“So, monotheism explains order, but is mystified by evil. Dualism explains evil, but is puzzled by order. There is one logical way of solving the riddle: to argue that there is a single omnipotent God who created the entire universe – and He’s evil. But nobody in history has had the stomach for such a belief.”
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
“There is some evidence that the size of the average Sapiens brain has actually decreased since the age of foraging.5 Survival in that era required superb mental abilities from everyone. When agriculture and industry came along people could increasingly rely on the skills of others for survival, and new ‘niches for imbeciles’ were opened up. You could survive and pass your unremarkable genes to the next generation by working as a water carrier or an assembly-line worker.”
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
“You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.”
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
“Hunter-gatherers spent their time in more stimulating and varied ways, and were less in danger of starvation and disease. The Agricultural Revolution certainly enlarged the sum total of food at the disposal of humankind, but the extra food did not translate into a better diet or more leisure. Rather, it translated into population explosions and pampered elites. The average farmer worked harder than the average forager, and got a worse diet in return. The Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud.2 Who was responsible? Neither kings, nor priests, nor merchants. The culprits were a handful of plant species, including wheat, rice and potatoes. These plants domesticated Homo sapiens, rather than vice versa.”
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
“Two thousand years of monotheistic brainwashing have caused most Westerners to see polytheism as ignorant and childish idolatry. This is an unjust stereotype.”
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
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This is the online book club for the Houston Public Library. We are a dynamic public library that serves one of the largest service areas in Texas – m ...more
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This global discussion group has been designed to encourage debates about important and underreported issues of our era. All you need is an enquiring ...more
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