Most Important Concepts

Action Points

The more knowledge we gain, the more difficult the future becomes to predict, as people change their behavior to react on the new knowledge.
- Thus, the future is becoming more and more unpredictable as our knowledge gains accelerate.

In addition to objective and subjective realities, there is a third level; the intersubjective level which depends on beliefs and communications among many humans, rather than just an individual. Money is an example of this.
- Why does a particular action, such as getting married in a church, seem meaningful to me? Because my parents, brothers, sisters, neighbours, and strangers also think it is meaningful. And why do these people think it is meaningful? Because their friends and neighbours also share the same view.
- Sapiens rule the world because only they can weave an intersubjective web of meaning: a web of laws, forces, entities and places that exist purely in their common imagination. This web allows humans alone to organize crusades, socialist revolutions and human rights movements.

Crediting an imaginary entity, like a God, for building or controlling things is no different than crediting an imaginary entity, like the USA or Google, for doing the same.
The power of human cooperation networks depends on a delicate balance between truth and fiction.
- If you distort reality too much, it will weaken you, and you will not be able to compete against more clear-sighted rivals.
- On the other hand, you cannot organise masses of people effectively without relying on some fictional myths. So if you stick to unalloyed reality, without mixing any fiction with it, few people will follow you.
History isn’t a single narrative, but thousands of alternative narratives. Whenever we choose to tell one, we are also choosing to silence others.

Religion is interested above all in order, while science is interested in power.
In the modern world, our religion is humanism.
- And as always, science is in bed with the dominant religiom of the time. It is used to enforce it, not question it.