Yuval Noah Harari on the myths we need to survive

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Filmed at the Royal Geographical Society on 23rd September 2015.

Myths. We tend to think they’re a thing of the past, fabrications that early humans needed to believe in because their understanding of the world was so meagre. But what if modern civilisation were itself based on a set of myths? This is the big question posed by Professor Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, which has become one of the most talked about bestsellers of recent years. In this exclusive appearance for Intelligence Squared, Harari will argue that all political orders are based on useful fictions which have allowed groups of humans, from ancient Mesopotamia through to the Roman empire and modern capitalist societies, to cooperate in numbers far beyond the scope of any other species.

To give an example, Hammurabi, the great ruler of ancient Babylon, and the US founding fathers both created well-functioning societies. Hammurabi’s was based on hierarchy, with the king at the top and the slaves at the bottom, while the Americans’ was based on freedom and equality between all citizens. Yet the idea of equality, Harari will claim, is as much a fiction as the idea that a king or rich nobleman is ‘better’ than a humble peasant. What made both of these societies work was the fact that within each of them everyone believed in the same set of imagined underlying principles. In a similar vein, money is a fiction that depends on the trust that we collectively put in it. The fact that it is a ‘myth’ has not impeded its usefulness. It has become the most universal and efficient system of mutual trust ever devised, allowing the development of global trade networks and sophisticated modern capitalism.

Professor Harari came to the Intelligence Squared stage to explain how the fictions that we believe in are an inseparable part of human culture and civilisation.

[briananderson]

Who's the interviewer? He's excellent. And so are the questions of the audience. I love a smart audience.

[markmartens]

"My son turned six yesterday. What advice would you give him as he prepares for a world of robotics and artificial intelligence?"
"That nothing they teach him in the educational system today is really relevant to the world in which he will actually live. The most important capacity he will need to have is to, throughout life, learn. There will be no ending to learning and to reinventing ourselves again, and again, and again...The pace of change is so fast, that you'll have to learn all your life." Yuval Noah Harari on the myths we need to survive.

[SchlimmShadySmash]

14:15 When he talks about German history, as a German myself I have to comment on this. The point made here is that people are able to live under different myths and quickly exchange them basically without major difficulties, and.. it seems true, but something that is presupposed here is that stories and myths are sort of the driving elements of society when in fact you can argue against this confidently and instead point towards other human pressures being the real force and stories only a circumstantial thing on top of it all, an average German in the nazi regime may not have even bought into the nazi story but remains part of the system because of his more prevalent desire to fulfill human needs such as food, security and community. The story is almost secondary.

[havenbastion]

If people are switching stories so easily, they are not relying on truth, but on feelings.

[Foxtrotwilconiner]

Two favourite quotes from him ignorance was the greatest scientific discovery,
Gossip is what hold some myths and stories together.

[Stallnig]

This:
~"You see a man wearing the same hat and suit as you do, and you know he most likely believes the same stories you do"
That is the best description of a culture I've come across. We are subconciousely very good at recognising familiarity and foreignness in appearance and its correlations with mental traits and ideals, which we pickup through experience.
I believe that dislike of cultural differences is often conflated with racism. I believe most people who don't like people of other ethnicities don't dislike them because of where they are from or how they look, but because of the mindset, believes and values they mostlikely hold, since those are prevalent at their origin place. Those things can bear a lot of conflict and danger. Therefor prejudice and preventive measures on its behalf aren't all that unreasonable imo.

[hariprasathp]

This statement really caught me
"To know something is real, ask the question ' can it suffer?'"
The concept of ethics obsessed me and he kind of cured that.

[swadeshtaneja]

If one is discouraged to question from childhood their scriptures, elders or teacher the ability for critical thinking cannot develop.

[Thistledove]

My most product activity today was listening to and being inspired by my favorite two voices in the wilderness.

[sudhabansal]

The speaker has such a vivid insight into future and his knowledge seems to be very very vast. I am, ordinary person, incapable to comment. I enjoyed listening it nonstop.

[qyarn]

Harari's overall future outlook (data as new existencial story, mainly biotek as new tool to realise the story) reminds me quite a bit on Houellebecq's novel "The Possibility of an Island".

Thanks for this great talk!!!

[jeffreylynn]

As one listens to Yuval or any speaker they admire, one must question whether YOUR frontal cortex has shut down!

[samt]

Myths are 'Maya' or 'Mythak' in indic vedas. One needs 'Maya' to survive, yet one has to transcend it, to realize one's self and see the reality. Meditation is one of the ways one can do that. YNH's approach is in line with this ancient practice. 👍

[philiphema]

YNH is such a large intelligence I'm pleased there was no-one also on the stage presenting counter positions. In this format he Is connectrd to his audience .
Brilliant minds, beautiful minds
Thank you.

[d.c.]

I can be thankful for others for contributing for the betterment of all.

[matthewjackson]

I agree with that he says at 1:18:11 in the video where he states that humans can effectively operate in an environment of cognitive dissonance . We live in a world of contradiction out of necessity. George Santayana made the same observation about the contradictory world in which we live :

The world is a perpetual caricature of itself; at every moment it is the mockery and the contradiction of what it is pretending to be.
-George Santayana

[patharvard]

The more I listen to Harari, the less I am impressed with his understanding of the world. I would enjoy debating him on many of his conclusions.

[gin]

he is the type of a man who would not seek politics ...yet his intelligence and clear way of seeing is what is really needed .

[mojophe]

Walking us strategically into an abyss. It's good to listen to new myth makers providing you listen carefully to the underbelly of what's been proffered.

[vivianoosthuizen]

Life on this planet will not exist without love. You will understand this when you hold your own child in your arms.