54 ideas
| 20678 | The Scientific Revolution was the discovery of our own ignorance [Harari] |
| 20686 | For millenia people didn't know how to convert one type of energy into another [Harari] |
| 501 | Reason is a more powerful persuader than gold [Democritus (attr)] |
| 20653 | Six reduction levels: groups, lives, cells, molecules, atoms, particles [Putnam/Oppenheim, by Watson] |
| 514 | Beauty is merely animal without intelligence [Democritus (attr)] |
| 525 | Behave well when alone, and feel shame in you own eyes [Democritus (attr)] |
| 502 | Good breeding in men means having a good character [Democritus (attr)] |
| 507 | Virtuous love consists of decorous desire for the beautiful [Democritus (attr)] |
| 505 | Good and true are the same for everyone, but pleasures differ [Democritus (attr)] |
| 521 | We should only choose pleasures which are concerned with the beautiful [Democritus (attr)] |
| 508 | Only accept beneficial pleasures [Democritus (attr)] |
| 520 | The great pleasures come from the contemplation of noble works [Democritus (attr)] |
| 522 | Moderation brings more pleasures, and so increases pleasure [Democritus (attr)] |
| 506 | Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not an adult [Democritus (attr)] |
| 523 | It is as brave to master pleasure as to overcome the enemy [Democritus (attr)] |
| 497 | Be virtuous from duty, not from fear [Democritus (attr)] |
| 518 | A bad life is just a drawn-out death [Democritus (attr)] |
| 503 | Virtue doesn't just avoid evil, but also doesn't desire it [Democritus (attr)] |
| 499 | Repentance of shameful deeds is salvation [Democritus (attr)] |
| 524 | Virtue comes more from practice than from nature [Democritus (attr)] |
| 519 | One must avoid even speaking of evil deeds [Democritus (attr)] |
| 500 | The wrongdoer is more unfortunate than the person wronged [Democritus (attr)] |
| 1539 | The endless desire for money is a crueller slavery than poverty [Democritus (attr)] |
| 20692 | Money does produce happiness, but only up to a point [Harari] |
| 526 | Small appetite makes poverty equal to wealth [Democritus (attr)] |
| 511 | It is better to have one intelligent friend than many unintelligent [Democritus (attr)] |
| 498 | It is a great thing, when one is in adversity, to think of duty [Democritus (attr)] |
| 20663 | If a group is bound by gossip, the natural size is 150 people [Harari] |
| 20677 | Since 1500 human population has increased fourteenfold, and consumption far more [Harari] |
| 20688 | People 300m tons; domesticated animals 700m tons; larger wild animals 100m tons [Harari] |
| 20674 | The Nazi aim was to encourage progressive evolution, and avoid degeneration [Harari] |
| 20679 | We stabilise societies with dogmas, either of dubious science, or of non-scientific values [Harari] |
| 1541 | It is better to be poor in a democracy than be rich without freedom [Democritus (attr)] |
| 20690 | The state fostered individualism, to break the power of family and community [Harari] |
| 20689 | In 1750 losing your family and community meant death [Harari] |
| 20681 | The sacred command of capitalism is that profits must be used to increase production [Harari] |
| 20682 | The main rule of capitalism is that all other goods depend on economic growth [Harari] |
| 20683 | The progress of capitalism depends entirely on the new discoveries and gadgets of science [Harari] |
| 20687 | In capitalism the rich invest, and the rest of us go shopping [Harari] |
| 20685 | No market is free of political bias, and markets need protection of their freedoms [Harari] |
| 20693 | Freedom may work against us, as individuals can choose to leave, and make fewer commitments [Harari] |
| 20691 | Real peace is the implausibility of war (and not just its absence) [Harari] |
| 20684 | Financing is increasingly through credit rather than taxes; people prefer investing to taxation [Harari] |
| 20675 | The more you know about history, the harder it becomes to explain [Harari] |
| 20676 | History teaches us that the present was not inevitable, and shows us the possibilities [Harari] |
| 20671 | In order to explain both order and evil, a single evil creator is best, but no one favours that [Harari] |
| 20664 | Animism is belief that every part of nature is aware and feeling, and can communicate [Harari] |
| 20666 | Most polytheist recognise one supreme power or law, behind the various gods [Harari] |
| 20667 | Polytheism is open-minded, and rarely persecutes opponents [Harari] |
| 20665 | Mythologies are usual contracts with the gods, exchanging devotion for control of nature [Harari] |
| 20669 | Dualist religions see everything as a battleground of good and evil forces [Harari] |
| 20670 | Dualist religions say the cosmos is a battleground, so can’t explain its order [Harari] |
| 20673 | Manichaeans and Gnostics: good made spirit, evil made flesh [Harari] |
| 20668 | Monotheism appeared in Egypt in 1350 BCE, when the god Aten was declared supreme [Harari] |