Over 60K humans…including me… are enrolled in Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Coursera MOOC A Brief History of Humankind to learn about our past, present and future! Distinguished historian, Dr. Yuval Noah Harari, promises us a superficial, controversial and personal interpretation of the history of humankind, but assures “a clear general picture” of the whole of humanity, if only “a caricature,” and the answers to some of the most basic questions of history:

• What is religion? 
• What is an empire? 
• What is money? 
• How does a capitalist economy function? 
• Why were men superior to women in almost all known human societies? 
• Did people become happier as history unfolded?
• What is a likely future of humankind in the 21st century and beyond? 

From our arrival on the “East African savanna two and a half million years ago to our political and technological revolutions” and beyond, Professor Harari invites us to think about what we hear and “explore history for ourselves”. He intends to present fresh perspectives about evolution, history, politics, economics, religion and more, and encourages us to engage in further inquiry on our own to fill in the details of the caricature of history he plans to illustrate.

Perhaps strategically, Professor Harari has removed any occasion for humanity to act contemptibly since the course is free of peer assessments!  Hopefully, a potentially more harmonious MOOC will evolve and thrive where we bear the onus of our learning

progress! We are to watch the video lectures in one go or at our own pace. We decide our course of action in this survey course wisely gathering the food for thought to take back to our family and friends for many rich discussions!