If I have a complaint at this stage of my relationship with Johann, it would be that he eats too fast. This doesn’t affect me in any real way except on the nights we have shared sides, which is not that often. I am a single dish cook—and not a particularly good one at that.
Two years into our relationship, Johann has lost forms of pretence about moderation or portion control. He knows that I love him and his guard is down. While it’s there, he sees no problem with helping himself to the better part of a shared serving of French fries. There are more nights than I care to count when I look at him with his cheeks stuffed full of simple carbohydrates and roll my eyes in disgust. It’s not a good look for either of us.
“I can’t help it babe,” Johann says, stifling a burp. “It’s in my DNA.”
At this I sigh. Johann is in the middle of reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. DNA has become his go-to excuse for just about everything: overeating; sleep patterns; fear of heights. Every day it’s some new tidbit about art or religion or national currency, as explained by a NYT bestseller that was published nearly a decade ago.
Much as I love talking about books, I am a little annoyed in this case. Because I, too, have read Sapiens. Perhaps more importantly, I have finished it. And I don’t remember there being a chapter about binge eating in the book. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there, of course. It just didn’t stick with me.
I suppose that’s understandable. When you read, you pay attention to the pieces that pertain to you. You look for answers to the questions that trouble you most. I read like an emotional detective, collecting clues that may increase my happiness or improve my relationships. I am searching for ways to broaden my own experience with second-hand perspectives and cautionary tales about blind ambition. I’m not really looking to explain my eating habits through genetics. I have women’s magazines for that.
To me, the most interesting part about Sapiens wasn’t snack habits. It was about how the introduction of humans on different land masses caused a vast majority of the mega-fauna (animals weighing more than 100 pounds) in those regions to go extinct within a few thousand years (which the book explains is but a blink of the eye in terms of human history). For example, in North America, lions, camels, mastodons, giant ground sloths and rhinoceros were roaming freely before humans arrived. Just two thousands years later, they were gone.
Admit it: You didn’t know there were camels walking around in present-day Arizona. Or maybe you did. How about the 8-ton, 20-feet tall ground sloth? Did you know about that? The lions? What is a mastodon, do you know? If you do, then I have to ask: Why aren’t you working that into conversation more? This is information we all need to have and then be reminded about on the regular. Because here’s the real problem that I noticed when I was reading Sapiens: Humans, for as smart and advanced as we are, can’t keep track of shit. We need to be reminded again and again of how we messed things up in the past. In this way, we can try to do better in the present and, hopefully, not completely ruin the future.
I understand that 2000 years is a long time to keep a story about a sloth going, but we should be trying. It’s the principle of it, anyway. If we can forget about a two-story sloth, then we can forget about anything. I look at the news today about how one-third of Europeans don’t know what the Holocaust is or how some people on Twitter think the new Chernobyl series on HBO is fictional and I prove my point over and over. It is clear to me that humans’ greatest weakness is our attention span. If we haven’t seen it, if haven’t done it ourselves, then it never happened. Why should we take someone else’s word for it? Whether it’s the ground sloth or a nuclear meltdown, for humans, seeing is believing. And that’s a real problem for a species that doesn’t show much interest in looking at the past.
If Sapiens left one impression on me it’s that nothing lasts forever. No species can grow unchecked, indefinitely. Once upon a time, we evolved to survive. We had to kill off the mega-fauna so they didn’t kill us. The mammoths and the diprotodons had to go, I guess. It seems unreasonable, but I will accept the outcome. I trust my ancestors’ judgment.
But what about now? Humans are at the top of the food chain. There is literally no reason for us to still be on a killing spree of rhinos or giraffes, and yet here we are, grinding horns and making rugs. We understand the consequences, the concept of extinction – or at least we should – but that doesn’t stop us. To me, the real a-ha moment of Sapiens wasn’t that humans wiped out most of the animals in the world already, it’s that we’re on track to eliminate the rest.
That’s frightening enough, but it also begs the question: After that, then what? What happens after we kill those other species? If people constantly evolve, if there is something in our DNA that makes us want to dominate, then what happens once we have effectively conquered the remaining animals? I think it’s fairly obvious: We’ll eat each other.
This idea, by the way, isn’t in the book any more than Johann’s snack pack. It’s my interpretation. I am taking what I read, packing in some CNN special reports and then adding my own experience from an African safari that was criminally short on animals. It’s basic extrapolation, but without any actual scientific rigor.
The book closes with a pretty solid argument about why my interpretation about why human-on-human mass extinction will never happen. According to the book, we live in a period of prolonged global peace. Economic growth relies on this peace and human advancement depends on economic growth. As the economy becomes more and more global, peoples’ lives become increasingly intertwined. As such, the cost of war increases. On the other hand, periods of peace results in greater prosperity for everyone. Ipso facto, no more war. We did it – we’re saved!
There’s just one problem: The book was written in 2011. It was translated into English only in 2014. The conclusions are based on assumptions such as this:
Today humankind has broken the law of the jungle. There is at last real peace and not just the absence of war. For most polities, there is no plausible scenario leading to full scale conflict within one year. What could lead to war between Germany and France next year? Or between China and Japan? Some minor border clash might occur but only a truly apocalyptic scenario could result in old-fashioned full-scale war.
Is that so, Dr. Harari? A true apocalypse, you say? Well 2016 called. Care to respond with an Afterword?
It remains unclear what lasting consequences, if any, the world will face because of the most recent American election. Part of me wonders if it matters at all – not because our current President is unlikely to upend global democracy or start an international war, but because our fate was sealed long before November 2016. In reading Sapiens, it is clear that seemingly insignificant events can change the world for generations to come. The smallest of actions could set in motion a series of events that have the power to rewrite history. To me, it’s just a matter of which mistake will do us in first: climate change, nuclear war, genetic engineering. We have plenty to choose from.
And on that note, a toast to the weekend: Eat, drink and be merry. Have as many chips as you want. For we know not what tomorrow will bring.
one quick comment about Mr. Trump: he may not start a war, but he can easily cause one, simply by insulting the hell out of everyone that is not us. Canada, Mexico, Britain, Russia, China, the Malay Peninsula, Hawaii. He’s a goader, then he stands back like any good narcissist and says, ‘ all I said was…” and we are off and rolling.
And Im afraid eating styles are built in. They come with the person, and if he’s happy where he is, hey, it’s his body, his metabolism, and not much you can do about it but now and then kick him in the kneecap in restaurants. I stabbed someone in a posh restaurant one night when he tried to take one of my shrimp. I got him with my shrimp fork. =)
100% correct. Anyone who disagrees or defends him must not be watching the news about the last-minute cancellation of an air strike in Iran. Eat the chips, indeed. JUST NOT MINE.
Okay, wait. Can we go back to this multi-level sloth? I am fascinated and I have questions.
Right???? A multi-level sloth! Say no more!
I miss seeing your photos since they are only available on Instagram. I don’t have or plan to have Instagram.
Hey there! I know – I’ve tried to sort that out a few times but cant get it to work. If you go to the actual page – not just read the post thru the email – then you should be able to see the pictures even if you don’t have an Instagram account. Let me know if that’s not true! And hopefully I’ll figure out a solution in the meantime.