What is left after we accept identity politics as a fiction? | Slavoj Zizek & Yuval Noah Harari

Are we living in an age of naivete and cynicism in society? Can we be optimistic about the future? What defines our 'new normal' in the world of identity, politics, and ideology?

All of these questions answered and more in this snippet from a lively discussion between Slavoj Zizek & Yuval Noah Harari. Stay tuned for more clips from this conversation!

This conversation was filmed on July 29, 2022

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Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind' (2014), 'Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow' (2016), '21 Lessons for the 21st Century' (2018), the series 'Sapiens: A Graphic History' (launched in 2020, co-authored with David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave), and 'Unstoppable Us', Volume 1 (2022).

[Jpturlax]

OH MY GODDD!!! WTH, how did I just get recommended this NOW?! Amazing stuff! I didn't realize the lack of comments on this but just know that I am mind blown anytime any of the two of you speak! You two are like my two personal heroes of philosophy.

[whataboutthis]

People who are proud users of "facts dont care about your feelings" should see this

[outdoortubetalk]

Question: Mr Zizek what is 1 + 1? Zizek: let me tell you a

[matthewlin]

Two intelligent men with exotic accents, one skinny and one have rhinitis. The best show.

[MissGold]

I respect and admire your intelligence and your reasoning.

[vleiratfilms]

We sure do live in interesting times. Confusing but revealing.🌈

[paulwheeler]

Love the whole idea of self and identity as fiction. We are compilations of the stars - black, brown, white makes absolutely no difference. We are, in essence, separate prodigies of the whole. One boat on an ocean of waves. Religion and science seem to have, unfortunately, reinforced the misperception. Well, maybe Buddhism hasn't.

[steve]

Identity Politics has to end.. What separates us ultimate is our vibration. One day they will measure us by our average vibrational level for admittance to That is how we should be discriminated against. That is something we can control as well. Our minds are powerful....

[soyHat]

Actually, he talks about generalizations

[sealedwings]

I did not understand how the question was answered with that response

[Strangepete]

When someone asks Jordan Peterson if he believes in God 1:23

[matthewcaldwell]

Money is “fictional, ” in the same sense, in that it’s a social construct. It will not cease to be a serious political force because of that. This is a stupid way of phrasing the question.

[mendez]

Just because identities are social constructions, it does not mean they are fiction. Just from the start the question does not make any sense.

[fos]

He never answers the fuckin questions. I love him anyways tho.

[DanielPerez-jmnt]

Certain elements of identity are fiction, and certain other elements are rooted in reality such as race, gender, even language dispite it being a human contruct. The reality of the matter is that identity is not grounded in fiction, it's instead grounded in human contructs such as language, culture, religion and biological truths such as gender, race and so on. Some aspects of identity such as nationality are human constructs to the some extent that civilisation itself is a human construct, that doesnt imply that its in fact fiction, quite the contrary. Language, culture, borders, nationalities, food, these moldable characteristics of human identity are very much a part of reality and how we humans see ourselves. Literal wars that have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of millions of peopple have been fought over these very characteristics.

[matthewcaldwell]

Money is fictional. It will not create to be a serious political force because of that. This is a stupid way of phrasing the question. And Zizek, man, I want to pretend this is profound, but it really isn’t.

[davidhouk]

"Fiction" is a bit loaded. Constructs, sure, but to say that identity is necessarily fiction is flatly (and somewhat grossly) incorrect. If someone treats you differently because of how they perceive your body, that's not really a "fiction" by any stretch of really any well-established literary theory, particularly if they are explicit about it. This transcends the particular debate of the common memes of fictional literature - what does it mean to be fiction - and into the space that you're proposing that such a narrative about reality is actually not reflective of reality AT ALL.. when in fact it reasonably IS. We can know things about ourselves. Sure, they are often enough ridiculous and fantastical and entirely our own unrealistic view of ourselves and our relation to things around us. And sure, they are at times layered in subtle myth carried in assumptions and biases and so forth. But these can occasionally map reasonably and in predictable and consistent ways that can be verified by other subjective witnesses without arbitrary meaning. I'm not sure why (or how) this is really an obviously false view, and I think it only falls apart through a lens of excessive intellectual gaming. To deny this is to accept that nothing can be said meaningfully about anything, which I seriously doubt either of these dudes truly believe, as they have spent a great deal of time (and have made quite a bit of $$$) doing precisely that. Unless, of course, you are to take them as purely capitalist opportunists...

[greatdelusion]

This dude looks and sounds trapped inside of his own mind.

[objetivista]

Human [and other species] essential equality
it is not fiction.

[Itsyrm]

As if the jews have not been hated enough- now there is harari... i wander how old he is. Beauze there is nothing scarier than a 50 year old bold man. Now add the jewness and....