9:30 killing thousands, driving millions from their homes? Absolutely not. This is not the action of a man who feels loved. Geopolitics, power, and losing trust 9:39 Don't politicians say they believe in God because people vote for things that resemble them? 9:48 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you cannot be elected US President -if you say that you are an atheist. -Right. 9:56 Same for Russia, maybe. I don't think in Russia, you really get elected, but okay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0S048D2tj4 : Yuval Noah Harari: Stories, Power & Why Truth Doesn't Matter | Nikhil Kamath | People by WTF: Nikhil Kamath and Yuval Noah Harari: Introduction 01:31 History, change, and writing books 03:57 Religion as humanity's most powerful fiction 09:33 Geopolitics, power, and losing trust 16:27 Greenland, tariffs, and negotiation tactics 19:53 Democracy's self-correcting mechanism under threat 28:19 AI taking over religion's authority 33:44 Purpose, suffering, and controlling your mind 39:59 Algorithms destroyed the public conversation 48:02 No purpose, just understanding suffering 55:06 Who actually runs the world today 1:02:38 Nobody runs the world alone 1:07:50 Can capitalism survive without human effort 1:14:44 Venezuela, Iran, and rebuilding democracy 1:21:11 Don't believe everything is just power Religion as humanity's most powerful fiction I think the main point of Sapiens, which is as relevant today as ever, is that history That book is a little old now. What has stayed relevant from then to today? is shaped by the human imagination, not just the study of the past. History is the study of change, of how things change in the world. I've had with any of your books. Brilliant book. I don't know if I remember all of it. by fiction, and not just by truth. That humans control the world because we know how to cooperate better than any other animal on the planet.
I think the main point of Sapiens, which is as relevant today as ever, is that history is shaped by the human imagination, by fiction, and not just by truth. That humans control the world because we know how to cooperate better than any other animal on the planet. And cooperation relies on storytelling. That so much of the world is run on fiction, is fuelled by fiction. It's most obvious in the case of religion, but even if you look at something like the economy, corporations, money, all of these things are stories that we invented. They don't have an objective existence outside our imagination. I think this was the most important message of Sapiens, trying to understand history as the product of the human imagination and of human fictions. And it's even more true today, I would say, than it was 10-15 years ago when I wrote Sapiens. So if religion were to be a story, and many people wrote many stories, why did the stories of the religions we have today sell and kind of, like, permeate through time? What was so good about these stories? Or what was the reason these stories did well and the others did not? We don't know for sure. To some extent, it can be accidental that you have hundreds and even thousands of different religious stories competing for human attention. And of course, you need to pass a certain level of attractiveness so humans will be interested in that story. But beyond that point, I belong to a school of historians that think that accidents and luck have an enormous impact on what is happening in history. Even on the biggest things, like why is Christianity the most widespread religion today in the world? To some extent, it's just luck. Luck and good storytelling? -No, a combination, of course. -Yeah. You needed-- I mean, Christianity has a very compelling story. It has something that people really want to believe. You know, deep down, if you ask yourself, "What is the crucial story that Christianity tells people," it is that you are loved by the God that created, that controlled the universe. God loves you so much that he was willing to suffer and sacrifice himself for your sake. And that this is not like the love of a human that you always doubt. "Yes, maybe they love me, but maybe they'll change their mind. Maybe they love me, but they don't really know who I am. If they can actually see what is happening inside my heart, inside, deep down in my mind, they wouldn't love me." No, no, no. This is the love of an omnipotent, omniscient creator God who knows everything about me and still loves me. This is such an attractive idea. You know, the irony, to some extent, is that the more attractive an idea is, the bigger the chance that it's not true. It's so easy for people to find evidence supporting the story that you want to believe. So the more you want to believe a story, the more suspicious you should be about how easy it is for you to fall for it. Can you give me an example? This is just-- You know, everybody wants to believe that there is something after death. You know, this is universal in almost all religions in different forms. And the evidence is so meagre. I wouldn't say there is zero evidence. -I mean, people-- -There is evidence? Let's agree that whatever evidence there is is very, very shaky. What is the evidence? How can somebody prove there is life after death or not? Don't ask me. -I don't believe it. -Right. But this is maybe the most common thing that people believe throughout history. And again, I didn't want to say there is zero evidence because then the listeners will say, "Hey, I heard this story about somebody who was reincarnated and met his family from--" And maybe there is a little bit of evidence. -Right. -But compared to what you need to prove and compared to the influence of this idea on history,
You know, the other ironic thing... And here, I speak specifically about the Christian belief. 9:07 They say that they believe it, but you look at their behaviour. I don't know. You look at some of the leaders today in the world. 9:14 Does Putin really believe that? And he says he's a Christian. And as a Christian, this is what he's supposed to believe. 9:22 A person who believes that an omnipotent God really loves him would go around starting wars,
4 comments:
9:30
killing thousands, driving millions from their homes? Absolutely not. This is not the action of a man who feels loved.
Geopolitics, power, and losing trust
9:39
Don't politicians say they believe in God because people vote for things that resemble them?
9:48
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you cannot be elected US President -if you say that you are an atheist. -Right.
9:56
Same for Russia, maybe. I don't think in Russia, you really get elected, but okay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0S048D2tj4 : Yuval Noah Harari: Stories, Power & Why Truth Doesn't Matter | Nikhil Kamath | People by WTF:
Nikhil Kamath and Yuval Noah Harari: Introduction
01:31 History, change, and writing books
03:57 Religion as humanity's most powerful fiction
09:33 Geopolitics, power, and losing trust
16:27 Greenland, tariffs, and negotiation tactics
19:53 Democracy's self-correcting mechanism under threat
28:19 AI taking over religion's authority
33:44 Purpose, suffering, and controlling your mind
39:59 Algorithms destroyed the public conversation
48:02 No purpose, just understanding suffering
55:06 Who actually runs the world today
1:02:38 Nobody runs the world alone
1:07:50 Can capitalism survive without human effort
1:14:44 Venezuela, Iran, and rebuilding democracy
1:21:11 Don't believe everything is just power
Religion as humanity's most powerful fiction
I think the main point of Sapiens, which is as relevant today as ever, is that history That book is a little old now. What has stayed relevant from then to today? is shaped by the human imagination, not just the study of the past. History is the study of change, of how things change in the world. I've had with any of your books. Brilliant book. I don't know if I remember all of it. by fiction, and not just by truth. That humans control the world because we know how to cooperate better than any other animal on the planet.
I think the main point of Sapiens, which is as relevant today as ever, is that history is shaped by the human imagination, by fiction, and not just by truth. That humans control the world because we know how to cooperate better than any other animal on the planet. And cooperation relies on storytelling. That so much of the world is run on fiction, is fuelled by fiction. It's most obvious in the case of religion, but even if you look at something like the economy, corporations, money, all of these things are stories that we invented. They don't have an objective existence outside our imagination.
I think this was the most important message of Sapiens, trying to understand history as the product of the human imagination and of human fictions. And it's even more true today, I would say, than it was 10-15 years ago when I wrote Sapiens. So if religion were to be a story,
and many people wrote many stories, why did the stories of the religions we have today sell and kind of, like, permeate through time? What was so good about these stories? Or what was the reason these stories did well and the others did not? We don't know for sure. To some extent, it can be accidental that you have hundreds and even thousands of different religious stories competing for human attention. And of course, you need to pass a certain level of attractiveness so humans will be interested in that story. But beyond that point, I belong to a school of historians that think that accidents and luck have an enormous impact on what is happening in history. Even on the biggest things, like why is Christianity the most widespread religion today in the world? To some extent, it's just luck. Luck and good storytelling? -No, a combination, of course. -Yeah. You needed-- I mean, Christianity has a very compelling story. It has something that people really want to believe. You know, deep down, if you ask yourself, "What is the crucial story that Christianity tells people,"
it is that you are loved by the God that created, that controlled the universe. God loves you so much that he was willing to suffer and sacrifice himself for your sake. And that this is not like the love of a human that you always doubt. "Yes, maybe they love me, but maybe they'll change their mind. Maybe they love me, but they don't really know who I am. If they can actually see what is happening inside my heart, inside, deep down in my mind, they wouldn't love me." No, no, no. This is the love of an omnipotent, omniscient creator God who knows everything about me and still loves me. This is such an attractive idea. You know, the irony, to some extent, is that the more attractive an idea is, the bigger the chance that it's not true. It's so easy for people to find evidence supporting the story that you want to believe. So the more you want to believe a story, the more suspicious you should be about how easy it is for you to fall for it. Can you give me an example? This is just-- You know, everybody wants to believe that there is something after death. You know, this is universal in almost all religions in different forms. And the evidence is so meagre. I wouldn't say there is zero evidence. -I mean, people-- -There is evidence? Let's agree that whatever evidence there is is very, very shaky. What is the evidence? How can somebody prove there is life after death or not? Don't ask me. -I don't believe it. -Right. But this is maybe the most common thing that people believe throughout history. And again, I didn't want to say there is zero evidence because then the listeners will say, "Hey, I heard this story about somebody who was reincarnated and met his family from--" And maybe there is a little bit of evidence.
-Right. -But compared to what you need to prove and compared to the influence of this idea on history,
You know, the other ironic thing... And here, I speak specifically about the Christian belief.
9:07
They say that they believe it, but you look at their behaviour. I don't know. You look at some of the leaders today in the world.
9:14
Does Putin really believe that? And he says he's a Christian. And as a Christian, this is what he's supposed to believe.
9:22
A person who believes that an omnipotent God really loves him would go around starting wars,
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