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This marked the beginning of the Anthropocene, in which our effective metabolic rate began its steady rise to its present level of more than 3,000 watts today. But this is just its average value taken across the entire planet. The rate at which energy is used in developed countries is far higher. In the United States it is almost a factor of four larger, at a whopping 11,000 watts, which is more than one hundred times larger than its “natural” biological value. This amount of power is not a lot smaller than the metabolic rate of a blue whale, which is more than one thousand times larger in mass than we are. Thinking of us as an animal using thirty times more energy than we “should” given our physical size, the effective human population of the planet accordingly operates as if it were much larger than the 7.3 billion people who actually inhabit it. In a very real sense, we are operating as if our population were at least thirty times larger, equivalent to a global population in excess of 200 billion people.
A wise old man was asked what he learned about the meaning of life. ‘Well,’ he answered, ‘I have learned that I am here on earth in order to help other people. What I still haven’t figured out is why the other people are here.’
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari
Les singes sont très attentifs à ce que fait le chef, et l’on a même pu montrer qu’ils sont prêts à sacrifier des plaisirs substantiels comme le jus de pomme dont ils raffolent, uniquement pour pouvoir passer du temps à visionner des photos de ces personnages de haut rang de leur groupe. La fascination pour les célébrités est donc un trait caractéristique des primates, qui se manifeste déjà bien avant l’émergence de l’humanité. Elle révèle une affinité puissante du cerveau pour tout ce qui se passe en termes de hiérarchie et de comparaison sociale au sein d’un groupe.
Le Bug Humain
Sébastien BOHLER
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