0:00:01.309,0:00:06.374
Seventy-thousand years ago, our ancestors[br]were insignificant animals.

0:00:06.398,0:00:10.497
The most important thing to know[br]about prehistoric humans

0:00:10.521,0:00:12.473
is that they were unimportant.

0:00:12.497,0:00:17.631
Their impact on the world was not[br]much greater than that of jellyfish

0:00:17.655,0:00:20.016
or fireflies or woodpeckers.

0:00:20.643,0:00:24.226
Today, in contrast,[br]we control this planet.

0:00:24.853,0:00:26.195
And the question is:

0:00:26.219,0:00:29.341
How did we come from there to here?

0:00:29.666,0:00:33.318
How did we turn ourselves[br]from insignificant apes,

0:00:33.342,0:00:36.489
minding their own business[br]in a corner of Africa,

0:00:36.513,0:00:39.003
into the rulers of planet Earth?

0:00:39.876,0:00:45.566
Usually, we look for the difference[br]between us and all the other animals

0:00:45.590,0:00:47.071
on the individual level.

0:00:47.412,0:00:50.406
We want to believe -- I want to believe --

0:00:50.430,0:00:53.978
that there is something special about me,

0:00:54.002,0:00:57.128
about my body, about my brain,

0:00:57.152,0:01:02.435
that makes me so superior[br]to a dog or a pig, or a chimpanzee.

0:01:03.221,0:01:06.482
But the truth is that,[br]on the individual level,

0:01:06.506,0:01:09.537
I'm embarrassingly similar[br]to a chimpanzee.

0:01:10.029,0:01:15.264
And if you take me and a chimpanzee[br]and put us together on some lonely island,

0:01:15.288,0:01:19.536
and we had to struggle for survival[br]to see who survives better,

0:01:19.560,0:01:24.776
I would definitely place my bet[br]on the chimpanzee, not on myself.

0:01:25.419,0:01:28.445
And this is not something[br]wrong with me personally.

0:01:28.469,0:01:32.595
I guess if they took almost any one[br]of you, and placed you alone

0:01:32.619,0:01:34.584
with a chimpanzee on some island,

0:01:34.608,0:01:37.075
the chimpanzee would do much better.

0:01:38.823,0:01:43.008
The real difference between humans[br]and all other animals

0:01:43.032,0:01:45.479
is not on the individual level;

0:01:45.503,0:01:47.105
it's on the collective level.

0:01:47.518,0:01:52.324
Humans control the planet[br]because they are the only animals

0:01:52.348,0:01:57.525
that can cooperate both flexibly[br]and in very large numbers.

0:01:58.167,0:01:59.935
Now, there are other animals --

0:01:59.959,0:02:03.130
like the social insects,[br]the bees, the ants --

0:02:03.154,0:02:07.726
that can cooperate in large numbers,[br]but they don't do so flexibly.

0:02:08.099,0:02:10.536
Their cooperation is very rigid.

0:02:11.012,0:02:15.191
There is basically just one way[br]in which a beehive can function.

0:02:15.215,0:02:19.026
And if there's a new opportunity[br]or a new danger,

0:02:19.050,0:02:23.593
the bees cannot reinvent[br]the social system overnight.

0:02:23.617,0:02:26.497
They cannot, for example,[br]execute the queen

0:02:26.521,0:02:28.427
and establish a republic of bees,

0:02:28.451,0:02:31.553
or a communist dictatorship[br]of worker bees.

0:02:32.442,0:02:34.785
Other animals, like the social mammals --

0:02:34.809,0:02:38.683
the wolves, the elephants,[br]the dolphins, the chimpanzees --

0:02:38.707,0:02:41.453
they can cooperate much more flexibly,

0:02:41.477,0:02:44.818
but they do so only in small numbers,

0:02:44.842,0:02:47.715
because cooperation among chimpanzees

0:02:47.739,0:02:51.787
is based on intimate knowledge,[br]one of the other.

0:02:51.811,0:02:54.579
I'm a chimpanzee and you're a chimpanzee,

0:02:54.603,0:02:56.406
and I want to cooperate with you.

0:02:56.430,0:02:59.025
I need to know you personally.

0:02:59.049,0:03:00.819
What kind of chimpanzee are you?

0:03:00.843,0:03:02.256
Are you a nice chimpanzee?

0:03:02.280,0:03:03.933
Are you an evil chimpanzee?

0:03:03.957,0:03:05.401
Are you trustworthy?

0:03:05.425,0:03:08.478
If I don't know you, how can I[br]cooperate with you?

0:03:09.676,0:03:13.427
The only animal that can combine[br]the two abilities together

0:03:13.451,0:03:18.747
and cooperate both flexibly[br]and still do so in very large numbers

0:03:18.771,0:03:20.401
is us, Homo sapiens.

0:03:20.973,0:03:25.104
One versus one, or even 10 versus 10,

0:03:25.128,0:03:27.697
chimpanzees might be better than us.

0:03:28.112,0:03:33.291
But, if you pit 1,000 humans[br]against 1,000 chimpanzees,

0:03:33.315,0:03:36.933
the humans will win easily,[br]for the simple reason

0:03:36.957,0:03:40.690
that a thousand chimpanzees[br]cannot cooperate at all.

0:03:41.337,0:03:45.388
And if you now try to cram[br]100,000 chimpanzees

0:03:45.412,0:03:49.028
into Oxford Street,[br]or into Wembley Stadium,

0:03:49.052,0:03:51.584
or Tienanmen Square or the Vatican,

0:03:51.608,0:03:54.225
you will get chaos, complete chaos.

0:03:54.249,0:03:58.108
Just imagine Wembley Stadium[br]with 100,000 chimpanzees.

0:03:58.616,0:03:59.806
Complete madness.

0:04:00.219,0:04:06.161
In contrast, humans normally[br]gather there in tens of thousands,

0:04:06.185,0:04:09.249
and what we get is not chaos, usually.

0:04:09.273,0:04:15.360
What we get is extremely sophisticated[br]and effective networks of cooperation.

0:04:16.554,0:04:21.144
All the huge achievements[br]of humankind throughout history,

0:04:21.168,0:04:24.451
whether it's building the pyramids[br]or flying to the moon,

0:04:24.475,0:04:27.050
have been based not[br]on individual abilities,

0:04:27.074,0:04:30.899
but on this ability to cooperate[br]flexibly in large numbers.

0:04:31.465,0:04:35.122
Think even about this very talk[br]that I'm giving now:

0:04:35.146,0:04:41.130
I'm standing here in front of an audience[br]of about 300 or 400 people,

0:04:41.154,0:04:44.278
most of you are complete strangers to me.

0:04:44.928,0:04:49.912
Similarly, I don't really know[br]all the people who have organized

0:04:49.936,0:04:51.563
and worked on this event.

0:04:51.994,0:04:55.787
I don't know the pilot[br]and the crew members of the plane

0:04:55.811,0:04:58.722
that brought me over here,[br]yesterday, to London.

0:04:59.286,0:05:03.009
I don't know the people[br]who invented and manufactured

0:05:03.033,0:05:07.543
this microphone and these cameras,[br]which are recording what I'm saying.

0:05:08.123,0:05:11.660
I don't know the people[br]who wrote all the books and articles

0:05:11.684,0:05:14.077
that I read in preparation for this talk.

0:05:14.495,0:05:17.305
And I certainly don't know all the people

0:05:17.329,0:05:20.548
who might be watching this talk[br]over the Internet,

0:05:20.572,0:05:23.599
somewhere in Buenos Aires or in New Delhi.

0:05:24.162,0:05:27.671
Nevertheless, even though[br]we don't know each other,

0:05:27.695,0:05:33.548
we can work together to create[br]this global exchange of ideas.

0:05:34.081,0:05:37.132
This is something chimpanzees cannot do.

0:05:37.156,0:05:38.970
They communicate, of course,

0:05:38.994,0:05:44.793
but you will never catch a chimpanzee[br]traveling to some distant chimpanzee band

0:05:44.817,0:05:48.937
to give them a talk about bananas[br]or about elephants,

0:05:48.961,0:05:51.969
or anything else that might[br]interest chimpanzees.

0:05:53.389,0:05:56.879
Now cooperation is, of course,[br]not always nice;

0:05:56.903,0:06:00.928
all the horrible things humans[br]have been doing throughout history --

0:06:00.952,0:06:03.691
and we have been doing[br]some very horrible things --

0:06:03.715,0:06:08.864
all those things are also based[br]on large-scale cooperation.

0:06:08.888,0:06:11.484
Prisons are a system of cooperation;

0:06:11.508,0:06:14.498
slaughterhouses are a system[br]of cooperation;

0:06:14.522,0:06:17.526
concentration camps[br]are a system of cooperation.

0:06:17.907,0:06:23.087
Chimpanzees don't have slaughterhouses[br]and prisons and concentration camps.

0:06:24.183,0:06:28.013
Now suppose I've managed[br]to convince you perhaps that yes,

0:06:28.037,0:06:33.095
we control the world because we can[br]cooperate flexibly in large numbers.

0:06:33.516,0:06:36.464
The next question that immediately arises

0:06:36.488,0:06:39.371
in the mind of an inquisitive listener is:

0:06:39.395,0:06:41.679
How, exactly, do we do it?

0:06:42.083,0:06:47.865
What enables us alone, of all the animals,[br]to cooperate in such a way?

0:06:49.714,0:06:52.260
The answer is our imagination.

0:06:52.998,0:06:58.430
We can cooperate flexibly[br]with countless numbers of strangers,

0:06:58.454,0:07:02.150
because we alone, of all[br]the animals on the planet,

0:07:02.174,0:07:06.797
can create and believe fictions,[br]fictional stories.

0:07:07.326,0:07:11.914
And as long as everybody believes[br]in the same fiction,

0:07:11.938,0:07:15.480
everybody obeys and follows[br]the same rules,

0:07:15.504,0:07:17.793
the same norms, the same values.

0:07:18.639,0:07:22.538
All other animals use[br]their communication system

0:07:22.562,0:07:25.058
only to describe reality.

0:07:25.590,0:07:29.807
A chimpanzee may say, "Look![br]There's a lion, let's run away!"

0:07:29.831,0:07:33.937
Or, "Look! There's a banana tree[br]over there! Let's go and get bananas!"

0:07:33.961,0:07:40.238
Humans, in contrast, use their language[br]not merely to describe reality,

0:07:40.262,0:07:44.786
but also to create new realities,[br]fictional realities.

0:07:45.278,0:07:49.232
A human can say, "Look,[br]there is a god above the clouds!

0:07:49.256,0:07:51.336
And if you don't do what I tell you to do,

0:07:51.360,0:07:54.565
when you die, God will punish you[br]and send you to hell."

0:07:54.986,0:07:58.758
And if you all believe this story[br]that I've invented,

0:07:58.782,0:08:02.597
then you will follow the same[br]norms and laws and values,

0:08:02.621,0:08:03.913
and you can cooperate.

0:08:04.278,0:08:06.628
This is something only humans can do.

0:08:07.207,0:08:11.048
You can never convince a chimpanzee[br]to give you a banana

0:08:11.072,0:08:14.865
by promising him, "... after you die,[br]you'll go to chimpanzee heaven ..."

0:08:14.889,0:08:15.912
(Laughter)

0:08:15.936,0:08:19.198
"... and you'll receive lots and lots[br]of bananas for your good deeds.

0:08:19.222,0:08:20.644
So now give me this banana."

0:08:20.668,0:08:23.426
No chimpanzee will ever[br]believe such a story.

0:08:23.776,0:08:26.466
Only humans believe such stories,

0:08:26.490,0:08:28.573
which is why we control the world,

0:08:28.597,0:08:33.442
whereas the chimpanzees are locked up[br]in zoos and research laboratories.

0:08:34.904,0:08:37.844
Now you may find it acceptable that yes,

0:08:37.868,0:08:44.008
in the religious field, humans cooperate[br]by believing in the same fictions.

0:08:44.032,0:08:48.984
Millions of people come together[br]to build a cathedral or a mosque

0:08:49.008,0:08:54.750
or fight in a crusade or a jihad, because[br]they all believe in the same stories

0:08:54.774,0:08:57.487
about God and heaven and hell.

0:08:57.979,0:09:03.218
But what I want to emphasize[br]is that exactly the same mechanism

0:09:03.242,0:09:09.106
underlies all other forms[br]of mass-scale human cooperation,

0:09:09.130,0:09:11.650
not only in the religious field.

0:09:11.674,0:09:13.952
Take, for example, the legal field.

0:09:14.531,0:09:20.508
Most legal systems today in the world[br]are based on a belief in human rights.

0:09:21.247,0:09:23.024
But what are human rights?

0:09:23.596,0:09:28.298
Human rights, just like God and heaven,[br]are just a story that we've invented.

0:09:28.322,0:09:30.640
They are not an objective reality;

0:09:30.664,0:09:34.330
they are not some biological effect[br]about homo sapiens.

0:09:34.719,0:09:38.518
Take a human being,[br]cut him open, look inside,

0:09:38.542,0:09:43.669
you will find the heart, the kidneys,[br]neurons, hormones, DNA,

0:09:43.693,0:09:45.581
but you won't find any rights.

0:09:46.200,0:09:50.121
The only place you find rights[br]are in the stories

0:09:50.145,0:09:54.278
that we have invented and spread around[br]over the last few centuries.

0:09:54.607,0:09:59.537
They may be very positive stories,[br]very good stories,

0:09:59.561,0:10:03.124
but they're still just fictional stories[br]that we've invented.

0:10:03.664,0:10:06.184
The same is true of the political field.

0:10:06.565,0:10:12.935
The most important factors[br]in modern politics are states and nations.

0:10:13.333,0:10:15.133
But what are states and nations?

0:10:15.593,0:10:17.718
They are not an objective reality.

0:10:17.742,0:10:20.455
A mountain is an objective reality.

0:10:20.479,0:10:23.763
You can see it, you can touch it,[br]you can even smell it.

0:10:24.223,0:10:25.995
But a nation or a state,

0:10:26.019,0:10:29.799
like Israel or Iran or France or Germany,

0:10:29.823,0:10:32.563
this is just a story that we've invented

0:10:32.587,0:10:34.561
and became extremely attached to.

0:10:34.949,0:10:37.453
The same is true of the economic field.

0:10:37.892,0:10:41.598
The most important actors today[br]in the global economy

0:10:41.622,0:10:43.884
are companies and corporations.

0:10:44.407,0:10:48.138
Many of you today, perhaps, work[br]for a corporation,

0:10:48.162,0:10:51.212
like Google or Toyota or McDonald's.

0:10:51.577,0:10:53.395
What exactly are these things?

0:10:53.982,0:10:57.929
They are what lawyers call legal fictions.

0:10:58.359,0:11:01.835
They are stories invented and maintained

0:11:01.859,0:11:05.192
by the powerful wizards we call lawyers.

0:11:05.216,0:11:06.661
(Laughter)

0:11:06.685,0:11:10.104
And what do corporations do all day?

0:11:10.128,0:11:12.981
Mostly, they try to make money.

0:11:13.411,0:11:14.744
Yet, what is money?

0:11:14.768,0:11:19.934
Again, money is not an objective reality;[br]it has no objective value.

0:11:19.958,0:11:23.275
Take this green piece[br]of paper, the dollar bill.

0:11:23.299,0:11:25.676
Look at it -- it has no value.

0:11:25.700,0:11:27.934
You cannot eat it, you cannot drink it,

0:11:27.958,0:11:29.250
you cannot wear it.

0:11:29.633,0:11:33.674
But then came along[br]these master storytellers --

0:11:33.698,0:11:35.182
the big bankers,

0:11:35.206,0:11:36.646
the finance ministers,

0:11:36.670,0:11:38.024
the prime ministers --

0:11:38.048,0:11:40.526
and they tell us a very convincing story:

0:11:40.550,0:11:42.508
"Look, you see this green piece of paper?

0:11:42.532,0:11:45.115
It is actually worth 10 bananas."

0:11:45.591,0:11:47.700
And if I believe it, and you believe it,

0:11:47.724,0:11:49.240
and everybody believes it,

0:11:49.264,0:11:51.128
it actually works.

0:11:51.152,0:11:54.065
I can take this worthless piece of paper,

0:11:54.089,0:11:55.726
go to the supermarket,

0:11:55.750,0:11:59.757
give it to a complete stranger[br]whom I've never met before,

0:11:59.781,0:12:04.466
and get, in exchange, real bananas[br]which I can actually eat.

0:12:04.870,0:12:06.591
This is something amazing.

0:12:06.615,0:12:08.693
You could never do it with chimpanzees.

0:12:08.717,0:12:10.662
Chimpanzees trade, of course:

0:12:10.686,0:12:13.436
"Yes, you give me a coconut,[br]I'll give you a banana."

0:12:13.460,0:12:14.698
That can work.

0:12:14.722,0:12:17.714
But, you give me[br]a worthless piece of paper

0:12:17.738,0:12:19.752
and you except me to give you a banana?

0:12:19.776,0:12:20.928
No way!

0:12:20.952,0:12:22.533
What do you think I am, a human?

0:12:22.557,0:12:24.930
(Laughter)

0:12:24.954,0:12:29.073
Money, in fact, is[br]the most successful story

0:12:29.097,0:12:31.753
ever invented and told by humans,

0:12:31.777,0:12:36.120
because it is the only story[br]everybody believes.

0:12:36.692,0:12:39.482
Not everybody believes in God,

0:12:39.506,0:12:42.531
not everybody believes in human rights,

0:12:42.555,0:12:45.340
not everybody believes in nationalism,

0:12:45.364,0:12:49.107
but everybody believes in money,[br]and in the dollar bill.

0:12:49.514,0:12:51.495
Take, even, Osama Bin Laden.

0:12:51.519,0:12:55.206
He hated American politics[br]and American religion

0:12:55.230,0:12:56.679
and American culture,

0:12:56.703,0:12:59.509
but he had no objection[br]to American dollars.

0:12:59.533,0:13:01.628
He was quite fond of them, actually.

0:13:01.652,0:13:03.555
(Laughter)

0:13:04.166,0:13:05.866
To conclude, then:

0:13:05.890,0:13:11.658
We humans control the world[br]because we live in a dual reality.

0:13:12.531,0:13:16.444
All other animals live[br]in an objective reality.

0:13:16.992,0:13:21.544
Their reality consists[br]of objective entities,

0:13:21.568,0:13:25.511
like rivers and trees[br]and lions and elephants.

0:13:26.067,0:13:29.750
We humans, we also live[br]in an objective reality.

0:13:29.774,0:13:34.842
In our world, too, there are rivers[br]and trees and lions and elephants.

0:13:35.421,0:13:37.266
But over the centuries,

0:13:37.290,0:13:42.017
we have constructed on top[br]of this objective reality

0:13:42.041,0:13:45.534
a second layer of fictional reality,

0:13:45.558,0:13:49.122
a reality made of fictional entities,

0:13:49.146,0:13:53.679
like nations, like gods,[br]like money, like corporations.

0:13:54.481,0:13:59.115
And what is amazing is that[br]as history unfolded,

0:13:59.139,0:14:04.535
this fictional reality became[br]more and more powerful

0:14:04.559,0:14:09.060
so that today, the most powerful[br]forces in the world

0:14:09.084,0:14:11.049
are these fictional entities.

0:14:11.715,0:14:18.509
Today, the very survival of rivers[br]and trees and lions and elephants

0:14:18.533,0:14:23.638
depends on the decisions and wishes[br]of fictional entities,

0:14:23.662,0:14:28.199
like the United States, like Google,[br]like the World Bank --

0:14:28.223,0:14:32.262
entities that exist only[br]in our own imagination.

0:14:32.929,0:14:34.081
Thank you.

0:14:34.105,0:14:38.676
(Applause)

0:14:44.299,0:14:46.509
Bruno Giussani: Yuval, you have[br]a new book out.

0:14:46.533,0:14:48.336
After Sapiens, you wrote another one,

0:14:48.360,0:14:50.947
and it's out in Hebrew, but not[br]yet translated into ...

0:14:50.971,0:14:53.900
Yuval Noah Harari: I'm working on[br]the translation as we speak.

0:14:53.924,0:14:56.092
BG: In the book, if I[br]understand it correctly,

0:14:56.116,0:15:01.745
you argue that the amazing breakthroughs[br]that we are experiencing right now

0:15:01.769,0:15:04.028
not only will potentially[br]make our lives better,

0:15:04.052,0:15:06.288
but they will create -- and I quote you --

0:15:06.312,0:15:10.930
"... new classes and new class struggles,[br]just as the industrial revolution did."

0:15:10.954,0:15:12.177
Can you elaborate for us?

0:15:12.670,0:15:14.594
YNH: Yes. In the industrial revolution,

0:15:14.618,0:15:19.520
we saw the creation of a new class[br]of the urban proletariat.

0:15:19.544,0:15:24.654
And much of the political and social[br]history of the last 200 years involved

0:15:24.678,0:15:28.304
what to do with this class,[br]and the new problems and opportunities.

0:15:28.328,0:15:32.960
Now, we see the creation of a new[br]massive class of useless people.

0:15:32.984,0:15:33.985
(Laughter)

0:15:34.009,0:15:39.370
As computers become better and better[br]in more and more fields,

0:15:39.394,0:15:44.286
there is a distinct possibility that[br]computers will out-perform us

0:15:44.310,0:15:47.913
in most tasks and will make[br]humans redundant.

0:15:47.937,0:15:50.674
And then the big political[br]and economic question

0:15:50.698,0:15:53.061
of the 21st century will be,

0:15:53.085,0:15:55.247
"What do we need humans for?",

0:15:55.271,0:15:58.638
or at least, "What do we need[br]so many humans for?"

0:15:58.662,0:16:01.120
BG: Do you have an answer in the book?

0:16:01.144,0:16:05.164
YNH: At present, the best guess[br]we have is to keep them happy

0:16:05.188,0:16:06.985
with drugs and computer games ...

0:16:07.009,0:16:08.010
(Laughter)

0:16:08.034,0:16:11.305
but this doesn't sound[br]like a very appealing future.

0:16:11.329,0:16:14.138
BG: Ok, so you're basically saying[br]in the book and now,

0:16:14.162,0:16:16.948
that for all the discussion[br]about the growing evidence

0:16:16.972,0:16:20.735
of significant economic inequality,[br]we are just kind of at the beginning

0:16:20.759,0:16:21.916
of the process?

0:16:22.225,0:16:23.751
YNH: Again, it's not a prophecy;

0:16:23.775,0:16:27.718
it's seeing all kinds[br]of possibilities before us.

0:16:27.742,0:16:32.724
One possibility is this creation[br]of a new massive class of useless people.

0:16:32.748,0:16:35.888
Another possibility is[br]the division of humankind

0:16:35.912,0:16:38.903
into different biological castes,

0:16:38.927,0:16:43.218
with the rich being upgraded[br]into virtual gods,

0:16:43.242,0:16:47.550
and the poor being degraded[br]to this level of useless people.

0:16:47.574,0:16:50.596
BG: I feel there is another TED talk[br]coming up in a year or two.

0:16:50.620,0:16:52.442
Thank you, Yuval, for making the trip.

0:16:52.466,0:16:53.622
YNH: Thanks!

0:16:53.646,0:16:55.311
(Applause)