Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, a writer, and a popular 'public intellectual'. He rose to fame with Sapiens (2014), his popular science book that sought to outline a 'History of Humankind' and followed this up with a more future-focused sequel, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016). More recently, he's been converting his insights into a format targeted at younger people with Unstoppable Us: How Humans Took Over the World (2022). In general, Harari is a go-to public intellectual for people looking for big ideas, thoughts on global events, and how we might avoid catastrophe. He has been a consistent figure on the interview and public lecture circuit and, with his secular message, seems an ideal candidate for Gurometeratical analysis.
Harari also has some alter egos. He is a high-ranking villain in the globalist pantheon for InfoWars-style conspiracy theorists, with plans that involve us all eating bugs and uploading our consciousness to the Matrix. Alternatively, for (some) historians and philosophers, he is a shallow pretender, peddling inaccurate summaries of complex histories and tricky philosophical insights. For others, he is a neoliberal avatar offering apologetics for exploitative capitalist and multinational bodies.
So, who is right? Is he a bug-obsessed villain plotting to steal our precious human souls or a mild-mannered academic promoting the values of meditation, historical research, and moderation?
Join Matt and Chris in this episode to find out and learn other important things, such as what vampires should spend their time doing, whether money is 'real', and how to respond respectfully to critical feedback.
Links
*Preview* Decoding Academia 27: Dark Triad Authenticity
Supplementary Materials 6: Christian Sensemaking, Hipster Race Realists, & Marijuana Pseudoscience
Interview with Flint Dibble on Pseudo Archaeology and Science Communication
Supplementary Material 5: Spiritual UFOs, Alternative Theories of Evolution, and Atlantean Grievances
Destiny: Debate King and/or Degenerate?
Supplementary Material 4: Passive Aggressive Therapists, Shit-posting Monks, and Weaponised Naivety
Supplementary Material 3: Sand-worms, Anti-Capitalist Merch, and High Level Idea-Jacking
Mini-Decoding: The Descent of Jordan B. Peterson
Supplementary Material 2: Dissident Dialogues, Bloodbaths, & Genocidal Debates
Gurometer: Hasan Piker *PREVIEW*
Hasan Piker: A swashbuckling Bromance
Supplementary Material 1: Cringe Immunity & Supplemental Ethics
Interview with Kevin Mitchell on Agency and Evolution
Sean Carroll: The Worst Guru Yet?!?
Mini-Decoding: Indulgent Monologuing
Sam Harris: Right to Reply
The Passion of the Jordan and the Wisdom of the Bret
Mini Decoding: Yuval and the Philosophers
DTG's Face to Face Reflections 2024
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