ŷ������

Terry Pratchett makes many of these points in his Discworld novels.. it's interesting to see nonfiction justification of it here too

Maybe I should get back to Discworld. I really didn't like The Last Continent and haven't read any since that one, but I guess I could have been unlucky...

"Harari takes the position that our great strength as a species, the thing that sets us apart from all other living beings, is our ability to make up stories about things that are only to be found in our imaginations, and then treat them as though they were real; by this process, they become real."


this would explain all that talk about women and duct tape and turning right and left into the desert...

You see, it works! Though I don't think Donald Trump is as gifted a story-teller as the author of Genesis.

Manny wrote: "You see, it works! Though I don't think Donald Trump is as gifted a story-teller as the author of Genesis."

He's starting his own chapter... the Book of Dementia... to be printed opposite the Revelations to facilitate side-by-side comparison of the two... apparently it's a gimmick to boost ratings, but any port in a shit-storm, non?

KELLANNE CONWAY IN WHORE OF BABYLON SHOCK

JARED KUSHNER REVEALED! HE'S KING SOLOMON TIME TRAVELING TO SAVE OUR WORLD FROM SATAN!

uh oh! the heretics found out about the tape thing... ABORT! ABORT!!

Thanks manny! Nice review!

Manny, does it talk about the next stage of evolution, from homo sapiens to homo moronicus? That's where we are headed, no?

Nandokishore Varma you'll get your answer in Harari's second book Homo Deus

Nandakishore wrote: "Manny, does it talk about the next stage of evolution, from homo sapiens to homo moronicus? That's where we are headed, no?"

Oh, you mean the Nnylf Effect?

Gert-Jan wrote: "Thanks manny! Nice review!"

Thank you Gert-Jan!

Great review Manny! I found this book entertaining and thought provoking, though I concede it is not as “scientific�� as many would prefer. How about « Homo Deus », have you given it a chance as well?

Thank you Rebeca!

Well, having read this one, I must say that I'm very curious to find out what comes next. After Genesis, Revelations?

"..didn't really like The Last Continent.."

Agree, I never cared for those Discworld books that focus on Rincewind. They tend to be more fluffy and silly. The ones about the witches are better, they tend to explore the meaning of stories and how ppl are affected by them. In Discworld, stories have lives and want to force people to live accordingly, whereas witches manipulate stories ;D His Tiffany Aching novels are also pretty good.

My favorite, though, is a stand-alone: Small Gods, which is a beautiful statement on belief and religion, which is also v funny.

Thank you, I might check out Small Gods!

Much Ado About Nothing!

I'm sorry, Hanieh. I should have tried harder to keep this comment thread Profound and Meaningful.

Î blame Donald Trump for turning up in message #3. Why can't he go shut down the US or tamper with a witness or something instead of annoying me?

Manny wrote: "Î blame Donald Trump for turning up in message #3. Why can't he go shut down the US or tamper with a witness or something instead of annoying me?.."

based on their testimony to congress, intelligence experts agree that the invasion of your reviews is actually a joint chinese-russian effort to undermine your global GR hegemony....

And I thought I was keeping a low profile.

Manny wrote; "After Genesis, Revelations?"

Why the question mark?

Great review. I wanted to know what this book is about and this did the job.

Thank you Arda! Though I am not sure that everyone agrees with my interpretation...

Manny wrote: "And I thought I was keeping a low profile."

further intelligence on the sino-russe efforts to infiltrate you critical infrastructure... I told you not to buy the Kaspersky security app!!

It's more so the way society is organized at the time, that makes any predictions easier to foretell, even down to things like names or specific locations of things. All it takes is some thought and centering your mind for concentration, and even a tiny bit of luck could help. So I guess science is just predicting nature or trying to crack her secrets to use to improve technology. It's a competitive field, and there aren't a lot jobs in it, nor a lot of money. People can't afford to think about crazy conspiracies or topics all day. You need balance in life, for art or creative endeavors and projects. It isn't all just predicting things, because you'd basically predict your own death. So will the universe explode? Possibly, after we're all gone, and our children's children aren't even there, long after Earth and our sun are gone, before we've had a chance to migrate to other worlds and/or off planet colonies.

It seems like those folks wanted to read a text book or two instead of a 500 page book.

This is quite an ingenious take on the book. I hadn't looked at it that way. Thank you!

"empires and religions and money don't actually exist, but now they rule our lives"

And the world would be a better place without two of them, and maybe without all three!

Fascinating review. Thanks.

It's a very ingenious book. I felt I had to raise my game!

thanks for your review. Well thought-out and eloquent, as always.

Hi Manny.
Is this a religious book?
I’m thinking about reading it, but I don’t want to read it if it’s full of religion and stuff like that.

The book often refers to religion, but it's not written from a religious point of view. It's hard to decide what the author's beliefs are in that department, if any.

Okay, thanks.
I think I’ll read it. It looks good.

Great review Manny! Harari cut to the chase in his book he is a great story teller:)

He's found a compelling way to present the big picture issues. It's hard not to accept at least some of his arguments.

True I loved this book and like you I felt that he has a soft spot towards Buddhism

It's the only religion where he came across as basically positive.

Manny wrote: "It's the only religion where he came across as basically positive."

that's because Buddhism rocks...

I don't agree in many small details of this book wholeheartedly, but this book is in general 'accurate'. And, I think it's a pretty good book to start reading non-fiction with. I almost always recommend this book to new non-fiction readers and of course, to kids.

Manny, I’m in the process of readin, but been curious about people’s thoughts, and came across yours, which I found compelling. I just have a quick question about when he talks about the downside of farming, could it be that we developed dependency to a certain system that delayed our self-sustainability, and if you also have time to state your opinion about if we were better off beating hunters and gatherers wouldn’t this be going against our evolution, against his, his research, or the knowledge that we acquire now, because we are settled without having to worry about where to look for food

Thank you Nisrine! There are interesting resonances between this book and Ken Binmore's Natural Justice, which I read recently. Binmore, who's done a truly incredible amount of multidisciplinary reading, argues persuasively that we have an innate, genetically programmed ability to understand fairness, which he compare to our ability to understand language: we all have it, but it's instantiated in very different ways depending on early conditioning. He thinks we got this from our time as hunter-gathers, all of whom have non-hierarchic societies which share food equitably. But fairness works much less well in modern post-agrarian societies.

This is such a good synopsis that it actually enhances my appreciation of the book in retrospect (and the work of recommending it to skeptical historical minds is made much easier). Thank you! Someone should pay you for this.

Thank you Boaz! Anyone who feels I'm not being adequately remunerated for my efforts is encouraged to buy a copy of The New Adventures of Socrates.

Harari has done nothing but stealing the insights of countless thinkers and philosophers of the last 250 years, simplifying them up to the degree of making errors (such as calling ideologies as religion whereas religions are a sub-category of ideologies actually) and selling them with a populist tactic only to glorify a horrible system called Capitalism. Also he gave lots of biased wrong information such as the ever-growing pie of Capitalism for 'everyone' and lack of data on Iraqi War after 2004 for example. No wonder the richest Capitalists of the world applauded the book with great enthusiasm. He has accomplished his task. He made good money. And people who never read great thinkers of the last 250 years thought he offered something new, not to mention having been brainwashed by his Neoliberal propaganda.

But why do you think he's glorifying capitalism? He just says it's been very successful at taking over the world, which is hard to disagree with. He seem to me rather revolted by this success.

Of course it's been successful at taking over the world; so was Monarchies after the Agricultural Revolution. Those are facts. You don't need to tell that the sun is a star. But when you do it, there is a purpose in your words. Harari is very successful at seemingly criticizing Capitalism, but then again, he is proclaiming it is the best system out there compared to others. Many times he is much worse critical of Communism and says things such as, "The only serious attempt to manage the world differently �� Communism �� was so much worse in almost every conceivable way that nobody has the stomach to try again."

First of all, the world has never seen what Communism is. As an idea, it aims a classless, stateless and moneyless society. Closest attempts to this idea were crushed not only by Capitalists and Fascists, but also by Stalinists, such as in Spanish Civil War's Anarchism or Mahno's and his comrades' system which was crushed by Soviet Union. Also French Commune was the first attempt and was crushed by French Government. I am not going to advocate Spanish Anarchists, nor Soviet Union here. I am just saying, the best way to glorify Soviet Union would be also to say things such as; "Soviet Socialism was bad at this and that, but eventually better than Capitalism in almost every conceivable way that nobody has the stomach to try Capitalism again." This is how you play the manipulation way. It works. Look at what he wrote here:

"The second answer is that we just need more patience �� paradise, the capitalists promise, is right around the corner. True, mistakes have been made, such as the Atlantic slave trade and the exploitation of the European working class. But we have learned our lesson, and if we just wait a little longer and allow the pie to grow a little bigger, everybody will receive a fatter slice. The division of spoils will never be equitable, but there will be enough to satisfy every man, woman and child �� even in the Congo."

Seriously? Do people know what Capitalists cause in countries like Congo to make their Capital bigger? Not only adults, but also kids are beaten and raped in Coltan mines throughout the world. What are we gonna wait for a little while longer really? It is easy to glorify a system in a first world country as someone who consumes the food, electronics and clothing produced in other countries through unimaginable horrors. You can imagine every country can get to that point, but it is not possible; mathematically not possible as Capitalism is built on a hierarchical system where there should be masters and slaves on a grander scale such as rich-poor, white collar-blue collar, ethnicity and countries and such. One side always has to serve the superior. Then the superior may feel like the world is great in his First Class room, ignoring the people producing his food out in farms far from his cosy sofa.

And this "A Growing Pie" lie? Really? Do people still buy this nonsense? Who cares if the total capital grows if it is not distributed equally? The gap between the rich and the poor is opening enormously, the fuel corporations are doing everything including assassinating ecologists not to lose money in the face of a global catastrophe, people are becoming homeless more and more whereas at some areas empty flats outnumber homeless people, etc. and he is glorifying how we all are getting a bigger slice from the pie every other day?!

Why is no one saying Hitler was a Capitalist too? So were Franco and Mussolini and Pinochet and etc. Of course revolutionaries did horrible things to bring justice and equality to the world; but in an extremely unequal and unjust world, there was no other way. It is the nature, the math of things. I am not trying to be an apologist here. I am politically on the left side as it is clear, but i am ready to criticize every revolutionary till the end here. Yet, i know, they wanted to create a better world for "All" instead of "Few" and they rejected to obey the status quo which has been continuously causing the suffering of countless people while people like Harari are ok with this suffering, because they are not the suffering ones. His kind would glorify Feudalism if they were born 800 years ago and Slavery if they were born 2800 years ago. These systems created big riches and science and philosophy and art too after all. But for whom? For masters and lords and kings; not for slaves and serfs. It's all about on which side you are, mate. Harari is the upper class and this book is written for the upper class.

So then, "no" on capitalism... noted.

T. wrote: ""The second answer is that we just need more patience �� paradise, the capitalists promise, is right around the corner. True, mistakes have been made, such as the Atlantic slave trade and the exploitation of the European working class. But we have learned our lesson, and if we just wait a little longer and allow the pie to grow a little bigger, everybody will receive a fatter slice. The division of spoils will never be equitable, but there will be enough to satisfy every man, woman and child �� even in the Congo.""

You didn't read this as, um, ironic?

"we have an innate, genetically programmed ability to understand fairness"

C.S. Lewis, in his rhetorical-style apologetics, claims that this is enough to prove the existence of God.

In the third essay by your favorite scientist, J. B. S. Haldane, you get his rebuttal of his assertion...