Yuval Noah Harari
π€ SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
It doesn't come from the laws of physics.
It doesn't come from God.
We invented it.
And the U.S.
Constitution very honestly says, we invented these principles, which I think are good.
But because we recognize that we invented them, we the people, then we also include in the Constitution an amendment mechanism.
So we recognize we are just human beings.
Maybe we came up with something which is suboptimal.
Maybe things will change later on.
So we have a mechanism to change the story later on.
And we, the founding fathers, for instance, think that slavery is okay.
But in the strange situation that maybe somebody in the future will think it's not okay, they have an amendment mechanism.
Now, you compare that to, say, religion, and let's take an example, the Bible or the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments starts not with, we the people of Israel.
It starts with, I am the Lord your God.
And it has no amendment mechanism because of that.
And if you look carefully, you will see that the Ten Commandments endorse slavery.
The 10th commandment, thou shalt not covet.
What shouldn't you covet?
It has a list of things you shouldn't covet, like your neighbor's field and your neighbor's ox and also your neighbor's slaves.