Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Harari's 2011 popular-history synthesis — Homo sapiens from cognitive revolution to scientific-capitalist present
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Mid) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | None |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Finite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Variable |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Variable |
| Information · Granularity | Discrete |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
The 70,000-year arc from cognitive revolution to present.
Space
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
The global geography of human migration and civilisation.
Matter
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
The Homo-sapiens species and the material-cultural worlds it has constructed.
Observer
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
The macro-historical synthesiser as proper observer-popularising figure.
Energy
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
The cognitive-cultural-political energies of human macro-history.
Information
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
The shared-fictions that structure human cooperation.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Sapiens has been variously assessed — defenders see proper big-history popularisation, scholarly critics (historians, anthropologists) have contested specific claims and the genre's confidence in single-author macro-synthesis.