate different points of
view. That’s what it takes to be an empire builder!

We women are usually stereotyped as
being better at manipulating and
appeasing than men. We’re also said
to be better at understanding other
people and seeing their point of view.

If that’s true, women should
have made excellent political
leaders and empire builders!
As for the dirty work on the
battlefields—well, that could
be left to boneheaded machos
pumped full of testosterone!

But that hardly ever
happened, except in
popular myths... and the
war theory of patriarchy
doesn’t explain why.

The Roman Emperor Augustus was an unimpressive
warrior, but that didn’t stop him establishing
a stable regime. He was far more successful
at that than Julius Caesar and Alexander
the Great. They were better generals
than him, but he was far better at winning
supporters and reconciling enemies!

233

On average, women aren’t as physically
strong and aggressive as men. But it’s
not our smaller biceps or our lower
levels of testosterone that stopped us
being generals or political leaders.

The keys to victory are
usually maintaining peace at
home, making allies abroad
and understanding what
other people are thinking
(especially your enemies).

To manage a war you need more
stamina and cunning than muscle
or raw aggression. Wars are a far
cry from a scuffle in a bar!

Wars are complex
undertakings that
require extraordinary
levels of organization,
cooperation and
placation.

An aggressive brute is probably the worst choice to
run a war. Better to have someone who can cooperate,
appease, manipulate and appreciate different points of
view. That’s what it takes to be an empire builder!

We women are usually stereotyped as
being better at manipulating and
appeasing than men. We’re also said
to be better at understanding other
people and seeing their point of view.

If that’s true, women should
have made excellent political
leaders and empire builders!
As for the dirty work on the
battlefields—well, that could
be left to boneheaded machos
pumped full of testosterone!

But that hardly ever
happened, except in
popular myths... and the
war theory of patriarchy
doesn’t explain why.

The Roman Emperor Augustus was an unimpressive
warrior, but that didn’t stop him establishing
a stable regime. He was far more successful
at that than Julius Caesar and Alexander
the Great. They were better generals
than him, but he was far better at winning
supporters and reconciling enemies!

And then there’s a third popular theory. It suggests
that the inequalities between men and women are
not to do with men’s violence and brute force but are
because men and women evolved different reproductive
strategies.

Men competed for opportunities to impregnate
as many fertile women as possible. Mission
accomplished, they could immediately move on.

Over time, it was the most ambitious, aggressive and
competitive men who passed on their male genes to
future generations.

This strategy would have been pointless for a
woman. She had no trouble finding men willing to
impregnate her....

But her genes wouldn’t have gone far if
she didn’t carry the fetus for nine difficult
months and then nurtured her child for many
years to come.

It was very tough to do all that by herself. So,
according to this theory, she needed a man’s help.

Come on, Bill, you’ll
never get that in
the fridge!

234

If a woman wanted a man to stay around
and share some of the burden, she had little
choice but to agree to his conditions.

Tchack!

Tchack!

Tchack!

Pffff!

Over time, it was the most submissive, nurturing
women who passed on their female genes to future
generations.

Mmm...
something
smells
great!

Daddyyyy!

The theory goes that due to these different reproductive strategies, men
evolved to be ambitious and competitive, and to excel in political power
struggles....

While women evolved to stay out of the fray,
looking after their husband and children.

cindy

But this theory too is highly problematic,
and is based on a number of dubious
assumptions....

women certainly
need help to care
for children, but why
exactly would that
make them dependent
on competitive men?

235

And then there’s a third popular theory. It suggests
that the inequalities between men and women are
not to do with men’s violence and brute force but are
because men and women evolved different reproductive
strategies.

Men competed for opportunities to impregnate
as many fertile women as possible. Mission
accomplished, they could immediately move on.

Over time, it was the most ambitious, aggressive and
competitive men who passed on their male genes to
future generations.

This strategy would have been pointless for a
woman. She had no trouble finding men willing to
impregnate her....

But her genes wouldn’t have gone far if
she didn’t carry the fetus for nine difficult
months and then nurtured her child for many
years to come.

It was very tough to do all that by herself. So,
according to this theory, she needed a man’s help.

Come on, Bill, you’ll
never get that in
the fridge!

If a woman wanted a man to stay around
and share some of the burden, she had little
choice but to agree to his conditions.

Pffff!

Over time, it was the most submissive, nurturing
women who passed on their female genes to future
generations.

Mmm...
something
smells
great!

Daddyyyy!

The theory goes that due to these different reproductive strategies, men
evolved to be ambitious and competitive, and to excel in political power
struggles....

While women evolved to stay out of the fray,
looking after their husband and children.

But this theory too is highly problematic,
and is based on a number of dubious
assumptions....

women certainly
need help to care
for children, but why
exactly would that
make them dependent
on competitive men?

Tchack!

Tchack!

Tchack!

cindy

Professor Yoshita’s right to be puzzled. In
animal species like elephants and bonobos
the dynamic between dependent females
and competitive males has produced not
patriarchies but matriarchal societies.

It takes a lot of help and cooperation to
raise young bonobos. So mothers have to
develop their social skills. They learn to work
together, make compromises and understand
what others think and want.

Female bonobos use these skills to build
strong networks of female friends who
help one another.

Meanwhile, the males spend their time fighting and
competing among themselves. This means the males
don’t develop their cooperative skills and don’t
form many strong friendships.

So bonobo societies are dominated by female
networks. Bonobo males are bigger and stronger
than the females, but if a male mistreats a
female, her friends are very quick to help her and
teach the bully a lesson.

It’s the same with African elephants. Their
societies are controlled by dominant females who
make all the major decisions about where the herd
will go.

Why don’t we see the same dynamic among Homo
sapiens? We don’t know.

236

Thanks for
your time....

You look disappointed. I’m sorry not
all your questions have been
answered.

Hmm... yup, it sure is
frustrating....

It just doesn’t
make sense!

Our whole species
owes its success to
cooperation!

But it’s men—who are
supposedly less cooperative—
who have power over women
even though women should be
the cooperation champions!!

237

Professor Yoshita’s right to be puzzled. In
animal species like elephants and bonobos
the dynamic between dependent females
and competitive males has produced not
patriarchies but matriarchal societies.

It takes a lot of help and cooperation to
raise young bonobos. So mothers have to
develop their social skills. They learn to work
together, make compromises and understand
what others think and want.

Female bonobos use these skills to build
strong networks of female friends who
help one another.

Meanwhile, the males spend their time fighting and
competing among themselves. This means the males
don’t develop their cooperative skills and don’t
form many strong friendships.

So bonobo societies are dominated by female
networks. Bonobo males are bigger and stronger
than the females, but if a male mistreats a
female, her friends are very quick to help her and
teach the bully a lesson.

It’s the same with African elephants. Their
societies are controlled by dominant females who
make all the major decisions about where the herd
will go.

Why don’t we see the same dynamic among Homo
sapiens? We don’t know.

Thanks for
your time....

You look disappointed. I’m sorry not
all your questions have been
answered.

Hmm... yup, it sure is
frustrating....

It just doesn’t
make sense!

Our whole species
owes its success to
cooperation!

But it’s men—who are
supposedly less cooperative—
who have power over women
even though women should be
the cooperation champions!!

Maybe these common
assumptions are just wrong,
we don’t know....

Maybe male Homo sapiens aren’t actually characterized by
physical strength and aggressive, competitive tendencies....
Maybe they actually excel in some kinds of cooperation.
Perhaps while women excelled in building networks of close
friends, men developed some macho genius for cooperating
by building rigid hierarchies between strangers?

But that’s just
speculation....

The truth is we are
not sure why men
have dominated women
throughout most human
societies since the
agricultural revolution.

It’s one of the biggest
gaps in our understanding
of history.

When scientists don’t know something,
it’s better to admit ignorance than to
invent an imagined version of history.

Damn right!

238

But there’s one thing we do know for sure.
Whatever made men dominate women, it wasn’t
a law of nature.

Patriarchy had something
to do with fiction.

But...

HARRIS AND MERKEL
GLOBAL SUMMIT MEETING!
Same-sex marriage legalized in C

Why are you
so sure, Detective?

Just look at what’s been happening
during the last century. Nothing dramatic
changed in our DNA or our hormonal system,
right?

Right.

HARRIS AND MERKEL

GLOBAL SUMMIT MEETING!

Same-sex marriage legalized in C

And yet gender relations have been totally
revolutionized. OK, so we’re still a long way
from absolute equality, but modern societies
have completely rethought fundamental
structures of gender and sexuality.

More and more societies now give men and women
equal legal status, equal political rights and equal
economic opportunities.... which kinda proves that
patriarchies aren’t the inevitable outcome of our
biology.

No, patriarchies
rely on a whole
bunch of myths
and fictions. And
I think we all
know who to
blame for those....

?

239

Maybe these common
assumptions are just wrong,
we don’t know....

Maybe male Homo sapiens aren’t actually characterized by
physical strength and aggressive, competitive tendencies....
Maybe they actually excel in some kinds of cooperation.
Perhaps while women excelled in building networks of close
friends, men developed some macho genius for cooperating
by building rigid hierarchies between strangers?

But that’s just
speculation....

The truth is we are
not sure why men
have dominated women
throughout most human
societies since the
agricultural revolution.

It’s one of the biggest
gaps in our understanding
of history.

When scientists don’t know something,
it’s better to admit ignorance than to
invent an imagined version of history.

Damn right!

But there’s one thing we do know for sure.
Whatever made men dominate women, it wasn’t
a law of nature.

Patriarchy had something
to do with fiction.

But...

Why are you
so sure, Detective?

Just look at what’s been happening
during the last century. Nothing dramatic
changed in our DNA or our hormonal system,
right?

Right.

HARRIS AND MERKEL

GLOBAL SUMMIT MEETTING!

Same-sex marriage legalized in C

And yet gender relations have been totally
revolutionized. OK, so we’re still a long way
from absolute equality, but modern societies
have completely rethought fundamental
structures of gender and sexuality.

More and more societies now give men and women
equal legal status, equal political rights and equal
economic opportunities.... which kinda proves that
patriarchies aren’t the inevitable outcome of our
biology.

No, patriarchies
rely on a whole
bunch of myths
and fictions. And
I think we all
know who to
blame for those....

?

EPILOGUE

New York, a few days
later...

I know it’s
you, Doc!

The evidence is
overwhelming!

240

It was the same
everywhere I looked....

Inequalities that
weren’t the product
of some law of
nature! This whole
mess comes from
fictional stories!

Your stories,
Doc!!!

I get how you
operate! Every
time you come
on the scene—
without fail—
lots of people
get screwed!

I see how you could draw that
conclusion from your investigation,
Detective.... But take a look at
the other side of the coin....

Thump

What
other side?

Let me tell you a story, then you’ll get the
picture....

Well, what d’ya know!
Another story...

241

EPILOGUE

New York, a few days
later...

I know it’s
you, Doc!

The evidence is
overwhelming!

It was the same
everywhere I looked....

Inequalities that
weren’t the product
of some law of
nature! This whole
mess comes from
fictional stories!

Your stories,
Doc!!!

I get how you
operate! Every
time you come
on the scene—
without fail—
lots of people
get screwed!

I see how you could draw that
conclusion from your investigation,
Detective.... But take a look at
the other side of the coin....

Thump

What
other side?

Let me tell you a story, then you’ll get the
picture....

Well, what d’ya know!
Another story...

It happened about 500 years
ago, in Valladolid, at the height
of the Spanish Inquisition....

You can torture me
all you like, I don’t
care! I have my
pass to paradise!

Damned heretic! Recant your lies! You’re
ruining spain and the Christian faith
with your stupid fabrications!

You’re the liar who
betrays Christ and Spain,
leading our people to
eternal damnation!

Oh my God, not this again...
Will humans never learn...

What??? Who dares
disturb us?

242

Your fictions
cannot confuse me,
Devil. I know the
absolute truth!
Not one word
should be changed!

Go away, Doctor Fiction, I don’t need
your help! I’ve found the everlasting
truth! I’m happy to die for it!

Sorry to be a party pooper, guys, but
you’re both completely wrong. No human
society has ever cornered the market
on absolute truth—and that goes for
you two as well!

Really?

Is this
some new
revelation,
then?!

You want to know
the truth? The truth
is that everything
changes, people are
never satisfied and
all identities are
fictional.

What are you
saying???

What it means to be Christian or Spanish
or even a man or a woman depends on
the stories people believe. It’s changed
many times in the past, and will keep
changing in the future. You won’t find the
truth by killing people who disagree with
you—you’ll just sink into ignorance.

243

It happened about 500 years
ago, in Valladolid, at the height
of the Spanish Inquisition....

You can torture me
all you like, I don’t
care! I have my
pass to paradise!

Damned heretic! Recant your lies! You’re
ruining spain and the Christian faith
with your stupid fabrications!

You’re the liar who
betrays Christ and Spain,
leading our people to
eternal damnation!

Oh my God, not this again...
Will humans never learn...

What??? Who dares
disturb us?

Your fictions
cannot confuse me,
Devil. I know the
absolute truth!
Not one word
should be changed!

Go away, Doctor Fiction, I don’t need
your help! I’ve found the everlasting
truth! I’m happy to die for it!

Sorry to be a party pooper, guys, but
you’re both completely wrong. No human
society has ever cornered the market
on absolute truth—and that goes for
you two as well!

Really?

Is this
some new
revelation,
then?!

You want to know
the truth? The truth
is that everything
changes, people are
never satisfied and
all identities are
fictional.

What are you
saying???

What it means to be Christian or Spanish
or even a man or a woman depends on
the stories people believe. It’s changed
many times in the past, and will keep
changing in the future. You won’t find the
truth by killing people who disagree with
you—you’ll just sink into ignorance.

Ok, Doc, that’s a good
point. But...

Wait, first let me tell you
another story....

We’re on the Spanish island
of Ibiza, at the height
of the Flower Power
movement....

Imagine no more stories,
and no fictions too...

You are such a dreamer,
Johnnie....

But I’m telling you, it won’t
work. Without believing in
something, human society
just falls apart. You don’t
end up in peaceful paradise,
but in violent chaos.

So we should just hold on
to our tried-and-tested
traditions, even if deep
down we suspect they
are just fictions.

As I keep
telling you:
let things be.

Thump!

Are you seeing
what I’m seeing, Maggie?

...or is that just
my trip?

Oh yes, I’m
seeing it,
alright! It’s
Doctor Fiction!

244

You’re both half-right, half-wrong. You can’t get
rid of all fictions, Johnnie-Boy.

Maggie’s right—society
would just collapse.

But, Maggie, that doesn’t
mean you should just stick
with whatever nonsense your
ancestors left you. You can
change the story and come up
with a better one.

Wow! that’s great news, Doc!

I’ll come up with
a perfect story for
a perfect world!
Something nobody ever
thought of before!

I’ve got loads
of ideas for
fictions, it won’t
take long!

Er, it isn’t that easy! Remember you
need millions of other people to
accept your story....

Millions of people?!
Ouch! That’ll be
tricky!

Right... It’s super
difficult to convince
people to believe in a
completely new story.

If you want to change the world, you usually
need to start with a story that society already
believes. Then you rework it, tweaking it here
and there. That’s why there are few really big
stories in the world—but each one of these
has lots of different and even contradictory
versions.

Contradictory
versions?

How exactly?

245

Ok, Doc, that’s a good
point. But...

Wait, first let me tell you
another story....

We’re on the Spanish island
of Ibiza, at the height
of the Flower Power
movement....

Imagine no more stories,
and no fictions too...

You are such a dreamer,
Johnnie....

But I’m telling you, it won’t
work. Without believing in
something, human society
just falls apart. You don’t
end up in peaceful paradise,
but in violent chaos.

So we should just hold on
to our tried-and-tested
traditions, even if deep
down we suspect they
are just fictions.

As I keep
telling you:
let things be.

Thump!

Are you seeing
what I’m seeing, Maggie?

...or is that just
my trip?

Oh yes, I’m
seeing it,
alright! It’s
Doctor Fiction!

You’re both half-right, half-wrong. You can’t get
rid of all fictions, Johnnie-Boy.

Maggie’s right—society
would just collapse.

But, Maggie, that doesn’t
mean you should just stick
with whatever nonsense your
ancestors left you. You can
change the story and come up
with a better one.

Wow! that’s great news, Doc!

I’ll come up with
a perfect story for
a perfect world!
Something nobody ever
thought of before!

I’ve got loads
of ideas for
fictions, it won’t
take long!

Er, it isn’t that easy! Remember you
need millions of other people to
accept your story....

Millions of people?!
Ouch! That’ll be
tricky!

Right... It’s super
difficult to convince
people to believe in a
completely new story.

If you want to change the world, you usually
need to start with a story that society already
believes. Then you rework it, tweaking it here
and there. That’s why there are few really big
stories in the world—but each one of these
has lots of different and even contradictory
versions.

Contradictory
versions?

How exactly?

Do Good Skyman
and Bad Skyman
mean anything
to you? I’m
guessing you’ve
heard of them....

All we
need is
love

I’m just a
jealous god....

I travel the world spreading
peace and love....

Love your neighbor as
you love yourself!

Blessed be thy union! Love is
always good!

Tolerance, tolerance... Dance
the dance of tolerance...

Aaah... What
a wonderful
day! I’m
pleased with
my work!

Into bed! Roll on
tomorrow!

246

I travel
the world
spreading
discord
and hate....

Follow me! Let’s
annihilate those heretics!

If she burns, that’s proof
that she’s a witch!

If any of you know why these
people should not be joined
together in matrimony, speak
now or forever hold your
peace!

God hates
gays!!!

Intolerant bigot!

Sentimentalist sap!

For goodness’ sake,
stop, Bad Skyman!

Hey, you
liar! You
said you’d
turn the
other
cheek!

So there you are... Same big story—two very different
versions.

What d’ya mean? How
does it end? Which version
wins?

Whoever you
support.

247

Do Good Skyman
and Bad Skyman
mean anything
to you? I’m
guessing you’ve
heard of them....

All we
need is
love

I’m just a
jealous god....

I travel the world spreading
peace and love....

Love your neighbor as
you love yourself!

Blessed be thy union! Love is
always good!

Tolerance, tolerance... Dance
the dance of tolerance...

Aaah... What
a wonderful
day! I’m
pleased with
my work!

Into bed! Roll on
tomorrow!

I travel
the world
spreading
discord
and hate....

Follow me! Let’s
annihilate those heretics!

If she burns, that’s proof
that she’s a witch!

If any of you know why these
people should not be joined
together in matrimony, speak
now or forever hold your
peace!

God hates
gays!!!

Intolerant bigot!

Sentimentalist sap!

For goodness’ sake,
stop, Bad Skyman!

Hey, you
liar! You
said you’d
turn the
other
cheek!

So there you are... Same big story—two very different
versions.

What d’ya mean? How
does it end? Which version
wins?

Whoever you
support.

But how do you know which bits of
the big story to keep?

And which to
change?

You have to
find the right
balance.

If people have faith in nothing, social order collapses,
causing a lot of suffering.

If people believe
something too obsessively,
that can also inflict
terrible suffering.

A big part of
politics is about
finding the right
balance.

But how do you find the
right balance?

HufF!

Aaargh...

Could you
give us some
advice?

It all comes down
to suffering.

We should always ask, “Is anyone suffering
because of our story?”

Then, talk
to them...

“If so,
who?”

...and listen
to their story.

Don’t shirk your
responsibilities
by claiming that
the story is some
eternal truth
that can’t be
changed.

Stories are just tools we create
to help people.... if they do more
harm than good, we can and
should change them.

It’s... it’s
difficult.

You have to do
it carefully. But
it’s doable.

Wait! I always thought
that you can’t change a
really big story without
starting huge wars and
killing loads of people!
Look at the French or
the Russian Revolution!

Hmm...

248

It’s difficult, but not impossible. Think
about the feminist revolution.... In
the last hundred years, the feminist
revolution has completely changed the
big story about men, women and gender.
After thousands of years of patriarchal
societies, things have radically changed.

Sure, we still don’t live in completely
egalitarian societies. But if you think about
everything that’s changed in the last
century, it’s incredible. It’s one of the biggest
revolutions in the history of manki— humankind!

And what’s even more
amazing is that this
huge revolution was
completely peaceful.
Feminists didn’t set
up guillotines or
gulags, and they
didn’t assassinate any
presidents or start
any wars. But they
still managed to
change the world!

Which proves that we
can change the world
for the better, that we
can do it quickly and we
can do it peacefully.

249

But how do you know which bits of
the big story to keep?

And which to
change?

You have to
find the right
balance.

If people have faith in nothing, social order collapses,
causing a lot of suffering.

If people believe
something too obsessively,
that can also inflict
terrible suffering.

A big part of
politics is about
finding the right
balance.

But how do you find the
right balance?

HufF!

Aaargh...

Could you
give us some
advice?

It all comes down
to suffering.

We should always ask, “Is anyone suffering
because of our story?”

Then, talk
to them...

“If so,
who?”

...and listen
to their story.

Don’t shirk your
responsibilities
by claiming that
the story is some
eternal truth
that can’t be
changed.

Stories are just tools we create
to help people.... if they do more
harm than good, we can and
should change them.

It’s... it’s
difficult.

You have to do
it carefully. But
it’s doable.

Wait! I always thought
that you can’t change a
really big story without
starting huge wars and
killing loads of people!
Look at the French or
the Russian Revolution!

Hmm...

It’s difficult, but not impossible. Think
about the feminist revolution.... In
the last hundred years, the feminist
revolution has completely changed the
big story about men, women and gender.
After thousands of years of patriarchal
societies, things have radically changed.

Sure, we still don’t live in completely
egalitarian societies. But if you think about
everything that’s changed in the last
century, it’s incredible. It’s one of the biggest
revolutions in the history of manki— humankind!

And what’s even more
amazing is that this
huge revolution was
completely peaceful.
Feminists didn’t set
up guillotines or
gulags, and they
didn’t assassinate any
presidents or start
any wars. But they
still managed to
change the world!

Which proves that we
can change the world
for the better, that we
can do it quickly and we
can do it peacefully.

So you see, if there’s a
problem with a story, there’s
always some way it can be
changed.

But that’s not
up to me, it’s not
my job to invent
the stories or to
change them....

That’s your
job!

But... that’s a huge responsibility
for humans, Doc! Are you
sure we can handle it?

Well, I don’t see anyone else
around who could do it for you....

Ok, Doc, I believe
you now. I get
that you’re not
the source of the
problem.... But then,
what is your job?

And why do I
keep seeing you
wherever there
is some major
injustice going on?

250

I’m there to let you and other
humans know This world isn’t
inevitable. You can change the
story. It’s up to you.

When you see me in a
bank you know economic
arrangements aren’t
some law of nature.
They’re a human
invention.

When you see me in a temple you
know religious commandments
didn’t come down from heaven.
They’re a human invention.

When you see me in a
government office you know
political institutions aren’t a
product of biology. They’re a
human invention.

251

So you see, if there’s a
problem with a story, there’s
always some way it can be
changed.

But that’s not
up to me, it’s not
my job to invent
the stories or to
change them....

That’s your
job!

But... that’s a huge responsibility
for humans, Doc! Are you
sure we can handle it?

Well, I don’t see anyone else
around who could do it for you....

Ok, Doc, I believe
you now. I get
that you’re not
the source of the
problem.... But then,
what is your job?

And why do I
keep seeing you
wherever there
is some major
injustice going on?

I’m there to let you and other
humans know This world isn’t
inevitable. You can change the
story. It’s up to you.

When you see me in a
bank you know economic
arrangements aren’t
some law of nature.
They’re a human
invention.

When you see me in a temple you
know religious commandments
didn’t come down from heaven.
They’re a human invention.

When you see me in a
government office you know
political institutions aren’t a
product of biology. They’re a
human invention.

It’s my job to travel the world
blowing the cover off the stories
that Sapiens believe! And reminding
people that every person has the
power to change these stories.

That is my humble
superpower.

The rest is
up to you.

252

COMING UP IN SAPIENS

The Fictional Three...
UNITE HUMANITY!

Money makes
the world
go ’round

Follow us, merchants,
conquerors and
prophets! The
time has come to
unite the world!

One crown to rule
them all
And in an empire bind
them

Halleluja!
Halleluja!

Captain Dollar

Lady Empire

Skyman

Coming up in Sapiens —discover how Sapiens went about perfecting
cooperation and trying to unite the whole planet!*

*With less-than-optimal
results...

It’s my job to travel the world
blowing the cover off the stories
that Sapiens believe! And reminding
people that every person has the
power to change these stories.

That is my humble
superpower.

The rest is
up to you.

The Fictional Three...
UNITE HUMANITY!

Money makes
the world
go ’round

Follow us, merchants,
conquerors and
prophets! The
time has come to
unite the world!

One crown to rule
them all
And in an empire bind
them

Halleluja!
Halleluja!

Captain Dollar

Lady Empire

Skyman

Coming up in Sapiens —discover how Sapiens went about perfecting
cooperation and trying to unite the whole planet!*

*With less-than-optimal
results...

COMING UP IN SAPIENS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Creating a graphic novel is a team effort at the best of times, and certainly during a global pandemic.
I would like to thank the following people, whose collaboration and contributions made this project
possible:

To David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave, who have poured their creative genius and energies into
coauthoring this graphic novel with me. Your ability to make me laugh out loud over email is truly
astounding, and finding new ways of retelling human history together has been an honor and a pleasure.

To Martin Zeller, for thoughtfully editing the book and enabling our bilingual team to communicate
clearly and efficiently.

To Adriana Hunter, for perceptively translating the text from French and copy editing it in English.

To Claire Champion, for adding great color to the illustrations, quite literally.

To Anne Michel, Lauren Triou, Aurelie Lapautre, and the entire publishing team at Albin Michel, who
helped make this collaboration happen.

To the production team at Sapienship, for working tirelessly to bring the best possible version of this book
into the world: CEO Naama Avital, CMO Naama Wartenburg, Nina Zivy, who bravely coordinated the
creation of the manuscript page by page, research assistant Dr. Jason Parry—along with Shay Abel, Daniel
Taylor, Michael Zur, Hannah Morgan, Guangyu Chen, and Galiete Gothelf.

To Dr. Slava Greenberg, Prof. Amanda Esterhuysen, and Abel Anccalle Good, for their very important
input on diversity and gender.

To Dr. Alik Pelman, for advising on the practicalities of growing one’s own wheat.

To my mother, Pnina Harari, for a lifetime of support and encouragement.

To my beloved husband and cofounder of Sapienship, Itzik Yahav, for his talent, trust and fearlessness.

—YUVAL NOAH HARARI

Our heartfelt thanks to Yuval for his enthusiasm and round-the-clock commitment. Thanks also to the
whole Sapienship team who have made this decidedly unusual project possible.

—DAVID VANDERMEULEN, DANIEL CASANAVE AND CLAIRE CHAMPION

Thank you to Nathalie Van Campenhoudt for her invaluable thoughtfulness and her constant support.

—DAVID VANDERMEULEN

To the memory of Angelica and Dorotéo.

—DANIEL CASANAVE

Thank you to Célia and Noé for their help.

—CLAIRE CHAMPION

The editor would like to thank the three authors for managing to put this book together despite
exceptionally chaotic circumstances, the production team for coping so well and the Sapienship

Storytelling team for a very special partnership.

ALSO BY YUVAL NOAH HARARI

Sapiens: A Graphic History, The Birth of Humankind (Vol. 1)
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Creating a graphic novel is a team effort at the best of times, and certainly during a global pandemic.
I would like to thank the following people, whose collaboration and contributions made this project
possible:

To David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave, who have poured their creative genius and energies into
coauthoring this graphic novel with me. Your ability to make me laugh out loud over email is truly
astounding, and finding new ways of retelling human history together has been an honor and a pleasure.

To Martin Zeller, for thoughtfully editing the book and enabling our bilingual team to communicate
clearly and efficiently.

To Adriana Hunter, for perceptively translating the text from French and copy editing it in English.

To Claire Champion, for adding great color to the illustrations, quite literally.

To Anne Michel, Lauren Triou, Aurelie Lapautre, and the entire publishing team at Albin Michel, who
helped make this collaboration happen.

To the production team at Sapienship, for working tirelessly to bring the best possible version of this book
into the world: CEO Naama Avital, CMO Naama Wartenburg, Nina Zivy, who bravely coordinated the
creation of the manuscript page by page, research assistant Dr. Jason Parry—along with Shay Abel, Daniel
Taylor, Michael Zur, Hannah Morgan, Guangyu Chen, and Galiete Gothelf.

To Dr. Slava Greenberg, Prof. Amanda Esterhuysen, and Abel Anccalle Good, for their very important
input on diversity and gender.

To Dr. Alik Pelman, for advising on the practicalities of growing one’s own wheat.

To my mother, Pnina Harari, for a lifetime of support and encouragement.

To my beloved husband and cofounder of Sapienship, Itzik Yahav, for his talent, trust and fearlessness.

—YUVAL NOAH HARARI

Our heartfelt thanks to Yuval for his enthusiasm and round-the-clock commitment. Thanks also to the
whole Sapienship team who have made this decidedly unusual project possible.

—DAVID VANDERMEULEN, DANIEL CASANAVE AND CLAIRE CHAMPION

Thank you to Nathalie Van Campenhoudt for her invaluable thoughtfulness and her constant support.

—DAVID VANDERMEULEN

To the memory of Angelica and Dorotéo.

—DANIEL CASANAVE

Thank you to Célia and Noé for their help.

—CLAIRE CHAMPION

The editor would like to thank the three authors for managing to put this book together despite
exceptionally chaotic circumstances, the production team for coping so well and the Sapienship

Storytelling team for a very special partnership.

ALSO BY YUVAL NOAH HARARI

Sapiens: A Graphic History, The Birth of Humankind (Vol. 1)
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK

The beauty of science is that it is always evolving: new discoveries are
forever changing our understanding of the world. This book’s authors
and editorial team have made an effort to ensure that its representation
of historical events is based on the latest scientific research available at
the time of writing. Many disputes persist among scholars about the
interpretation of particular pieces of archaeological, genetic and textual
evidence, and some of these debates may never be satisfactorily resolved.
Future discoveries and innovations could upend our understanding of
the past, and we should all look forward to such breakthroughs. But this
does not mean that everything is debatable. It can be said with certainty
that several species of humans existed in the past, that the last remaining
human species, Homo sapiens, domesticated plants and animals,
unlocked the laws of nature and created globe-spanning empires using
the power of stories. Every year we are learning more about how these
transformations unfolded, and how they helped create the world that we
now inhabit.

About the Author

Yuval Noah Harari , bestselling historian and philosopher, is considered one of the world’s most influential intellectuals today. His popular books—including Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind , Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow , 21 Lessons for the 21st Century , and Sapiens: A Graphic History —have sold more than thirty million copies in sixty languages and have been recommended by Barack Obama, Chris Evans, Janelle Monáe, Bill Gates, and many others. Harari has a PhD in history from the University of Oxford and lectures at the department of history, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK

The beauty of science is that it is always evolving: new discoveries are
forever changing our understanding of the world. This book’s authors
and editorial team have made an effort to ensure that its representation
of historical events is based on the latest scientific research available at
the time of writing. Many disputes persist among scholars about the
interpretation of particular pieces of archaeological, genetic and textual
evidence, and some of these debates may never be satisfactorily resolved.
Future discoveries and innovations could upend our understanding of
the past, and we should all look forward to such breakthroughs. But this
does not mean that everything is debatable. It can be said with certainty
that several species of humans existed in the past, that the last remaining
human species, Homo sapiens, domesticated plants and animals,
unlocked the laws of nature and created globe-spanning empires using
the power of stories. Every year we are learning more about how these
transformations unfolded, and how they helped create the world that we
now inhabit.

About the Author

Yuval Noah Harari , bestselling historian and philosopher, is considered one of the world’s most influential intellectuals today. His popular books—including Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind , Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow , 21 Lessons for the 21st Century , and Sapiens: A Graphic History —have sold more than thirty million copies in sixty languages and have been recommended by Barack Obama, Chris Evans, Janelle Monáe, Bill Gates, and many others. Harari has a PhD in history from the University of Oxford and lectures at the department of history, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com .

About the Publisher

Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
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22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3
www.harpercollins.ca

India
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Noida
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www.harpercollins.co.in

New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk

United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com

About the Publisher

Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower
22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3
www.harpercollins.ca

India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida
Uttar Pradesh 201 301
www.harpercollins.co.in

New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk

United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com

Table of Contents

- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Timeline of History
- Little Crop of Horrors
- Of Myths and Men
- Into the Labyrinth
- The Cabinet of Doctor Fiction
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Yuval Noah Harari
- About the Contents of This Book
- About the Author
- About the Publisher