Cultures Were Not Benefiting Human in History

Cultures Were Not Benefiting Human in History

For ages, people have always linked culture and history together and assumed that culture plays an integral role in history. Culture has been used as a way to define the life of people and understand their history. Culture can be described as being a way to characterize the arts, customs and traditions of a society, community or a group of people. Culture is essential in giving the lives of people value as well as an identity. The difference in culture also makes people feel unique because they have cultural traits that are not present in other cultures. Culture helps explain the habits of people living in a society. To understand the differences between people in history, one must understand their way of life. Thus, most people might have an assumption that culture is a critical component in human history. However, culture does not hold any benefit to history whatsoever. Understanding the way of life of people does not necessarily help to understand their future or come up with ways to solve their problems. Others may even go further to state that culture is holding humankind back from becoming more advanced than it is already. Culture does not hold any importance in the history of man, and it is history that is important in explaining culture. Therefore, by explaining different theories such as the game theory, postmodernist theory, and the mimetic theory, Harari holds that culture does not have any benefit in humankind history.

Harari uses the three concepts to highlight his belief that culture has no benefit in humankind history. Harari described three theories to prove the cultures are random selections by history, and there is no evidence shown the benefits that cultures provided to humans. The first theory is mimetic, which he describes that culture is like mental parasites that took advantage of all people who believed in them. The organic evolution of civilization was based on cultural genes. The second theory is postmodernism, and the postmodernist thinkers believe nationalism was like a plague that spread over the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which “see cultures as propagating themselves with little regard for the benefit of humankind” (Harari, 242). The third theory is the game theory. It described a multiplayer system that benefits itself only while harming all players. Conversely, combining culture into an expanded theory of evolution, is the base foundation for human diversity. Therefore, it is essential to acknowledge that there are specific modules such as; knowledge and logic that must be put into consideration before a culture is invented. Even so, human culture has existed for the shortest evolutionary time. Nonetheless, to the same degree, the rest of the theories rely on the basic naïve interpretation and assumption that culture is particulate contrary to the game theory, which has convincing analogies on culture and Homo sapiens.

History professors and scholars such as a Harari use the three theories to prove that a culture is a random event and selection by history and that there is no evidence of how cultures of people or society have benefitted people in history. The game theory can be described as theoretical work or process that is used for coming up with different social situations and analyzing the possible outcomes of such social interactions. Harari states that game theory “explains how in multiplayer systems, views and behaviour patterns that harm all players nevertheless manage to take root and spread” (Harari 242). Throughout history, some instances show the game theory in action. In his book Sapiens, Harari uses the example of the arms race to show how culture is costly and fails to benefit humankind. The culture of competing between nations has led to the arms race. If a country adopts the latest technological advancement in weaponry, other countries invest in the same. However, not all countries can keep up with the cost of the new technology, and the country suffers economic loss. The belief in culture has led to some serious economic loss that is shared by the people living in the country. Also, the differences in culture among people from various societies and communities has led to the rise of different organizations that hope to preserve their culture while harming the other cultures. According to an article by LeBaron, “Culture is always a factor in conflict, whether it plays a central role or influences it subtly and gently” (LeBaron 2003). Culture introduces differences, and these differences lead or result in conflict. It is through this notion that Harari asserts that culture is rather a bothersome idea that holds no importance in history because it has continuously led to conflict.

The game theory, as used by Harari, highlights culture as an interaction of people. In addition to this, he criticizes the effect of this interaction on society as well as human history in general. Unlike the memetic theory that views culture as an evolution that is solely based on the duplication of organic information scientifically referred to as genes, the game theory describes culture as an interaction of people through their ideas and views. Memetic theory, however, states that successful humanities are those that perform excellently in reproducing their memes and the replication of cultural knowledge. Regardless of consequential expenses. Although, the majority of scholars consider unprofessional memetic attempts to explain cultural experiences with rudimentary biological explanations. The memetic theory supports the idea that culture is passed through to people like a virus and the believes even though negative can be accepted. Harari writes “postmodernist thinkers describe nationalism as a deadly plague that spread throughout the world” (Harari 242). Through nationalism, humankind has suffered a great deal of conflict because of people’s ideologies on nationalism. Also, the spread of ideologies can be attributed to the negative influence of culture on society. For example, ideologies such as racism and slavery were legal acts that were protected by the American constitution in some states in the country. These ideologies are spread through influence and not genetically shared by parents. According to an article by Kristen Russell, “we aren’t necessarily born racist” (Russell 2017). Culture cannot be instilled genetically because people are not born with the ideas they pose. Therefore, through game theory, culture is learned and not inherited. Learning to adopt a culture has some consequences that are beneficial to society.

Essentially, Game Theory is particularly the study of mathematical models of negotiations, conflict resolutions between the government and organizations. Nevertheless, it was used in the pre-historic time to understand why people made different decisions that affected everybody. For instance, during the fascism and neofascism error, the dictators occasionally made irrational decisions and strategies during war and their political journey (Soucy 2019). The pronouncements every so often affected everybody, including themselves. In ancient China, during the epoch (Warring States Period), “China was adversely affected by the constant difference of opinion between King Wei of Qi and General Tian Ji, they were both horse racing fans” (Si-Ma et al.). The problem is there were only three races that each individual had to win two rounds. Nevertheless, to solve the dilemma, Sun Bin, came with a trickery which was timely, clever and perfect in the form of a game plan to help his friend Tian Ji. In a nutshell, Game Theory is a strategic interaction between two or more players with a common interest but different premeditated plans.

Harari believes that the ideologies that are perceived to be culture are meant to serve a single person who fully benefits from the idea. Culture existed to benefit humans and society, the same as the legislature. On the other hand, it is essential to state that they were all made by a human. Possibly they were formulated to benefit the interest of few individuals within the social order. Money in real sense is valueless, but if we say it holds some value, it sure will. Homo sapiens can cooperate in flexible ways with countless strangers who have different cultures. Therefore, human culture is squeamish and intersubjective. Thus, cultural ideas live inside the minds of humans. The fascist movement led by Mussolini of Italy was aimed at increasing nationalism within the country. The fascist ideologies called for conflict with other nations that seem to threaten the fascist ideologies. According to an article by Time Magazine, “Fascism is a movement that promotes the idea of a forcibly monolithic, regimented nation under the control of an autocratic ruler” (Waxman 2019). Although the main aim of the fascist movement was to protect the country from its enemies, only one benefits and that is the totalitarian leader of the country. Therefore, culture seems to favour certain individuals even though it is meant to benefit a whole society or nation.

Through the use of game theory, Harari establishes that culture is not beneficial to history in any way. In addition to this, he postulates that culture arises through the interaction of a group of people who share similar ideologies. However, these ideologies may be flawed, leading to the development of conflict that has ravaged humankind throughout history. The memetic theory asserts the belief that culture is genetically instilled in our genes when we are born. However, Harari uses the game theory to show the flaws of this belief. Game theory is a systematic approach to how human beings interact and the results or consequences of these interactions. Therefore, people cannot be born with culture in their genetic makeup but can be assimilated into adopting a particular culture. The indifferences that is brought about culture provides a breeding ground for conflict between nations, people, and societies. Culture is a cumbersome human trait that tries to establish the connection between the similarities that people share. However, these similarities single out those who are different, and this leads to conflict. Apart from the conflict, culture seems to benefit a handful number of individuals in society. For example, only Mussolini benefited from the fascist ideas because he became the president of the country with a total authoritarian rule.