Bingham, a molecular and evolutionary biologist, and Souza, an evolutionary psychologist, discuss the implications of "social coercion theory." This powerful new body of insight from the last decade and a half of research shows how a social revolution ca. 2 million years ago our set ancient biology on the course that made us human. For easily understood reasons, we cooperate across diverse behaviors and situations with many unrelated members of our species, while non-human animals rarely cooperate beyond very close kin. Everything that makes us so different from other animals arises from this unique social strategy. This new picture of our biology also accounts for the emergence of our language and intelligence; our sexual and ethical psychology; and our economic and political history, all in extraordinary detail. Among many other insights, social coercion theory shows us how and why democracy is the original, ancient human social system and crucial to our future. This dramatically improved self-comprehension puts us in the position to build a human future vastly wealthier, wiser and more humane than the present or the past.