Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Since the Scientific Revolution began in Europe 500 years ago, growth and change have been unparalleled. The unprecedented advances in scientific research, with its assumptions of human ignorance—that is, the assumption that we do not know everything, and that what we think we know can be proven wrong—have happened because science finally attempted to answer what people wanted to know: life’s biggest questions. Religious traditions of knowledge, on the other hand, assumed that what was important was already known.

Because modern people and culture have been able to admit ignorance, there has been more scientific progress and more knowledge amassed than in any previous culture. Modern culture assembles its theories and knowledge using the language of mathematics and statistics, whereas knowledge had previously been transferred and passed down through generations in stories and religious texts. This knowledge is shareable, and each generation of learners benefits from the compiled knowledge already available.

Knowledge is now used in a search for not just truth, but utility. The more useful the power of knowledge, the better the science. This is evident in how the military arms race propelled scientific discovery.