By Alec Hogg
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Noah Harari’s quite brilliant international bestseller Sapiens. It is packed with fascinating insights, mostly showing how mankind’s thought processes have been abused by myths created to keep the masses in line.
For me, the best sign of a good book is the sadness that sets in when getting close to the end. In this case, that’s being offset by no slackening of the pace; and the knowledge that the follow up, Homo Deus, awaits in the bedside table drawer.
There are many jewels to be plucked from Sapiens, but one that got me reflecting is Harari’s thesis that the pyramid of human reliance has been upended. For most of history, we have primarily relied for all our needs on our immediate, then extended family; and then our community. But in the last 200 years the ancient regime has been superseded by a new reliance on the State and the market.
With the free spread of information and seamless communication, mankind is now developing a healthy scepticism towards these old myths. Clem Sunter nailed it decades ago with his appropriately titled book “Pretoria will provide and other myths.” The rest of the world is catching on. About time.
