Book review: Homo Sapiens

Yuval Noah Harari

Usually after reading books, I have no desire to speculate about them with other people. However, this book turned out to be an exception. I need to get it out of me, otherwise it is boiling in me. This is the book after reading, which I want to share it with others and talk about it for as long as needed. 

The book is Homo Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Last year my brother sent me a link to an audiobook of Homo Sapiens. Truth be told, I listened to only few chapters, it seemed very dry and not interesting at all. Alternatively, perhaps, I considered it too complicated. After arriving to the US, I realized that I do not know anything about the history of humankind. I do not even know the history of Kazakhstan that well. Therefore, in new 2019 I set myself a goal to read 12 books in 12 months. I know, it is not a huge goal, but I wanted to take time, and on my own pace enjoy reading the books that I have been craving to read. In January, I was already reading some books, when a good friend of mine suggested me to read Homo Sapiens. So, I told myself “May be there is something in that book, perhaps, I should give it a second try”. And, now, my brain is blowing, thinking why did not I read it earlier. 

The books is divided into four main parts: Cognitive revolution, Agricultural revolution, Industrial revolution, and Scientific revolution. 

Cognitive revolution is the time when Homo Sapiens came up with the language, a very important device that united them, started modify hunting tools, and develop animistic beliefs. Animism is a belief that dictates that all living creatures, all natural phenomena have souls, spirits and can communicate with the people, one another. 

After that followed the Agricultural revolution, when Homo Sapiens, settled down and started domesticating fellow animals. It was not any good, because there are many findings now that prove that Homo Sapiens was very violent and cruel towards animals in the process of domestication. One of the examples from the book, Homo Sapiens cut out a certain part of pig’s nose. We know that pigs find the food by sniffing, so as they lose that ability they become 100% dependent on their Sapiens owners. There were examples when owners gouged out pigs’ eyes, so that they do not know where there were going. Interestingly, Agricultural revolution is full of events. One of the main ones, Homo Sapiens originated in the East Africa, from that area they moved into Arabian peninsula, from Arabia spread into Eurasia. When they arrived to Arabia, Eurasia was already settled by other species. Most probably, Neanderthals. However, 30.000 years they became extinct. So what happened to them? Yuval offers two theories: Interbreeding theory and Destruction theory. If we follow the interbreeding theory, then now we are descendants of Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals. If it is the destruction theory – we killed them all, which is not surprising, because, apparently, Homo Sapience is a bad guy. At that time, Homo Sapiens developed an attachment to “home, house”. They became more ego-centric, there was a “neighbor’s house” and there was “my house”. Now, scientists believe that Agricultural revolution made Sapiens weaker, because they settled down, became dependent on certain types of food, it made them live in endless anxiety for future. Even today, mostly people live in the past or future, but not in present. Our ancestor’s genes are telling us to be more cautious about the future; plan and prepare everything for the future. Governments, states, which were declaring their status and conquering as many lands as it was possible, accompanied the Agricultural revolution. 

There was a story of Indo-Aryans who came from Central Eurasia to India. It is believed that they are the ones who came up with the caste system. 3000 years ago, there were only few Aryans who ruled India. To keep their high social and political status, they divided Indian people into castes. As a result, Indians became their servants. Each caste had to pursue different types of occupations, mixing between castes was prohibited. The caste system was imbedded so deep in humans’ mind that it became a part of culture, mythology and even religion. 

When it comes to religion, Yuval gives many logical and reasonable statements of why do we have religion. First, he says, we live in a dual reality. There is an objective reality, where we have trees, lions, rivers and there is an imagined reality, where we have god, religion, nationalism, companies and etc. The situation: a lion is getting extinct; it needs to be saved urgently. What do people do? People rely on imagined reality, they ask for help from companies, churches, countries. So, now, imagined reality became so strong that now in order to do something with the objective reality we need to seek for help from imagined reality. Interestingly, he says that it is not possible to run away, get rid of this imagined reality. People might think they got free, but in fact their imagined reality was replaced by another imagined reality that is way stronger and more agile. Yuval argues that nowadays people believe in monotheist God, dualist devil, polytheist saints and animist spirits. He considers religion as a tool used to make people (total strangers) work together and cooperate. Another interesting aspect, he says that religion also changes with time, and anytime it changes priests/imam tell us that it has not changed, it just came to its original, pure starting point. However, in fact, we know where the truth is and where the lie is… Do we?

Talking about money, Yuval notes that we are taught that money is the source of all evil, but in fact money is the only thing in the world that does not discriminate a person based on religion, race, skin color, gender, or sexual preferences. It is a unique language based on trust.   

Interestingly, Yuval starts a new chapter on scientific revolution with religion. As for him, science revolution can not take place without ideology or religion. These are the things that cover the costs of all experiments and give directions towards what the newly acquired knowledge should be pointed at. Sharing experiments in genetic engineering, he makes his readers believe that Homo Sapiens will soon be outpowered by other species, whether it is AI or some other species. In one of the experiments, Korean, Japanese and Russian scientists are trying to revive mammoth. They already have mammoth genome, they need to insert it into female elephant’s womb and after a year, and they will get a mammoth. Another project, scientist from Harvard University Professor Church is trying to bring to life a Neanderthal. They have Neanderthal’s DNA. They will do the same, as with the female elephant, there are already volunteer women who want to take a part in the project being surrogate mothers. Neanderthal that got extinct 30.000 years ago will be brought back. 

Another interesting thing, Yuval says that the words like “natural”, “unnatural” come from not biology, but from Christian theology, which means that we actually have been so much limited and restricted by religion and other imagined stories that now we do not even know where is fiction and where is non-fiction. 

Further, Harari added a chapter on happiness where he says that we are used to measure happiness only in human realm. However, we are not that far from our fellow ancestors, chimpanzees, which means that we need to take into account animals’ happiness and life satisfaction. Not only chimpanzees, but all animals living on the Earth planet. 

At some point, when I was reading about the Industrial revolution, it seemed to me that America is going to be colonized by some high-tech corporations like Google or Amazon. 

One thing that I could say for sure is that Harari has an incredible sense of humor. You can understand it by reading the following statements:

• Romanticism and consumerism got married, and then they gave birth to an infinite “market of experience”.
• History is full of idiotic miscalculations.
• Imagine, Homo Sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans all live together on the Earth planet. Karl Marx tries to unite them; under the US Constitution, they are all equal.
• Even what people consider their most personal desires are programmed by the imagined order. (It is like in the Movie X-man).
• Hammurabi believed that slavery is dictated by gods. Aristotle argued that slaves have a “slavish nature” and free people have “free nature”. Excuse me???!!!
• Scientists increasingly argue that human behavior is determined by hormones, genes, and synapses, rather than free will – the same forces that determine the behavior of chimpanzees, wolves and ants. 

Though I almost “ate” the book, it left me hungry with some questions. Later on, watching interviews with Yuval Noah Harari I understood that he had no aim to answer all existential, evolutionary questions. His main aim was to raise the questions, make people think about them and take some actions.

Below are the questions that I could not find an answer to:

1. How Syncretism can be a single great world religion?
2. Where does belief come from? Even the first animistic belief into spirits and souls?
3. Yes. I got the explanations. But, still, why in many cultures manhood is valued more than womanhood?
4. What exactly is cognitive dissonance and how it is affected by culture?
5. Where do Aryans come from? Do they come from Central Asia?
6. Does happiness really depend on self-delusion?
7. What is the progress of Gilgamesh project?

http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/blogs/andrea-nair-connect-four-parenting/20141203/the-eight-actions-parents-can-do-to-increase-trust

Culture Conflict: Is It Real?

The first time I arrived to the US I told myself not to have any expectations, neither from people nor from places. So, that setting of thoughts actually helped me in the very beginning. Later, when I met more and more people I started to realize that they actually want to help me, genuinely. Whatever the problem was, there was someone who was willing to help me to figure that out. As a matter of fact, human consciousness is a very interesting thing. Though I knew they wanted to help me, lots of side thoughts like “He just wants to give me a ride? For free?”, “They just want to give away their furniture? Do I have to give them something back?”. These kind of thoughts did not let me fully immerse myself into a new chapter of my life. For a few days I was asking myself “What is going on?”, “Why do I ask myself questions like that?”.

Soon, I realized there was a culture conflict going on in me. Back in my country in Geography class our teacher used a big world map to introduce us to our neighboring countries. He showed us China and told that it is a big tiger, then indicated on Russia and told us that it is a big bear. I was 12 at that time, but the image of him imitating a big bear and tiger, making these animal sounds made me really scared. Then he told that we should not trust none of these countries, because our territory is big and we have a lot natural underground resources, but the population of the country is not as big as it is in China or Russia. “So, if there is chance, one of these countries would love to conquer our country” he told.

I think at that time when I was sitting in that classroom my mind somehow shifted and I started to consider every country with some kind of caution.

Now I discern that we, people, are a set of our society’s, parents’, friends’ beliefs, fears, thoughts. You know, it is like wearing clothes, you are not wearing your own clothes, you think they are your clothes, but in fact, they are not. One piece of clothing belongs to your mother/father/siblings, one piece of accessories belongs to your teacher/friend and list goes on and on. The question is why do we do that?

Coming back to culture conflict, for me it was quite shocking to see people, old and very young, who just wanted to help us, international students. Helping without any conditions. The question is why do not my country’s people behave that way too? Why are we afraid that someone can deceive/rape/kill/steal from us?

Now working as an English language teacher and explaining the grammar rules to my students, I use the “flipped” teaching approach, which I get acquainted with via Massive Open Online Courses. Through the videos created by me I explain students the basic grammar rules and upload the videos on our social media pages. They watch the videos at home and in the classroom we do a lot of grammar activities. This technique helps me and my students to save our time and combine traditional face-to-face way of teaching with the technology use.

Here's one of my videos on Conditionals:

Hope you will enjoy it:)

STUDY HABITS: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THEM?

Currently, I teach 1st and 2nd year university students, and according to the Ministry of Education and Science regulations of Kazakhstan, 2nd year students have more credits than 1st year students. I’ve noticed that in most cases, academic performance of 2nd year students decline and at least 3 or 4 students each year drop out of university without completing their sophomore years. The problem is that they can’t cope with the learning overload and feel overwhelmed about their studies. Eventually, they lose their drive and enthusiasm to continue studying. 

This year I organized two sessions with my sophomore students who were at risk level of dropping out or who had low GPA to help them to manage their stress and anxiety. Nobody asked me to do that. However, seeing my bright students in their first year and now looking at them in their second year I saw something went wrong. Moreover, I wanted to understand what was that. When I interviewed them it turned out they lost their interest to study because now they have many disciplines and they feel frustrated about it. They perceived themselves as “victims” of education system and wanted to give up studying at that level. For sure, I was angry with them, but I did not show it. I knew they felt themselves as victims just because they knew nothing about the learning habits. I tried to motivate them, explained how they can effectively plan their days and set goals. However, I am sure it’s effect did not last long, because motivation is like taking a shower. Therefore, they needed strict discipline to get out of that miserable state and start doing something.    

So, after two sessions they asked me organize this kind of meetings more often than twice a month. But, I did not do that, because I realized that if I really want to help them I should do something else. In those two previous sessions I used to lecture in front of them and tell them they are all unique and blessed, they have true calling and mission in this life.   

  

Sure, they were happy; taking their portion of motivation and praise, they thought they could move mountains now. However, after few days encountering another challenge they came back to their miserable state again. 

Now thinking about that situation I realize that I need to come up with a solution that will last longer and make students involved in it. Thus, I decided to create a website and include the book “10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades” by Thomas Frank into this website. This book is inspired by his personal experiments in learning and productivity. He is the founder of a website (http://collegeinfogeek.com/) dedicated to defeating procrastination, building an excellent time/task management system, taking better notes, reading textbooks efficiently and other interesting topics (Frank T., 2015). 

But before moving to my action plan and project description I would like to point out the habit features and what learning habits will help students to do their best. 

First, in 1990s Brain and Cognitive Sciences department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started working on habits (Duhigg Ch., 2014). They conducted different experiments and came to conclusion that brain wants to turn each routine into a habit. In one experiment, they inserted specific wires into rats’ heads to analyze their brain and actions. Each time scientists give them chocolates they used to open a partition with a loud “click” and put chocolate in one corner of the maze. At first the rats used to go right or left, sniff the walls, scratch them, but then scientists repeated that experiment for hundred times. After that, when there was a “click” and partition was opened rats ran towards the chocolate without even thinking. 

They stopped sniffing corners and making wrong turns. Instead, they zipped through the maze faster and faster. And within their brains, something unexpected occurred: As each rat learned how to navigate the maze, its mental activity decreased. As the route became more and more automatic, each rat started thinking less and less (Duhigg Ch., 2014).

Moreover, their brain activity associated with scratching and smelling ceased because they did not scratch the walls and smell the air. They didn’t need to choose which direction to turn, and so their decision-making centers of the brain went quiet. All they had to do was recall the quickest path to the chocolate. Within a week, even the brain structures related to memory had quieted. Eventually, the rats had internalized how to sprint through the maze to such a degree that it hardly needed to think at all (Duhigg Ch., 2014).

Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort. Left to its own devices, the brain will try to make almost any routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often (Duhigg Ch., 2014). 

This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future:

        

The discovery of the habit loop is very important because it reveals a basic truth: When a habit emerges, the brain stops fully participating in decision making. It stops working so hard, or diverts focus to other tasks. So, unless you deliberately fight a habit—unless you find new routines—the pattern will unfold automatically (Duhigg Ch., 2014).

Analyzing this experiment with rats, now I understand that my students have already built up their habits. They just do not realize that these habits are inefficient and their habit loops should be changed. All of them want to get the best grades, find a prestigious workplace after graduation and they think they are working to their full potential. However, their academic performance and mental state tell me the opposite. 

References: 

1. Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, 2014. Random House Trade Paperback Edition

2. Thomas Frank, 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less), 2015. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Creating an assignment sheet on vidoes

Inspired by one of my awesome teammates Genius Hour Project I decided to dedicate this post to using videos in ESL teaching. Olga, thank you once again for sharing with us the webinar findings and pushing us to use various teaching methods and techniques. 

Actually, last year I used different videos, but mostly me and my students - we just discussed and shared our views on them. This year coming to KIMEP I see that an assignment sheet can be a very useful tool in improving students’ academic performance. So, this year I am going to use the reality TV programme “Super Nanny” about parents struggling with their children's behavior and Jo Frost (Actual Super Nanny) who is willing to help them.

I have already picked dozens of videos and created an assignment sheet with rubrics for students. It’s the first time I am creating an assignment sheet. So, if you have any feedback, ideas or suggestions please feel free to share them with me. 

Basic English 

Fall/Winter 2016 

Assignment Description: Interview with Jo Frost on different videos

Assignment: As it is a pair work, you are encouraged to work cooperatively with your partner and develop your communication, sharing and getting knowledge, self-expression, listening, and critical thinking skills. Your interview should be thoughtful, honest, and supported with specific arguments and facts. One of you will be a host of Being Mom and Dad TV Show whereas another one will be Jo Frost. Using one video about certain family given in the class, you have to design a set of questions to Jo Frost about these family issues. After that, you need to compose the answers for these questions. 

To complete this assignment:

1. Watch the video and brainstorm your thoughts about it.

2. Take notes of the most interesting video parts. 

3. Structure open-ended and thought-provoking questions about specific family and write down their answers. 

4. Be prepared to act out your interview in front of other students in the classroom.

⃰⃰  All these activities mentioned above should be done in pairs. 

While creating the interview make sure you include the following questions:

• What are the main problems in this family?
• What does the observation process reveal?
• How did Jo Frost solve these issues?
• What about relations between children and parents in this family?
• What discipline techniques were used by parents and why?
• Why did Jo Frost come back to that family after few days? What changes did she notice?
• What improvements were achieved in this family?

⃰    You are welcome to design your own questions and include them as well.

Length of each interview: 

• 10 minutes + time for discussion

Purpose: Your goal is to work as a team and do your best to conduct a brilliant interview.

Process: If you have any questions or suggestions, please send me a message (sagi.assem@gmail.com) or come to me at office hours to discuss it.

Deadline: Due date October 17

Assessment: This assignment represents 10% of course grade and will be assessed using the following rubric:

Students’ self-assessment	Criteria	Teacher’s feedback
	Preparation Person we interviewed is extremely appropriate for topic
	Understanding of Interview Goals We demonstrate in-depth understanding of interview goals
	Interview Questions We use open ended questions Our questions designed to draw out information from person interviewed
	Logical and Sequential Questions We asked questions in logical order Our questions are designed to build on previous questions
	Informative and Interesting Answers All answers given by interviewee are detailed, rich and interesting to the audience Interviewee uses specific examples from her/his experience
	Grammar and Spelling Mistakes Few minor errors or none at all make the interview meaningful and easy to listen and understand

Action Research Project on Transferable Skills

For my Applied Linguistics class I have to make an Action Research Project (ARP) as a final assignment. Most interesting is that different people perceive the term of ARP in a different way. 

Typically, action research is undertaken in a school setting. It is a reflective process that allows for inquiry and discussion as components of the “research.” Often, action research is a collaborative activity among colleagues searching for solutions to everyday, real problems experienced in schools, or looking for ways to improve instruction and increase student achievement. Rather than dealing with the theoretical, action research allows practitioners to address those concerns that are closest to them, ones over which they can exhibit some influence and make change (Ferrance, 2000).

As for the steps of ARP the following can be very useful:

• Identification of problem areas
• Collection and organization of data
• Interpretation of data
• Action based on data
• Reflection

As a research topic, I decided to focus on students’ transferable skills that can be taught in the classroom. Specifically, I will focus on seven transferable skills: 

1. Time Management and Organization skills 
2. Multitasking
3. Written and Oral Communication
4. Teamwork
5. Leadership
6. Research and Analysis skills
7. Personal Development (Ferrance, 2000). 

I chose this research topic because I have some students in my class who have great potential but they can’t perform well because they didn’t acquire transferable skills before. Furthermore, ARP involves people working to improve their skills, techniques, and strategies (Ferrance, 2000). So, it means by implementing this AR project I will be able to help my students by making the learning process interesting and efficient and at the same time I will sharpen my own teaching skills and strategies.

References:

1. Eileen Ferrance, Action Research, Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University, 2000

A letter about books

Dear reader, 

When I was eleven years old I watched a movie about a brilliant girl whose mind was so sharp and vivid that she could move different objects just by looking at them. I was so impressed by the movie; it seemed to me I can do the same. The movie’s called “Matilda”. At that time I didn’t know it was based on Roald Dahl’s fantastic and entertaining novel “Matilda”.

Now being aware of this great author and his books, I suggest most of my young students to read his books. And you know, they love his books. Tutoring my students, I leave the reading part for the last 30 minutes. This 30 minutes are so precious not just for me but for my students as well. I don’t know if other teachers feel it too, but it seems like in this short period of time me and my students go to different world and it’s so intimate, it’s the moment when you feel that now you have some bonds with your students. 

One of my 9 years old student Ualikhan recently has shared with me his review of Roald Dahl's books. Hope you will enjoy it too as I did 
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXWRY07TUoU). 

I hope this letter will be useful for people who are keen on reading and looking for books to read together with their children or with students as in my case. Please keep in mind that time is precious and spending it doing the things that make you happy is great!

Sincerely, 
A.