Any band of Neanderthals can raise a few dozen people for a hunt

From an interview with an author of a new book, Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari by John Reed.

It sounds intriguingly provocative but not particularly coherent. I did like this idea though.

What allowed humans to become history’s most successful species, he argues, was our ability to construct and unify small groups behind certain “fictions” – everything from national legends and organised religion to modern value systems like human rights, and the modern limited liability company with thousands of employees and vast credit lines at its command.

Any band of Neanderthals, Harari suggests, can raise a few dozen people for a hunt but humans can tell the stories needed to ensure co-operation in groups of 150 or more – numbers large enough to organise mass hunting using prepared traps, raise modern armies, or subdue the natural world.