The Disney story of The Lion King reiterates mythological ideas about the meaning of life. Namely, that there is an eternal circle of life, and that it is one’s obligation to follow his destiny. Simba must not waver off his path lest he suffer painful consequences and see the collapse of his kingdom at the … Read more
What has worked in the past will not necessarily work in the future. Following the advice of people who were older than you worked better in the past because the world was more stable and predictable. But in a world where technology is rapidly and constantly reshaping economies, it is risky to follow advice that … Read more
Escaping the Matrix Science fiction today commits a grave error, it conflates intelligence for consciousness. This is why most works in this genre imagine a future war between man and machine. But the real fear should be of a conflict between a small superhuman elite who have privileged access to technology and a vast underclass … Read more
A prevalent idea today is that we live in a post-truth world. That fake news and political figures like Trump and Putin have driven the world away from their ability to recognize truth from fiction. In this chapter, Harari gives us countless examples to show how this is false. The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused … Read more
Today, it is difficult to know what consequences your actions have and whether you are causing harm to the world. In primitive times, it was easy to understand the repercussions of your actions, you knew where everything came from and you understood how your behavior affected others. But this is no longer the case. The … Read more
From an evolutionary perspective , it has been advantageous to trust in the knowledge of others. But like other traits that may have worked well in the past but may not be useful today, the illusion of knowledge can be dangerous. We live in a more complicated world and few people understand the limitations of … Read more
What is secularism? It is important to know first what it is not. Unlike religion, secularists don’t believe that they have a monopoly on truth, compassion, and morality. Seculars try to separate truth from belief. The story of religion endows people with a sense of meaning and purpose when one believes in it strongly, but … Read more
There are two definitions of God, one is the campfire god that people talk about when they wonder about the universe and its origins. This God is unknown, mysterious, and philosophical. The other God is the one religious people pray to. He is a moral authority, He cares about marriage and sexuality, He cares about … Read more
In this chapter, Harari tells us that humility is a quality that most cultures lack. There are Indians that believe that the invention of nuclear science should be credited to them. The Jews believe that monotheism should be credited to them and that they are a significant group in the world – the top three … Read more
There was a time when wars made sense to some politicians – it was when wars were profitable and easy. In 1914, the British controlled the Nile Valley and the Suez Canal for decades without much push back. The U.S won the war against Mexico, gained a landmass equivalent to Western Europe, for the price … Read more