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
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
Mini-Decoding: Huberman on the Vaccine-Autism Controversy
Sam Harris: Transcending it All?
DTG Christmas Quiz 2023 with Helen Lewis
Red Scare: Bohemian Hipsterism x Reactionary Tradcaths
Interview with Daniël Lakens and Smriti Mehta on the state of Psychology
Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia: Self-enhancement, supplements & doughnuts?
Interview with Julia Ebner: Extremist Networks & Radicalisation
Triggernometry's Big Moment: Entering the Guru Galaxy
Interview with the Conspirituality Trio: Navigating the Chakras of Conspiracy
Andrew Huberman: Forest Bathing in Negative Ions
Noam Chomsky: Lover of linguistics, the USA... not so much
The Science and the Art of Gurometry
Mick West & Eric Weinstein: UFO Tango
Interview with Jonathan Howard on Covid Contrarians
"Mini" Decoding of Michael Shermer's Advice on Conspiracy Theories
Interview with Mick West: UFOs, Aliens, and Conspiracy Psychology
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