Yuval Harari - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

- Welcome by Harari fan, reptile hunter and professor Jørn Hurum
- "How humans conquered the world" by Yuval Harari
- Yuval Harari in conversation about "Sapiens" with paleontologist Lene Liebe Delsett, linguist and writer Jan Grue.
Moderator: journalist and writer Linn Stalsberg

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[applepeel]

It's incredible I can gain this incredible information from an Israeli historian from a talk in Norway about a book on humanity, all the way from India.

[hosnahenainia]

I'm honored that I am one of the few humans on earth who watch this and who appreciate the books and talks of prof. Yuval...

[ashleyhyatt]

I wish I could upvote this infinite times. I admire his thinking very much. I hope more people read his book and come to appreciate what he is teaching.

[poshmark]

can't get enough of these lectures

[Dakhoo]

After living more than half a century on earth, and after collecting a variety of wide knowledge and experiences, I got a sense of self-satisfaction but after reading "Sapiens" I realise how far I have to go. "Sapiens" is helping me to see myself in the mirror of the objective reality. Isn't that a breakthrough in history writing?! I do own you Yuval Harari for awakening me by your great masterpiece.

[rashedzaman]

I wish more people had followed Dr. Harari’s lectures. He is, indeed, an outstanding speaker and thinker!!!!

[Akmal]

As I entered into the book shop, my eyes interacted with "Sapiens" As I turned three pages, my mind went to 13.5 billion years ago on (birth of the Earth), as I saw next paragraph about chemistry and biology and its natural link with us....I decided to buy "Sapiens" Now many sapiens will be reading this "Sapiens" on the Earth like me. A great contribution by Professor Yuyal Noah Harari.

[Pondering_Primate]

Bored of music, listen to lectures/talks like this, now I can be enlightened whilst I work out! Win/Win.

[georgecherian]

Great book that explains history in a simple way. Beautifully described by a great historian. Everyone should this.

[SanketRaipure]

Very few people had attended this lecture. He deserves greater audience.

[FarroShirazi]

One of the most inspiring perspective I have come across, both in the book and the talk, on social history of human species and the challenges we are facing as an evolving species. Thank you for sharing that.

[onderbox]

How can you not like this. Its about who you are. Well thats the best knowledge you can get and it wil help you understand yourself and others on different levels of consciousness. If you want.

[veenasafy]

Hi from tamil nadu india. This was a great experience to read his book n travelling with his thoughts. Thank u for uploading this video. Very nice to see n hear form such a legend.

[Known-unknowns]

2016. Look how few people are in the audience. Take a look at one of his talks in 2020, you’ll be lucky to get a seat.

[vahyalakwaga]

Harari is an absolute beast. I can't overemphasise just how compelling this book is to modern humans. I wouldn't be overselling it to call it a masterpiece.

[sandnerdaniel]

Thanks for the video, and thanks to Prof. Harari! I do not agree with many conjectures, conclusions, and reinterpretations of facts as presented in the lecture—but then again, you can learn a lot even from people you do not agree with.

[smallstudiodesign]

Our ferocious fictional character is clearly the villain of the world .... that’s why art & culture is so very powerful. Our outcome is dependent upon our own story we write for ourselves.

[petitgegant]

The first core of Yuval's book is that our superior Imagination is what makes us superior to the rest of animals (maybe there are others but that doesn't mean imagination is untrue, invalid or unimportant). The second core is that our superior habilty to cooperate (granted by our Imagination and its Imagined Realities) is what has made us be the most powerful living being in the world. Cooperation. NOT Competing like animals do in Nature. NOT Competing like we were taught when we were young. It's precisely competing what has doomed the rest of animals to be at our mercy (mercyless mercy more like it). The fact that maybe other things besides our Imagination have helped us into being more cooperative is another history for maybe another book.

Thanks Yuval for showing us the path to Progress. The path to Happiness: IMAGINATION and COOPERATION. That being said though I think his book is so full of wrong or pessimistic ideas (which most I must admit I also shared) that I felt the need to fight them to try to "boost the morale of the troop" (and my own too by the way) a little bit (nowadays it's not precisely bursting out of joy). I know it wasn't needed because thanks to the least common of all senses (the common sense) almost everybody already disagreed with Yuval in many of the things he said (in amazon lots individuals already decided to give only one star out of five to his book) but thanks for giving me the opportunity, the freedom to argue some points in what I think it has been a constructive way more than a destrucitve or disrespectful one so common this days. I promise this is the last one:

The american independence declaration has no sense if we translate it in objective biological terms.
I DO NOT AGREE. As Yuval himself says in his book if we tranlate it it becomes "All humans have evolved in a different way and have born with mutable traits among which there is LIFE and the pursuit of PLEASURE". Personally I find this statement very sensible, reasonable and realistic rather than senseless. Even if we are 99, 99% biologically equals as Science proved sequencing our genome, we are effectively 0, 01% different. We have mutable traits (in the past or in undeveloped countries women have bigger "backyards" and breasts than modern women living in developed countries because the last ones, thanks to hospitals, don't need to have such big attributes to give birth to their children, individuals living in countries with high sun exposure have darker skin and eyes than the ones living in countries with less sun light, etc.). If not everything almost everything we do it's to obtain pleasure in the present or in the future or in the next life or at least to avoid suffering which would decrease our current level of pleasure (if we end up obtaining pleasure or not it's another history). We are alife.

Following the wise, realistic Imagined Reality of Thomas Jefferson U.S.A. Americans (and other countries too) progressed much more than Hammurabi would have dreamt off because if we translate Hammurabi's Imagined Reality (code) into objective biological terms we get "a human eye it's the same as an entire human being" and that's nuts. To be fair with Hamurabi though the translation should be "a human noble's eye it's the same as an entire slave human being" which I (as follower of the Imagined Reality of the Human Rights) still think it's nuts. Sadly many people, even entire countries like India (not the only one though) are nuts and instead of following wise realistic Imagined Realites like the ones Gandhi or Thomas Jefferson imagined long ago, they trust nuts Imagined Realites like Hamurabi's code (Indian castes system for example). Curiously lots of americans (but not the only ones of course) can buy dozens of extremely cheap t-shirts made in India but few Indians can buy dozens of american made products (shirts or whatever). I hope some day Indians listen to Gandhi. Maybe that day americans (and others) will not be able to buy dozens of cheap t-shirts but breaking news ahead: no one needs dozens of t-shirts to live a decent life (but no one can live decently belonging to the untouchable caste).

Oh, and I almost forgot one more "little" thing that made Agriculture and outstanding smash if we compare it to Hunter-Gatherers. It forced people to planificate, to IMAGINE the FUTURE harvest, etc. Having in mind that Human Imagination and Imagined Realities have been the key to human success, a system, an Imagined Reality which enhances imagination like Agriculture, we could say that it was the mother of all Imagined Realities. It was the mother of progress. The mother of HAPPINESS.

Oh, and one last thing, even if U.S.A. Americans (and many others) followed great Imagined Realities like the one Thomas Jefferson imagined making them progress more than anyone, in the recent past have been following a very funny (though a little outdated for my taste) Imagined Reality called the Law of the Strongest while taking by force whatever they wished from whomever they wished. Curiously, nowadays, their own younger generations, their own beautiful babies are obediently following the same example thanks to their mirror neurons and no longer accept the results of a free electoral peaceful system called Democracy and just want to invade the Capitol by force to stablish their own new (ancient more like it) world order. Fitting. Fitting indeed. Knock, knock, THEY ARE and the happiness it brings I'm not not so sure).

Truth be told maybe all started in Western Europe after all. In October 2017 to be precise. Back then Europe made the Law of the Strongest become trendy once more showing to the entire World (lots of international journalists were there covering the event) that even if it was a a bit old, that Law was much more cool than wasting time in Democracy or useless Freedom (pff who wants those. highly overated them two anyways. I'm joking). Mmh, unwise, unwise lesson to be taught indeed. Since then, curiously, mirror neurons started to work once again and BANG!! If you have the brute force you have the right. By right of might, yes sir!! (faster and more resolutive than all the other Imagined Realites like dances, languages, religions, science, laws, democracies, boring, zzzz snoring. I'm joking once again). Equation's result: Capitol invaded, Ukraine invaded, south american countries like Peru rebelling violently and putting their presidents in jail, etc. Butterflies and tornados maybe? One thing is for sure though. The Universe and its equalizers equations will bring Justice. One way or the other. For all. Maybe there could be a way to teach a different lesson to our beautiful babies to make their mirror neurons start working in a different more democratic, peaceful, productive way. Who knows, who cares, not me (well, maybe a little actually).

[NIHILNOVI]

The combining of fields, of disciplines, is not only possible, it is essential!

[jbb]

Listening to this now during the covid crisis and Harari’s idea that it might have to take a crisis to change the predominant story about economic growth, a story which is leading to ecological destruction, now rings true. The world is now going through another economic crisis because of covid 19. The question is, will we emerge out of this with a better story on how to live sustainably?