Multicellular Organisms
According to Wikipedia, multicellular organisms probably appeared in large numbers about 500 million years ago, during the Cambrian explosion. So, in terms of time, most of the Second Evolution has been dealing with single-celled organisms (prokaryotes, then eukaryotes). But suddenly, as soon as multicellular organisms appeared (the jury is still out on how), they flourished on Earth. We cannot speak of an advantage over unicellular organisms (because unicellular organisms still dominate the biomass), but rather of a new feature that allowed diversification and new adaptive traits. All animals, plants and fungi are multicellular organisms. Cells can specialise (liver, lung, brain, muscle...) and they all work together as a single individual.
Division of labour
It is only an analogy, but we see the general trend of human organisations becoming more specialised as similar. The division of labour has a powerful effect on the way people interact. Small groups of people living in autarchy are disappearing. On the contrary, human interdependence is increasing. A steelworker has no idea how to treat a cavity in his tooth. A real estate agent has no idea how transistors are used by engineers.The Third Evolution is the emergence of organisms that bring a large group of people together to achieve some goals. These organisms/institutions can be as simple as a family or as complex as India, the Coca-Cola Company or the Christian religion.
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| People can gather in a stadium. They meet peacefully towards a common goal (enjoying some sport event). Harari mentioned that with monkeys it would be pandemonium. |
