Curiosity Logs: Navigating the Past and Looking into the future

Hello Curious Minds,

In this week's edition of Curiosity Logs, we're embarking on a dual exploration—diving into the profound insights of "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari and navigating the realms of the metaverse.

Weekly Book Highlights

This week we will dive into the illuminating pages of "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari—a groundbreaking exploration that traverses the evolutionary tapestry of humankind.

Harari, a renowned historian and thought-provoking storyteller, masterfully weaves together the threads of history, anthropology, and philosophy to unravel the extraordinary narrative of our species.

Here some interesting snippets from the book which takes us on a captivating journey through the history of humankind. More snippets to follow in future issues.

• brain accounts for about 2–3 per cent of total body weight, but it consumes 25 per cent of the body’s energy when the body is at rest.

• Natural selection consequently favoured earlier births. And, indeed, compared to other animals, humans are born prematurely, when many of their vital systems are still under-developed.

• Raising children required constant help from other family members and neighbours. It takes a tribe to raise a human. Evolution thus favoured those capable of forming strong social ties.

• since humans are born underdeveloped, they can be educated and socialised to a far greater extent than any other animal.

• Genus Homo’s position in the food chain was, until quite recently, solidly in the middle.

• Having so recently been one of the underdogs of the savannah, we are full of fears and anxieties over our position, which makes us doubly cruel and dangerous.

• By about 300,000 years ago, Homo erectus, Neanderthals and the forefathers of Homo sapiens were using fire on a daily basis.

• about 70,000 years ago, Sapiens from East Africa spread into the Arabian peninsula, and from there they quickly overran the entire Eurasian landmass.

• Our language evolved as a way of gossiping. According to this theory Homo sapiens is primarily a social animal. Social cooperation is our key for survival and reproduction.

P.S. I’d love to know: What is the single snippet above that sounds most interesting or impactful to you?

Weekly Curiosity Corner

This week I will share some of my musing on metaverse and how the virtual worlds are part of human kinds from the beginning of time.

With all the new developments in AR/VR, are we looking into a future where your imaginary worlds meets your objective reality? In Sapiens, Yuval Harari says

With new technology we can dwelve into the domains of new reality and live in our dreams . Will you walk among the characters of your epics and fantasy books?

• How about a walk through Hogwarts Castle?

• Or a ride in Millenium Falcon?

• or Fighting Thanos in the infinity war?

#future #thoughtfortheday #metaverseworld