Yuval Noah Harari: What explains the rise of humans?
Yuval Noah Harari: O que explica a ascensão dos seres humanos?
In his book "Homo Deus," Yuval Noah Harari explores the future of humankind: the destinies we may set for ourselves and the quests we'll undertake. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
were insignificant animals.
eram animais insignificantes
about prehistoric humans
sobre os seres humanos da pré-história
much greater than that of jellyfish
não era maior do que uma água-viva,
we control this planet.
controlamos este planeta.
from insignificant apes,
in a corner of Africa,
between us and all the other animals
entre nós e todos os outros animais,
to a dog or a pig, or a chimpanzee.
a um porco ou a um chimpanzé.
on the individual level,
to a chimpanzee.
com um chimpanzé.
and put us together on some lonely island,
chimpanzé numa ilha deserta,
to see who survives better,
para ver quem se saía melhor,
on the chimpanzee, not on myself.
e não em mim.
wrong with me personally.
de errado comigo, pessoalmente.
of you, and placed you alone
and all other animals
e todos os outros animais
because they are the only animals
porque são os únicos animais
and in very large numbers.
em grande número.
the bees, the ants --
— as abelhas, as formigas —
but they don't do so flexibly.
in which a beehive can function.
da mesma forma.
or a new danger,
ou um novo perigo,
the social system overnight.
o sistema social da noite para o dia.
execute the queen
of worker bees.
de abelhas trabalhadoras.
the dolphins, the chimpanzees --
os golfinhos, os chimpanzés —
com muito mais flexibilidade,
one of the other.
entre eles.
e vocês também são chimpanzés.
cooperate with you?
cooperar convosco?
the two abilities together
as duas capacidades
and still do so in very large numbers
mesmo em grupos maiores,
melhores do que nós.
against 1,000 chimpanzees,
contra 1000 chimpanzés,
for the simple reason
pela simples razão
cannot cooperate at all.
não conseguem cooperar minimamente.
100,000 chimpanzees
or into Wembley Stadium,
um caos total.
with 100,000 chimpanzees.
com 100 000 chimpanzés.
gather there in tens of thousands,
normalmente,
às dezenas de milhares
and effective networks of cooperation.
extremamente sofisticada e eficaz.
of humankind throughout history,
pela história fora,
or flying to the moon,
ou a ida à lua —
on individual abilities,
flexibly in large numbers.
flexivelmente e em grandes números.
that I'm giving now:
que estou agora a fazer.
of about 300 or 400 people,
estranhos para mim.
all the people who have organized
todos os que organizaram
and the crew members of the plane
nem a tripulação do avião
yesterday, to London.
who invented and manufactured
which are recording what I'm saying.
que estão a gravar o que digo.
who wrote all the books and articles
que escreveram os livros e os artigos
para esta palestra.
over the Internet,
a esta palestra na Internet,
we don't know each other,
this global exchange of ideas.
essa troca global de ideias.
não conseguem fazer.
traveling to some distant chimpanzee band
para algum bando distante
or about elephants,
sobre bananas ou sobre elefantes,
interest chimpanzees.
aos chimpanzés.
not always nice;
nem sempre é boa.
have been doing throughout history --
os humanos têm feito ao longo da história
some very horrible things --
on large-scale cooperation.
na cooperação em larga escala.
of cooperation;
sistemas de cooperação,
are a system of cooperation.
são sistemas de cooperação.
and prisons and concentration camps.
nem prisões nem campos de concentração.
to convince you perhaps that yes,
convencer-vos que talvez, sim,
cooperate flexibly in large numbers.
porque podemos cooperar
to cooperate in such a way?
a cooperar dessa forma?"
with countless numbers of strangers,
com inúmeros desconhecidos,
the animals on the planet,
fictional stories.
nas ficções, nas histórias fictícias.
in the same fiction,
nas mesmas ficções,
the same rules,
their communication system
o seu sistema de comunicação
There's a lion, let's run away!"
"Olhem! Está ali um leão, vamos fugir!"
over there! Let's go and get bananas!"
Vamos apanhar bananas!"
not merely to describe reality,
para descrever a realidade,
fictional realities.
realidades fictícias.
there is a god above the clouds!
"Olhem, há um deus acima das nuvens!
and send you to hell."
e mandar-vos-á para o inferno."
that I've invented,
história que eu inventei,
norms and laws and values,
normas, leis e valores
que só os seres humanos fazem.
to give you a banana
a dar-nos uma banana, prometendo-lhe:
you'll go to chimpanzee heaven ..."
vais para o céu dos chimpanzés..."
of bananas for your good deeds.
pelas tuas boas ações.
believe such a story.
numa história dessas.
nestas histórias.
in zoos and research laboratories.
os seres humanos cooperem,
by believing in the same fictions.
to build a cathedral or a mosque
ou uma mesquita
they all believe in the same stories
ou numa guerra santa,
ou sobre o inferno.
is that exactly the same mechanism
of mass-scale human cooperation,
are based on a belief in human rights.
no mundo de hoje
are just a story that we've invented.
tal como Deus e o céu,
about homo sapiens.
sobre o "homo sapiens".
cut him open, look inside,
cortem-no ao meio e olhem lá para dentro.
neurons, hormones, DNA,
neurónios, hormonas, ADN,
are in the stories
onde encontramos os direitos
e espalhámos nos últimos séculos.
over the last few centuries.
very good stories,
e muito positivas,
that we've invented.
que inventámos.
in modern politics are states and nations.
moderna são os estados e as nações.
you can ever smell it.
até podemos cheirá-la.
a França ou a Alemanha,
extremamente apegados.
in the global economy
na economia global
for a corporation,
trabalham para uma corporação,
de ficções legais.
a que chamamos advogados.
fazem o dia todo?
it has no objective value.
objetiva, não tem valor objetivo.
of paper, the dollar bill.
uma nota de dólar.
these master storytellers --
contadores de histórias.
os ministros das finanças,
muito convincente:
este pedaço de papel verde?
whom I've never met before,
which I can actually eat.
que posso comer.
I'll give you a banana."
e tu dás-me uma banana."
a worthless piece of paper
Um ser humano?"
the most successful story
everybody believes.
em que toda a gente acredita.
direitos humanos,
and in the dollar bill.
e na nota de dólar.
and American religion
e a cultura americana,
quanto ao dólar americano.
to American dollars.
because we live in a dual reality.
in an objective reality.
numa realidade objetiva.
of objective entities,
em entidades objetivas,
and lions and elephants.
in an objective reality.
na realidade objetiva.
and trees and lions and elephants.
árvores, leões e elefantes.
of this objective reality
dessa realidade objetiva
like money, like corporations.
o dinheiro, as corporações.
as history unfolded,
com o desdobrar da história
more and more powerful
cada vez mais poderosa,
forces in the world
and trees and lions and elephants
das árvores, dos leões e dos elefantes
of fictional entities,
de entidades fictícias,
like the World Bank --
in our own imagination.
na nossa imaginação.
você tem um novo livro
a new book out.
que só foi publicado em hebreu.
yet translated into ...
Estou a trabalhar na tradução.
the translation as we speak.
understand it correctly,
que os avanços revolucionários
that we are experiencing right now
make our lives better,
just as the industrial revolution did."
como aconteceu na revolução industrial."
of the urban proletariat.
do proletariado urbano.
history of the last 200 years involved
dos últimos duzentos anos envolveu
and the new problems and opportunities.
problemas e oportunidades.
massive class of useless people.
classe de pessoas inúteis.
in more and more fields,
cada vez melhores, em mais campos,
computers will out-perform us
computadores nos ultrapassarão
humans redundant.
os humanos redundantes.
and economic question
so many humans for?"
que precisamos de tanta gente?"
we have is to keep them happy
que temos é mantê-los felizes
like a very appealing future.
um futuro muito atraente.
in the book and now,
sobre a crescente evidência
about the growing evidence
we are just kind of at the beginning
of possibilities before us.
of a new massive class of useless people.
de pessoas inúteis.
the division of humankind
é a divisão da humanidade
into virtual gods,
à categoria de deuses virtuais,
to this level of useless people.
a esse nível de pessoas inúteis.
daqui a um ano ou dois.
coming up in a year or two.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Yuval Noah Harari - Historian, authorIn his book "Homo Deus," Yuval Noah Harari explores the future of humankind: the destinies we may set for ourselves and the quests we'll undertake.
Why you should listen
In his book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, Yuval Noah Harari explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the 21st century -- from overcoming death to creating artificial life. He maps the future and asks fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? How will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? The book has sold four million copies since its publication in 2016.
Harari's previous book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, explores what made homo sapiens the most successful species on the planet. His answer: We are the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in our imagination, such as gods, states, money, human rights, corporations and other fictions, and we have developed a unique ability to use these stories to unify and organize groups and ensure cooperation. Sapiens has sold eight million copies and been translated into more than 50 languages. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and President Barack Obama have recommended it as a must-read.
Harari lectures as a Professor of history at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he specializes in world history, medieval history and military history. His current research focuses on macro-historical questions: What is the relationship between history and biology? What is the essential difference between Homo sapiens and other animals? Is there justice in history? Does history have a direction? Did people become happier as history unfolded? Harari has written for newspapers such as The Guardian, Financial Times, the Times, Nature magazine and the Wall Street Journal.
Harari's new book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, will take the pulse of our current global climate, focusing on the biggest questions of the present moment: What is really happening right now? What are today’s greatest challenges and choices? What should we pay attention to? The book will be published in multiple languages in September 2018.
Yuval Noah Harari | Speaker | TED.com