作品：《人类简史》《未来简史》

Ape（猿）, chimpanzee（猩猩）, homo sapiens(现代人)，cram(塞满)，inquisitive（好奇心的）Large-scale cooperation，cathedral, mosque,  crusade, jihad,

The real difference between humans and all other animals is not on the individual level but on the collective level. Humans control the planet because they are the only animals that can cooperate both flexibly and in very large numbers.

The only animal that can combine the two abilities together and cooperate both flexibly and still do so in large numbers is us, homo sapiens.

All the achievements of humankind throughout history, whether it’s building the pyramids or flying to the moon, have been based not on individual abilities, but on this ability to cooperate flexibly in large numbers. 

We can cooperate flexibly with countless numbers of strangers, because we alone, of the animals on the planet, can create and believe fictions, fictions stories. And as long as everybody believes in the same fiction, everybody obeys and follows the same rules, the same norms, the same values.

All other animals use their communication system only to describe reality.

Humans, in contrast, use their language not merely to describe reality, but also to create new realities, fictional realities,

We humans control the world because we live in a dual reality. All other animals live in objective reality. Their reality consists of objective entities like rivers and trees and lions and elephants. We humans, we also live in an objective reality. In our world, too, there are rivers and trees and lions and elephants. But over the centuries, we have constructed on top of this objective reality a second layer of fictional reality, a reality made of fictional entities like nations, gods, money and corporations. And what is amazing is that as history unfolded, this fictional reality became more and more powerful. so that today, the most powerful forces in the world are these fictional entities. today, the very survival of rivers and trees and lions and elephants depends on the decisions and wishes of fictional entities, like the united states, like google ,like the world bank…entities that exist only in our own imagination.

Q:

We are experiencing amazing breakthroughs right now which not only will potentially make our lives better but they will create new classes and new class struggles, just as the industrial revolution.

In the industrial revolution, we saw the creation of a new class of the urban proletariat. And much of the political and social history of the last 200 years involved what to do with this class, and the new problems and opportunities. Now, we see the creation of new massive class of useless people.

As computers become better and better in more and more fields, there is a distinct possibility that computers will out-perform us in most tasks and will make humans redundant. And then the big political and economic question of the 21st century will be, “what do we need humans for?” or at least,” what do we need so many humans for?”

At present the best guess we have is to keep them happy with drugs and computer games. But this doesn’t sound like a very appealing future.

It’s not a prophecy; it’s seeing all kinds of possibilities before us. One possibility is this creation of a new massive class of useless people. Another possibility is the division of humankind into different biological castes, with rich being upgraded into virtual gods, and the poor being degraded to this level of useless people.

人类和其他动物的真正区别不是在个体层面，而是在集体层面。人类能主宰这个星球就是因为他们是唯一一种能灵活进行大型合作的物种。

其他的动物，有的虽然能进行大型合作却无法灵活进行如蜜蜂蚂蚁等；有的动物如狼大象等哺乳动物能更加灵活地合作，但只是在小范围内。

唯一能将这两种能力（既能灵活地合作又能进行大规模合作）结合在一起的动物就是我们智人了。

纵观历史，人类所有伟大的成就，不管是登月还是建金字塔，都不仅是靠个人的才能，而是靠进行大规模灵活合作的能力。

这种合作并不总是好的，历史上人们做过的那些可怕的事情，也是基于大规模的合作，监狱是一种合作的体系，屠宰场是一种合作的体系，集中营也是一种合作的体系。动物的世界没有这些，他们不会处死某个动物。

那我们为什么能与无数陌生人灵活合作？什么使得我们能在所有动物中独树一帜以这种方式进行合作？

因为我们有想象力。我们能与不计其数的陌生人灵活合作，因为地球上只有我们能创造并且相信虚幻和虚幻故事。只要大家都相信同样的虚构物，大家便会遵循相同的规定，相同的准则，相同的价值观。其他的所有动物都只是用它们的交流系统来描述现实。而人类不仅用它们的语言来描述现实，还用他们的语言来创造新的现实，虚构的现实。

在动物的世界里，他们也有自己的一套交流规则，不过他们只用来描述现实世界。

而人类不仅仅是描述现实，也能创造一个新的世界，虚假世界。例如宗教和法律，就是人类想象力创造出来的虚幻故事（他们不是客观现实，也不是人类的某些生物效应），并且大家都相信这样的故事。而正是这种机制支持者所有其他的人类大型合作。

而钱是人类创造的最成功的故事，因为它是唯一一个大家都相信的故事。钱不是客观现实，没有客观价值。但是人人都相信它。

总结：

我们人类主宰世界是因为我们生活在双重现实中，其他的所有动物都生活在客观现实中。它们的现实包含客观实体,如河，树，狮子以及大象。我们人类也同样生活在客观现实中，我们的世界里也有河，树，狮子和大象。这个虚构现实变得越来越强大。于是今天世界上最强大的力量，是这些虚构实体。现今，河树狮子以及大象的生死取决于这些虚构实体的决定与意愿,如美国谷歌世界银行，这些实体只存在与我们的想象中。

Q：

我们正在经历一些惊人的变化，这些变化不仅很可能使我们的生活更好，还会创造像工业革命一样的新的阶层或者新的阶级斗争。

在工业革命时期，我们看到了一个新阶层的诞生：城市无产阶层。近200年的大部分政治和社会历史都与这个阶层以及新的问题与机遇有关。而现在我们又目睹着一个无用之人的新的大规模阶层的产生。随着电脑的应用在更多的领域不断精进，一个很明显的可能就是电脑会在很多方面都超出人类，使人类变得多余。

随着电脑的应用在更多的领域不断精进，一个很明显的可能就是电脑会在很多方面超过人类，使人类变得多余。而21世纪最大的政治经济问题就是“我们要人类有什么用？”或者至少是“我们要这么多人做什么？”

对于这个问题最好的猜想就是借用药物和电脑游戏等使他们高兴，但这并不是一个吸引人的未来。

鉴于越来越多的经济不平衡的证据的讨论，那我们现在处在一个怎样的发展阶段？

前面的猜想并不是预言，而是展现在我们面前的所有可能。一种可能是由无用之人组成的大规模新阶层的产生；另一种可能是人类分为不同的生物团体：富人被升级为现实中的上帝，穷人则降为无用之人。