HOMO SAPIENS Vol III: Confrontation of Cultures

The collection of various essays written at different times and on seemingly different topics combines a single theme: the species of Homo sapiens, its development, history, and a unique experiment of biological nature, which created a fantastic phenomenon-the human race.

In some chapters, we have to return to the distant past of our species' origin emergence of different civilizations. It is done for the narrative's logical construction to avoid the impression of separately torn pieces not related to each other and make it easier for readers.

The third book of Homo Sapiens is a logical continuation of our species' history in the modern world. The world is divided by countries, religions, ideologies. Despite the declared principles of universal equality and the obligation to defend peace and prosperity, there is still a danger of a military solution to confrontations. Modern weapons and technology will allow us to destroy peoples and even entire countries with appalling cruelty. The history of slavery runs through all stages of the development of our species. In some countries, slavery still exists today. The future of our species depends on this, and we are forced to live on the same planet. Will our species can find a path of reconciliation and forgiveness now?

The biological nature of man is manifested in his behavioral motives. However, man is a social being. He cannot live outside of society. A person is born with an already formed brain, having certain instincts embedded in the brain's limbic system. A person acquires social skills in the process of development, communicating with the surrounding society.

Relatively recently, by historical standards, about 185,000 years ago, due to climate change, our species Homo sapiens came out of Africa, together with other groups of animals, in search of favorable habitats. Despite the large brain, Homo sapiens followed not the heart's command but a primitive biological instinct. The brain needs to be nourished. The brain does not care how and from where the food might come. It could come from other animals or a neighbor. The brain has no ethics. It merely performs the biological function of survival. The blood flow passing through the brain should bring lipids, proteins, and sugar. The brain takes away what it needs; the rest and the waste of metabolism are carried away.

Millennia passed, and the species of Homo sapiens settled worldwide and began to move to a sedentary lifestyle. Our species created civilizations five millennia ago and has gone an incredible way from primitive hunter-gatherer to the conqueror of space in a relatively short historical period. In this evolutionary process, our brains lost 50-250 cm3, but we learned to understand and study the processes taking place in our brains. We owe survival on this planet to the brain and our ability to understand the processes that allow our consciousness to remain human without returning to our apes' past condition. But what was happening during WWII created awareness of weird human behavior.