The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Front-Ranger:
I finished the profile on Harari last night. For the first five or so pages I was wondering what all the fuss was about. It covered all the people around him, his organization, etc. Then it started talking about some of his ideas and writings and became a little more interesting. I grasp that his main achievement is to write about the history of all humanity. Other than that, I didn't see any new ideas. The author perhaps didn't either because he ended the article with a "who cares" statement.
I then read about Jeanne Calment, the reportedly oldest person who ever lived. Also a very interesting article, and would have also benefited from shortening by at least a page.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 18, 2020, 03:20:39 pm ---I then read about Jeanne Calment, the reportedly oldest person who ever lived. Also a very interesting article, and would have also benefited from shortening by at least a page.
--- End quote ---
I agree, hunnerd percent.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 18, 2020, 03:20:39 pm ---I finished the profile on Harari last night. For the first five or so pages I was wondering what all the fuss was about. It covered all the people around him, his organization, etc. Then it started talking about some of his ideas and writings and became a little more interesting. I grasp that his main achievement is to write about the history of all humanity. Other than that, I didn't see any new ideas. The author perhaps didn't either because he ended the article with a "who cares" statement.
--- End quote ---
I haven't finished it but I agree with you on the first part. I'm not sure I can describe off the top of my head why his book is so compelling. For one thing, it does not embrace standard comforting assumptions about human organizations and progress. He talks about several revolutions: cognitive, agricultural and scientific. The cognitive revolution allowed humans to communicate in abstractions and hypotheticals. Other animals can communicate "There's a lion at the watering hole." But humans suddenly became able to speculate on whether the lion would or wouldn't be present, to tell a story about why the lion goes there, worship the lion as a god, etc. And when those hypotheticals/stories eventually took the forms of religion, politics, royalty, moral structures, patriotism, capitalism, money, etc., that's what ultimately allowed humans to form larger groups. He's also one of those who judges the agricultural revolution as more damaging than beneficial to humans: suddenly people had to work harder, cities sprang up, diseases ran rampant. Yes, agriculture ultimately allowed humans to specialize skills so now we have great books, antibiotics, computers, planes. Except that the vast majority of humans still didn't/don't have access to those things, and those people's lives are worse (he says) than hunter gatherers'. As for the scientific revolution, it enabled colonialism and vice versa -- for good and for ill. I don't agree with all of his notions, but they're always interesting.
At this late hour off the top of my head, I'm not doing the book justice. But if the article ends in "who cares?" it's definitely not doing him justice.
--- Quote ---I then read about Jeanne Calment, the reportedly oldest person who ever lived. Also a very interesting article, and would have also benefited from shortening by at least a page.
--- End quote ---
Good thing Jeanne herself wasn't shortened by a page!
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on February 19, 2020, 12:42:57 am ---He's also one of those who judges the agricultural revolution as more damaging than beneficial to humans.
--- End quote ---
I've heard that idea before. I haven't read the profile yet, but maybe he's the source of whatever I read wherever I read it.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on February 19, 2020, 09:51:06 am ---I've heard that idea before. I haven't read the profile yet, but maybe he's the source of whatever I read wherever I read it.
--- End quote ---
I had heard it before, too, and wondered the same. In a quick google just now, I found lots of articles about the idea.
Here's a piece by Jared Diamond from 1999, so that must predate Harari. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-worst-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-human-race
And here's one from 2014 by Yuval Noah Harari himself. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/05/were-we-happier-in-the-stone-age
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