46 ideas
7911 | Theory vanishes when one has obtained wisdom [Rahulabhadra] |
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] |
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] |
7337 | In Mosaic legal theory, crimes are sins and sins are crimes [Johnson,P] |
7339 | Because human life is what is sacred, Mosaic law has no death penalty for property violations [Johnson,P] |
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] |
7353 | The Pharisees undermined slavery, by giving slaves responsibility and status in law courts [Johnson,P] |
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] |
7340 | Mosaic law was the first to embody the rule of law, and equality before the law [Johnson,P] |
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] |
7338 | Man's life is sacred, because it is made in God's image [Johnson,P] |
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] |
7348 | The Jews sharply distinguish human and divine, but the Greeks pull them closer together [Johnson,P] |
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] |
7336 | A key moment is the idea of a single moral God, who imposes his morality on humanity [Johnson,P] |
7341 | Sampson illustrates the idea that religious heroes often begin as outlaws and semi-criminals [Johnson,P] |
7342 | Isaiah moved Israelite religion away from the local, onto a more universal plane [Johnson,P] |
7355 | The Torah pre-existed creation, and was its blueprint [Johnson,P] |
7344 | Judaism involves circumcision, Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, New Year, and Atonement [Johnson,P] |
7345 | In exile the Jews became a nomocracy [Johnson,P] |
7347 | Zoroastrians believed in one eternal beneficent being, Creator through the holy spirit [Johnson,P] |
7349 | Immortality based on judgement of merit was developed by the Egyptians (not the Jews) [Johnson,P] |
7354 | The main doctrine of the Pharisees was belief in resurrection and the afterlife [Johnson,P] |
7356 | Pious Jews saw heaven as a vast library [Johnson,P] |