How do we make sense of today's political divisions? In a wide-ranging conversation full of insight, historian Yuval Harari places our current turmoil in a broader context, against the ongoing disruption of our technology, climate, media — even our notion of what humanity is for. This is the first of a series of TED Dialogues, seeking a thoughtful response to escalating political divisiveness. Make time (just over an hour) for this fascinating discussion between Harari and TED curator Chris Anderson. ...At the end, Harari makes an argument that the Third World countries that suffered the most from globalism, imperialism, and industrialism in the last two centuries will also suffer the most from climate change.
Harari's previous book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, explores what made homo sapiens the most successful species on the planet. His answer: We are the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in our imagination, such as gods, states, money, human rights, corporations and other "fictions," and we have developed a unique ability to use these stories to unify and organize groups and ensure cooperation. Sapiens has sold nearly five million copies and been translated into more than 50 languages. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and President Barack Obama have recommended it as a must-read.
His book has an impressively-broad scope, but his conclusions are wacky. Those countries have been huge beneficiaries of industrialization and the carbon-buring western civilization. They have gotten food, medicine, technology, knowledge, peacekeeping, and all sorts of other benefits. How have they suffered?
This talk shows him, as well as TED Talk management, to be extreme leftist globalists. He is an Israeli, which maybe explains some of his political views.
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