Memory Overload — The Invention of Writing, Bureaucracy, and Data in Human History | Chapter 7 from Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Memory Overload — The Invention of Writing, Bureaucracy, and Data in Human History | Chapter 7 from Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari How did humans solve the problem of storing and managing information as societies expanded beyond the capacity of the human brain? In Chapter 7 of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind , Yuval Noah Harari traces the history of writing—from ancient clay tablets to binary code—and shows how it revolutionized economies, governance, and human thought. Watch the complete chapter summary below and subscribe to Last Minute Lecture for clear, academic breakdowns of every chapter! The Brain’s Limits and the Need for Writing As societies grew in size and complexity, early humans faced an overwhelming volume of data—tax records, property deeds, laws, and administrative details. Evolution had prepared our minds for memorizing landscapes and social ties, not running empires. To overcome these cognitive limits, humans developed external storage systems: writi...