Myth we need to survive - Yuval Noah Harari

"Yuval Noah Harari on the myths we need to survive"
by Intelligence Squared

The above video was suggested by one of our class members for class discussion.  The moments of the video above and the questions for class discussion are listed below:

• 02:10 - What are the 3 important moments in the history of humans?
• 05:50 - Humans were and still are very destructive.  What gave them that power? 
• 10:55 - Why do humans believe in myths?
• 15:30 - Can myths unite us?
• 18:00 - Why are myths important?
• 21:00 - How are myths created?
• 23:55 - Why do we have a gender imbalance?
• 30:40 - How are money, economic growth and consumerism myths?
• 36:40 - What will the religions of the future be like?
• 39:30 - Can science and myths co-exist?
• 42:45 / 44:40 
• What can women do to address gender imbalance? 
• Should religions leaders who spread myths that caused terrible genocides be charged?
• How can humans respond to climate change?
• 51:35 / 53:40
• Are successful stories related to objective truth? 
• What should we believe? 
• What caused the cognitive revolution? 
• 1:00:25 / 1:02:00
• Can humans believe in a common myth so that we will be more united? 
• Are there stories that run from the very beginning and have an immutable core? 
• What will be the next big story?
• 1:09:40 / 1:11:20 
• What is the future of nationalism? 
• Is love a myth? 
• Why do humans have this dissonance between the stories they tell their children and the way  they treat animals?
• 1:20:00 - 
• Can today's world function without money? 
• What advice can we give a child of 6 years old preparing for the future of AI and robotics? 
• Voltaire is translated to have said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." How do we inoculate future generations against such myth-stakes? 

Other Questions

After watching the video, perhaps you could reflect on the following and other questions you might have:

• Is Cognition Revolution the same as Cognitive Leap? 
• Is Cognitive Revolution used to describe another event?  
• Was Professor Harari's description of human evolution and migration consistent with other sources?
• Are some of the myths Professor Harari nominated, such as money and nation the same as myths we commonly associate with such as those in Greek mythology?
• How are they different?  Are there other descriptions that we could use to describe nouns like money, nation, love, hope, faith, mammals, plants, Christmas etc.?
• Is the test of suffering, as described by Professor Harari, a reasonable test for determining if something is real? 
• As pointed out in the video by Professor Harari, humans are very flexible in their beliefs with respect to contradictions. One may call that double standard or hypocrisy in some situations. The example given by Professor Harari was how Christians believe in an almighty God that is omnibenevolent yet allows evil to exist.  Can you think of other examples?  Do you think that is human nature? Why is that so? 
• One question for Professor Harari was "What advice can we give a child of 6 years old preparing for the future of AI and robotics?" However, humans face many more challenges in addition to AI and robotics, including nuclear war, climate change, and bio-security disasters.  What advice would you give a 6 year old child and their parents on how to prepare for this future?

Predicament of Existence

 

This Wednesday's discussion (24/3/24) will be based on the following ABC Philosopher Zone program: 

Predicament of Existence 

An important question is -- Is it necessarily better for a child to have been born than not?

Given the following obvious points, is it morally justifiable for parents to bring a child into existence?

• There is a lot of pain and suffering in this world.
• Old age and death are not good for many.
• The future is uncertain with many challenges for humans.
• Like other animals, humans will become extinct one day.
• A non-existent being cannot suffer.
• A being existing in this world can and do suffer.
• Humans do more harm than good to the environment and to other animals and plants. 
• Parents cannot know the future their child will experience.

You can find out more about the topic from the following websites:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinatalism

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://iep.utm.edu/anti-natalism/

The Ethics Centre: https://ethics.org.au/anti-natalism-the-case-for-not-existing/

Critical Thinking

 

Critical thinking contributes to the understanding of the world; helps to distinguish between reality or fiction, usefulness or irrelevance, good reasoning or fallacy.

We will discuss this article on Critical Thinking from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

I have done a Google Slide summary of the above article: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10L5gnI7uOnhMbnKojDeNiKV9jHTT0j0hat4MNnUrgA4/edit?usp=sharing

The following is a PDF printout of the Google Slides:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JZwGdkRYm1YDfNS4jRSTePxf3jMLH26h/view?usp=sharing

The following video, and other related videos from Wireless Philosophy, give an interesting introduction to Critical Thinking:

You can find additional information on Critical Thinking from the following:

• https://philosophy.hku.hk/think/critical/