EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
A Brief History of Humankind
Dr. Yuval Noah Harari, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
Three Theories on the History of Happiness
Notes taken on May 17, 2014 by Edward Tanguay
much of humankind today enjoy a wealth that used to be the stuff of fantasies and fairy tales
science and the industrial revolution have given humans superhuman powers and practically limitless energy
many aspects of human life have been completely transformed
the social order
daily life
politics
human psychology
but are we happier?
did the wealth that humankind accumulated over the last few centuries translate into human happiness
do the seemingly inexhaustible stores of energy open up for us inexhaustible stores of bliss?
did the 70,000 years of human changes and revolutions make the world a better place to live in?
if the answer to this question is in the negative
what was the point of all these changes?
historians rarely ask these questions
e.g. if the rise of Islam made the Egyptians more pleased with their lives?
did the European collapse of empires in Africa make people there happier or more miserable?
what is the purpose of all these changes if it does not make people happier?
few have studied in a scientific way the long-term history of happiness
but we all have some vague conception of the history of happiness
theories
1. PROGRESSIVE VIEW OF HAPPINESS
the more power humans gain over their environment, the more happier they are
human capabilities have increased throughout history
since humans usually use their power to alleviate misery and fulfill their aspiration, we must be happier having more power than, say, our Medieval ancestors, and they, in turn, must have been happier than stone age hunters and gatherers
not very convincing since:
more power and new kinds of behaviors and skills do not necessarily make life better and happier
e.g. when humans learned how to farm, the collective power of humankind to shape the environment increased
but the living conditions of individual humans was in many respects worse
peasants had to work harder than foragers and received in return a less nutritious diets
far more exposed to disease than their hunter and gatherer ancestors
e.g. spread of European empires increased the collective power of humankind
but this was hardly good news for the millions of Africans who found themselves enslaved by the Europeans
given the human tendency to misuse power, it seems very naive to believe that there is a direct correlation between power and happiness
2. REGRESSIVE VIEW OF HAPPINESS
more power leads to less happiness
as humans gained more and more power, this created a cold and mechanistic world which is ill-suited to the real needs of homo sapians
evolution molded our minds and bodies for the life of hunters and gatherers
the transition first to agriculture and then to industry, condemned human beings to live unnatural lives that cannot give full expression to our inherent instincts and cannot satisfy our deepest yearnings and needs
life may be easier today, but nothing in this comfortable life in the urban middle class can approach the wild excitement by a forager band on a mammoth hunt
this is, of course, a very romantic view of happiness
this romantic insistence on seeing the dark side of every invention and development in history is as dogmatic in the inevitability of progress
it may be true that we are today out of touch with our inner hunter and gatherer, but it is not all bad
e.g. over the last two centuries, modern medicine has decreased child mortality from about 33% to less than 5%
surely this increased the collective happiness of human beings
3. PROGRESSIVE HAPPINESS SINCE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
only since the scientific revolution have increases in power led to increases in happiness
until the scientific revolution, there was no clear correlation between power and happiness
medieval people may indeed have been more miserable than our hunter/gatherer ancestors
but throughout the scientific revolution in the last 500 years, humans have increasingly learned to use their power wisely to create more collective happiness
modern medicine including vaccines
steep decline in violence
recent disappearance of international wars and their likelihood
elimination of large-scale famine
but this, too, is an oversimplification
this view bases its optimistic assessment on the modern age, and so it is a small sample of years
people only began to gradually enjoy the benefits of modern medicine in the middle of the 19th century
the significant drop in child mortality is a 20th century phenomenon
mass famines continued to plague much of humanity until the middle of the 20th century
international wars became rare only since 1945 largely thanks to the new threat of complete annihilation by nuclear weapons
so even if the last 50 years have been an unprecedented golden age for humanity, it is a very short time, and it is too early to know if this represents a fundamental shift in the currents of history, or an ephemeral wave of good fortune
even if the last half century was a golden age, it may be that during this era we sow the seeds for future catastrophe
we may be disturbing the equilibrium of our planet
it may be that we are experiencing a number of good years or decades or centuries, but that we will be paying a high price for this behavior in the future
another reason to be cautious about this optimistic view of modern happiness is our treatment of animals
we can congratulate ourselves on the modern accomplishment of homo sapiens only if we ignore the fate of other animals on the planet
much of the material wealth that we enjoy today was accumulated at the expense of laboratory animals, factory cows, and conveyor belt chickens
billions of animals over the last 200 years have been subjected to a regime of industrial exploitation whose cruelty has no precedent in the annals of history
seen from an animal rights activists point of view, modern agriculture is one of the greatest crimes in history which has caused massive suffering for animals living on this planet
when we come to evaluate global happiness, if can only see it as a success if we only include homo sapiens
problems with all these views
they consider happiness largely as a product of material factors such as your health, your diet, and your wealth
according to this approach, if people are richer and healthier, they must also be happier
many philosophers, religious thinkers, and poets throughout history have indicated that social, ethical and spiritual factors have as great an impact on our happiness as material conditions
it is clear that material conditions today are much better than in the past
but if happiness does not depend only on material conditions, then it does not necessarily mean that we are happier today as people were in the past even though they had inferior material conditions
we know, for instance, that many people suffer today from alienation and meaninglessness in their lives