Most people, they get overwhelmed by the religious stories, the nationalist stories, by the economic stories of the day, and take these stories to be the reality.
Interpretation
People often lose sight of their own understanding by getting caught up in the narratives constructed by society.
In this quote, Yuval Noah Harari emphasizes how individuals frequently become overwhelmed by dominant narratives and stories prevalent in society, such as religious, nationalistic, or economic discourses. He suggests that these stories shape people's perceptions of reality, leading them to accept these external narratives rather than seeking their own understanding and perspective on the world.
In practice
In a discussion about media influence, one might quote Harari to illustrate how people can become lost in prevalent narratives.
We control the world basically because we are the only animals that can cooperate flexibly in very large numbers. And if you examine any large-scale human cooperation, you will always find that it is based on some fiction like the nation, like money, like human rights.
I titled the book 'Homo Deus' because we really are becoming gods in the most literal sense possible. We are acquiring abilities that have always been thought to be divine abilities - in particular, the ability to create life. And we can do with that whatever we want.
The notion of superhumans is using bioengineering and artificial intelligence to upgrade human abilities. If they use the power to change themselves, to change their own minds, their own desires, then we have no idea what they will want to do.
Techno-humanism aims to amplify the power of humans, creating cyborgs and connecting humans to computers, but it still sees human interests and desires as the highest authority in the universe.
The most important question in 21st-century economics may well be, 'What should we do with all the superfluous people, once we have highly intelligent non-conscious algorithms that can do almost everything better than humans?'
Take Google Maps or Waze. On the one hand, they amplify human ability - you are able to reach your destination faster and more easily. But at the same time, you are shifting the authority to the algorithm and losing your ability to find your own way.
I think the best analogy for where we are right now is that America is Elvis Presley -- the most beautiful, talented, rebellious nation in the history of Earth. And now, you're in your Vegas years. You've squeezed yourself into a white jumpsuit, you're wheezing your way through 'Love Me Tender' and you might be about to pass away bloated on the toilet. But you're still the King.
There is no point in being overwhelmed by the appalling total of human sufferring; such a total does not exist. Neither poverty nor pain is accumulable.
Many people never grow up. They stay all their lives with a passionate need for external authority and guidance, pretending not to trust their own judgment.
People want nothing but mirrors around them. To reflect them while theyβre reflecting too ... Reflections of reflections and echoes of echoes. No beginning and no end. No center and no purpose.
Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus should we do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.
I am dying with the help of too many physicians.
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