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] |
6814 | Instead of prayer and charity, sinners pursue vain disputes and want their own personal scripture [Mohammed] |
6828 | You may break off a treaty if you fear treachery from your ally [Mohammed] |
6823 | Repay evil with good and your enemies will become friends (though this is hard) [Mohammed] |
6826 | Allah rewards those who are devout, sincere, patient, humble, charitable, chaste, and who fast [Mohammed] |
6822 | Those who avenge themselves when wronged incur no guilt [Mohammed] |
20692 | Money does produce happiness, but only up to a point [Harari] |
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] |
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] |
6833 | Punish theft in men or women by cutting off their hands [Mohammed] |
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] |
6832 | Killing a human, except as just punishment, is like killing all mankind [Mohammed] |
6825 | Do not kill except for a just cause [Mohammed] |
1748 | Archelaus was the first person to say that the universe is boundless [Archelaus, by Diog. Laertius] |
5989 | Archelaus said life began in a primeval slime [Archelaus, by Schofield] |
6811 | Allah is lord of creation, compassionate, merciful, king of judgement-day [Mohammed] |
6819 | True believers see that Allah made the night for rest and the day to give light [Mohammed] |
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] |
6818 | Allah cannot have begotten a son, as He is self-sufficient [Mohammed] |
6831 | He that kills a believer by design shall burn in Hell for ever [Mohammed] |
6827 | Make war on the unbelievers until Allah's religion reigns supreme [Mohammed] |
6829 | There shall be no compulsion in religion [Mohammed] |
6834 | Unbelievers try to interpret the ambiguous parts of the Koran, simply to create dissension [Mohammed] |
6817 | The Koran is certainly composed by Allah; no one could compose a chapter like it [Mohammed] |
6824 | Do not split into sects, exulting in separate beliefs [Mohammed] |
6821 | I created mankind that it might worship Me [Mohammed] |
6815 | Be patient with unbelievers, and leave them to the judgement of Allah [Mohammed] |
6820 | The righteous shall dwell on couches in gardens, wedded to dark-eyed houris [Mohammed] |
6812 | Heaven will be reclining on couches, eating fruit, attended by virgins [Mohammed] |
6830 | Unbelievers will have their skin repeatedly burned off in hell [Mohammed] |
6816 | The unbelievers shall drink boiling water [Mohammed] |