Sapiens 14 -- The Industrial Revolution

See also these transcripts, posted by someone else who took Dr. Harari's Coursera course.

Lesson 14 - part 1 -- Industrial Revolution gave humankind control of enormous new (and cheaper) energy resources and raw materials.  We have *plenty* of energy and resources, if only we can learn to harness them.

• The IR is not the discovery of some new energy source or raw material, but rather the idea that there are limitless resources out there and we simply need to learn to harness these resources.
• Steam engine = the 1st invention (to pump out coal mines); counter-intuitive to convert heat energy into movement
• "This invention of the steam engine was important not only in itself, but also because it broke a big psychological barrier. It proved that by inventing the right machine, you could use almost any kind of energy in the world for any purpose you want."
• E=mc2 
• Other sources of energy that humans learned to harness:  petroleum, electricity, atoms
• "The Industrial Revolution was thus a revolution of energy. Its deep meaning is that there is no limit to the amount of energy at our disposal. The only limit is set by our ignorance."  The world doesn't lack energy, just the knowledge of how to harness it.
• Before the IR, plants were the only source of energy (as food to fuel muscles).  On earth, plant energy through photosynthesis makes up only 3k exajoules/year, a very small fraction of the nearly 4 million exajoules reach earth every year through the sun's energy.
• We're not running out of raw materials either:  More energy allows us to extract/transport materials in new ways and discover new ones:  plastic, aluminum, WWI Germany ammonium story.

Lesson 14 - part 2 -- the impact of the IR was first and foremost in agriculture

• Animals turned into food machines:  "The modern animal industry is not motivated by animosity; it is fueled mainly by greed coupled with indifference. Not caring about the fate of these creatures."
• Harlow’s experiment on the infant monkeys showed that mammals have social/emotional needs.
• Iindustrial methods of agriculture, of raising animals, are one of the things that led to a very sharp increase in the productivity of agriculture and in human food reserves.
• "In almost all previous societies peasants comprised more than 90% of the population, and this was true until the early 20th century. Only following the industrialization of agriculture was possible for a smaller and smaller number of farmers to produce more and more food to feed people in the cities." (2% of the population of the US work in agriculture)
• For the first time in human history the supply of goods and products began to outstrip demand. This created an entirely new economic problem, the problem of consumption.

Lesson 14 - part 3 -- Consumerism

• "The modern capitalist economy must constantly grow, must increase production more and more in order to survive."  And at the same time, people must buy this stuff.
• "Consumerism sees the consumption of more and more products and services as a good thing as a positive thing. Consumerism encourages people to spoil themselves, treat themselves, and even kill themselves by slowly by eating too much. Consumerism sees frugality as a problem as some kind of psychological disorder."
• Shopping as a favorite pastime, obesity as a victory of consumerism.
• "In medieval Europe, aristocrats spent their money carelessly on luxuries, whereas peasants lived frugally not wasting money on unnecessary stuff. Today we’ve simply switched roles."
• So, the IR changed ethics/morality with the revolutionary new capitalist-consumerist double ethic:  The supreme commandment of the rich is, invest! You must invest your money, don’t waste it! The supreme commandment for all the rest of the people is, buy! You must buy more!