Homo sapiens rules the world because it is the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in its own imagination, such as gods, states, money and human rights. 1
—Yuval Noah Harari
I sincerely apologize if the above quote offends any beliefs or values you hold dear (your personal meaning). It’s a bit out of context, and offense is definitely not the point.
The point is to highlight the power of our individual and collective capacity for imagination—to cooperate around ideas that can’t be seen.
According to Yuval, this ability is the ultimate strength and uniqueness of our species: to believe and to communicate that belief.
These beliefs create trust out of thin air, allow for scalability unmatched in the natural world, foster large scale cooperation, and enable all types of new tools and innovations.
To put it plainly, Homo Sapiens have an imagination unrivaled in the known animal kingdom.
But we are just another species in the animal kingdom after all. In fact, until abo…
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