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Informationen zum Autor Oded Galor is Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics at Brown University and the founding thinker behind Unified Growth Theory, which seeks to uncover the fundamental causes of development, prosperity, and inequality over the entire span of human history. He has shared the insights of his lifetime’s work in this field at some of the most prestigious lectures around the globe and has now distilled those discoveries into The Journey of Humanity , which is being published in twenty-eight languages worldwide. Klappentext Now in paperback, the ambitious, discussable big think book by an influential economist, about the power of diversity and humanity's growth, via a multidisciplinary approach that examines exactly what sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, Leseprobe 1 First Steps Climbing the winding path towards the Mount Carmel Caves in modern-day Israel, it is possible to envision the majestic environment that would have surrounded this site in prehistoric times. The Mediterranean climate would have been pleasant across the seasons, with moderate temperature fluctuations. The creek snaking through the mountains in the adjacent verdant valley would have been a source of potable water. The forests beside the mountain range would have been suitable for hunting deer, gazelles, rhinoceroses and boar, and out in the wild, in the open areas abutting the narrow coastal plain and the Samarian mountains, there would have grown prehistoric species of cereals and fruit trees. The warm climate, ecological diversity and raw materials surrounding the Mount Carmel Caves would have made them ideal homes for numerous bands of hunter-gatherers over the millennia. Indeed, remains unearthed in these ancient caves, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site of human evolution, attest to a sequence of prehistoric settlements over hundreds of thousands of years, as well as tantalising potential encounters between Homo sapiens and the Neanderthals. Archaeological findings from this and other sites across the globe indicate that archaic and early modern humans slowly but steadily acquired new skills, mastered the use of fire, developed increasingly sophisticated blades, handaxes, and flint and limestone tools, and created artworks. A key driver of these cultural and technological advancements, which came to define humankind and set us apart from other species, was the evolution of the human brain. Genesis The human brain is extraordinary: large, compressed and more complex than the brain of any other species. It has tripled in size over the last six million years, with most of this transformation occurring 200,000-800,000 years ago, largely before the emergence of Homo sapiens. Why have the capabilities of the human brain expanded so significantly over the course of the history of the human species? At first glance, the answer might appear self-evident: having an advanced brain has clearly allowed us to achieve levels of security and prosperity that no other species on Earth has managed to attain. Yet the reality is considerably more intricate. If a brain resembling the human one is indeed so unambiguously beneficial for survival, why has no other species developed a similar brain over billions of years of evolution? Consider this distinction for a moment. Eyes, for example, developed independently along several evolutionary tracks. They evolved among vertebrates (amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles), cephalopods (including cuttlefish, octopuses and squid), as well as in a simpler form - ocelli - in invertebrates such as bees, spiders, jellyfish and sea stars. The distant ancestor of all these species, which lived more than 500 million years ago, seems to have had only basic light receptors, capable of distinguishing light from dark.Nevertheless, since accurate visi...
