1.2 The Tree of Knowledge

认知革命、阀值理论、想象构建、集体力量

1.The appearance of new ways of thinking and communicating constitutes the Cognitive Revolution.

2.What is so special about our language?

We can connect a limited number of sounds andsigns to produce a n infinite number of sentences.

We can thereby digest, store andcommunicate a prodigious amount of information about the surrounding world.

3.Our language evolves as a way of gossiping.

Reliable information about who could be trustedmeant small bands could expand into larger bands, and Sapiens could developtighter and more sophisticated types of cooperation.

In nowadays, gossiping takes various forms,such as in the forms of emails, phone calls, or newspaper columns.

4.The ability to transmit information about things that do not exist at all.

Only Sapiens can talk about the entire kinds of entities that they have never seen, touched or smelled—like legends, Gods,myths and religions.

5. Fiction has enabled us not merely to imagine things, but to do so collectively. Sapiens can cooperate in extremelyflexible ways with countless numbers of strangers.