What the fuck happened? First part of the book is fascinating,

>>9103402
I don't remember this "unscientific personal rant" you speak of. If anything, the only thing that pissed me off about Harari was that the first part of the book "Homo Deus" felt like a recap of the book you posted. Then, the second half was amazing, so go figure.

Please quote some shit so I'd know what are you referring to.

>>9103687

Basically when the book reaches the point when he starts talking about how the agricultural revolution was a fraud. That and anything after is just the guy giving his unsubstantiated opinions on shit.

>>9103819
well it was, anon

>>9103819
I think you're selling his writing very short by this reduction. The book does demystifies the probable origins of the switch to agriculture and the reason it survived and took over, but never does it call it a "fraud". He spends a lot of time telling you all the things humans could now do thanks to agriculture, but he also spends some details regarding the price.

When you write "fraud", it implies a whole lot of things that were never in the book. There was no direct intention and no conspiracy about it. The only times he gets close to exposing fraudulent behavior are when he talks about how we, as the modern product of the process of the past, tend to mystify the events that led to our society and paint them with a broad brush.

>>9103892
>The Agricultural Revolution was history's biggest fraud.

Is this book (or/and the next one) worth the time? I read a little article about Homo Deus today, looks fun but sketchy. Opinions? (No ironic comments, please).

>>9103902
I read it in Hebrew. If this is actually written in the English version and it's an accurate translation then I've made a mistake and I'm sorry.

>>9103909
Homo Deus is really great. If the description in the article sounded fun to you, it probably will be fun to you. Problem is the first part of the book doesn't bring a lot of new stuff to the table if you've already read "Sapiens".

>>9103931
I'll buy the second one only then. Thanks!

>>9103935
Just to clarify, I enjoyed "Sapiens" a whole lot as well. I read your comment too fast and thought you only asked whether "Homo Deus" was worth a read.

I probably suffered mainly from reading one straight after the other, and even then it wasn't a big enough issue to warrant giving up "Sapiens".

>>9103902
Aight, I went ahead and checked it. The quote can be found in Harari's own site, here's the quote:

"Scholars once proclaimed that the agricultural revolution was a great leap forward for humanity. They told a tale of progress fuelled by human brain power. Evolution gradually produced ever more intelligent people. Eventually, people were so smart that they were able to decipher nature’s secrets, enabling them to tame sheep and cultivate wheat. As soon as this happened, they cheerfully abandoned the grueling, dangerous, and often spartan life of hunter-gatherers, settling down to enjoy the pleasant, satiated life of farmers.

That tale is a fantasy. There is no evidence that people became more intelligent with time. Foragers knew the secrets of nature long before the Agricultural Revolution, since their survival depended on an intimate knowledge of the animals they hunted and the plants they gathered. Rather than heralding a new era of easy living, the Agricultural Revolution left farmers with lives generally more difficult and less satisfying than those of foragers. 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."

So this prove I was wrong and my memory wasn't reliable, thanks for pointing that out. I don't like that ending sentence, but I have very little gripes with what was written before.