Category Archives: Week 5: Harari

               Arguably, today we live in the most liberal time in human history. Most people believe in the basic human rights and sacrifice a portion of their freedoms for their respective democracies to protect those rights and freedoms. If today we live in a liberal world, then that most mean that our ancestors must haveContinue reading “How Many Lions Does It Take To Kill Christianity?”

Empires lead to globalization and the unification of humankind in many ways but the most common one which is stated in the book through the example of the Roman Empire is through indoctrination. Once they conquered some area, the example Harari used was a part of Iberia called Numantia, the people are slowly converted toContinue reading “Mankind unified”

What is culture? Are they just myths? “Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behavior, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need noContinue reading “Unification or Division?”

The cognitive revolution brought on more sophisticated ways of communicating. Humans created shared abstract concepts called imagined order. From the creation of imagined orders came out three of the most important elements of modern societies; money, empires, and religions. These powerful forces came to organize humans in groups and control their actions and beliefs. The development ofContinue reading “The influence of money, empires, and religion”

As history progressed the need to trade or receive new products changed. Instead of trading an item for an item and trying to guess what the values were, people now accounted their services to a common value item. When this common value item, money or coins, becomes universally accepted it can be used to trade.Continue reading “World Empires: The rising and falling”

Money, empires and religions are a part of the great unifying force surrounding humankind. In the early days of humanity there were many people spread out over vast areas all speaking different languages or dialects, eating different things, hunting different animals, worshiping different gods, and experiencing different lives. Today much of humanity believes in differentContinue reading “Humankind is on a One Track Line Towards Entropy.”

As discussed more elaborately in part 2, humans act and interact based on imagined orders created within their minds. I came to realize in part 3 that money, empires/political order, and religion are all imagined orders that have resulted in the unification of humankind. For humankind to become unified, the world by no means isContinue reading “What IS real?”

In “Sapiens” the advent of money, empires, and religion in human history has created unity and cooperation for mankind through transaction, conquest, and legitimacy. More than 90 percent of all money is electronic data which highlights exactly how money has created unity and cooperation even among strangers. Money serves as a unit for exchanging goodsContinue reading “Click here if you want to “widen your horizons””

Without money you have a barter economy where “every day the shoemaker and the apple grower will have to learn anew the relative prices of dozens of commodities.”(Harari Pg. 176) This was a very unreliable system which led to the advent of a single currency, money. “Money is thus a universal medium of exchange thatContinue reading “GLOBALIZATION IS INEVITABLE, DON’T FIGHT IT”

According to Harari, money, empires, and religion led to widespread cooperation around the globe.  Money led to a form of trust.  In particular, it was able to cross cultural, political, and geographic barriers.  In order to cooperate via money, people need only trust the monetary system of a trading partner and not the partner themselves. Continue reading “Week 5”