Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

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[dhirajupadhyay]

In short, we humans are responsible for our misery, the same way we are responsible for our greatness.

[ViryLittlebottom]

For me, the biggest contribution from the book Sapiens by Yuval is that human's success as a specie is our unique ability for mass cooperations through stories we tell ourselves and each other, and it is both a gift and a curse. It allows us to do great things such as build cities and cultures, trades with each other, make progress in science and technology, create great work of arts and entertainments -- but also lead to conflicts that causes wars, animal cruelties, racisms, sexism, financial inequality, ecological disasters... and that all of it can be changed with the right story. It strangely gives me hope because of that perspective, and the knowledge that the most powerful and efficient tool for changes is for the stories to change.

Also, I no longer judge as harshly with ideas I don't connect with personally, such as religions or political ideals. We all have to believe in some form of fictions for our world to function, including things I have taken for granted such as money, moralities, and human rights. It is what make us human. I am more open minded about ideas -- or at least know that mine is not as valid as another or their more invalid than mine. There's obvious exceptions when stories cause real suffering and harms, but the rest, they don't matter so much -- in the end we're all just talking chimps with tools, and stories.

[MosesRabuka]

“Homo sapiens, the only creature endowed with reason, is also the only creature to pin its existence on things unreasonable.” ~ Henri Bergson

[johnnyrode]

The greatest gift to humanity is our ability to learn, and the lesson to learn, is that nothing is more important than empathy.

[jrileycain]

a side note: Please be aware of the background music. It has a subliminal effect on listener of this lecture. It is there to make the information seem more profound. Music is one of the techniques used to influence the human imagination and emotions.

[mattgordon]

Im going to keep writing my own story as long as i am conscious on this planet. LOVE

[prkzoomin]

Good Quote, Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

[JM-unmk]

This book catapulted my love for books, since then I’ve accumulated a little library of books.

[romellyarde]

I absolutely enjoyed this lesson you compiled this concept so well and easy to digest. Sadly the people who should have listened to this aren't going to listen.

[tumukugizeemmanuel]

This is the best book I have ever read just like the audio. I am still reading it and with audio I hope I will understand it better. Thank you very much. You touched on almost all complexities we face in our daily lives and prophesized about the future.

[abhis_s]

What Yuval wants to say is that our sheer ability to concoct sh*t ..makes us the greatest being on this earth.

[darnytoads]

Noah's book is on my top 10 books EVER list.

[mlester]

A few points:
1. Religious stories are not about the material world, they are about the spiritual world. Don't expect religion to give an answer as to how to make a new computer. But yes look to religion to find an answer as to how to save your soul.
2. Homo sapiens is an aberration among all other life forms on earth. Humans encode knowledge as to how to survive not just in the DNA like every other form of life, but to a major degree in the learned knowledge passed from person to person and generation to generation. This is what distinguishes man from other life forms.
3. Technology is not the solution, technology is the problem, created by the mind of man which itself is an aberration.
4. Humanity among other forms of life on Earth bears an uncanny resemblance to a tissue malignancy on an individual's body.
5. Humans have triggered the 5th mass extinction event which may very well extinguish humanity as it progresses to its ultimate end. This is another way in which humanity resembles a malignant tumor on a body which dies when the malignancy achieves its ultimate end.
6. Marxism and communism were stories that sprang from the mind of man, and led to the death of a hundred million people.
7. Death occurs because of the second law of thermodynamics. No science can overcome the laws of nature.
8. The stories that people believe do organize human life, but no story, no matter how scientifically sound or technologically developed can save man from his own foolishness.
9. The stories about God in the Bible are not pure invention springing from the creative mind of man, but rather a reflection of the creative force of order in the universe whom some people refer to as God. As such, no story that presumes man can perform such creative acts and control every aspect of the natural world can ultimately be held to be true. Can a man put an electron spinning around every nucleus in every atom? Can man's technology create millions of galaxies spinning in the universe? Religious stories simply reflect the order found in our world. New human stories like that of Karl Marx just create a huge mess. So don't get your hopes up that we humans can create stories that will surpass the truths found in the the Bible. In my humble opinion.

[biplabchowdhury]

Mr. Yuval deserves all the accolades and admiration for his noble work.🙂

[adityapathak]

One of the few life altering books I read during lockdown

[onepuece]

The success of humanity lies within its ability to cooperate and believe in one story but if such story fails, could also lead to its demise. Humanity's strength is also its weakness.

[somdeepkundu]

My most favorite line by Mr Harari is "Never underestimate human stupidity"

[ithead]

Wowww finally a quality video in Youtube. Thanks for your efforts... keep going good job

[TheJerryakers]

Excellent. Good video and presentation. Oddly, in recent years (I'm 75 yrs), I've felt disconnected somehow from the nearer and greater society. I identified so much with the "good story" idea you presented. Through it, I recognized that the story going on in my mind was unique only to me. What to do? I don't know. But glad I clicked into this video. "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" was certainly not about what I had imagined and was expecting. It was a good story -- but without an ending. I guess that's the way history is, huh?

[TheLoyalOfficer]

Aristotle said it best with his Chain of Being - the highest form of existence is to be able to think about thinking.