The number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia has been alarmingly on the rise again – the latest figure is head-shakingly worrisome: 21,095 new cases in a day. The virus is real; those who think otherwise are either fatuous or wrongly reacting to the cognitive dissonance they are suffering from. This pandemic has been smothering virtually all of us, but I chose not to turn a blind eye to it – let's do our best to cope with this viral catastrophe. However, this doesn't mean it is justifiable to let our attention be completely absorbed by the crown-shaped virus. Watch entertaining movies, read good books, crack people up with your best jokes, and so on and so forth – basically, please yourself because maintaining sanity is essential in this time of distraughtness. In this regard, apart from writing blog articles (such as this one), I have also increased my exploration of YouTube and recently, I rewatched a captivating TED Talk by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari entitled Why humans run the world. I promised to write a commentary on the 17-min presentation and here is me fulfilling it.
Humans are an extremely successful species in terms of habitat ranges; we can find individuals of our own species on every continent. Our global population has also tremendously grown, reaching 7.8 billion as of June 2021, according to Worldometer. It is probably natural for the following question to arise in the mind of an inquisitive person: What causes humans to be in such a thriving state, controlling the world as it is now? In his TED Talk, Harari attempts to explain the reason for the remarkable success of Homo sapiens on the planet.
Harari's presentation is really entrancing and insightful. The subject itself is intriguing in nature but his way of delivery, characterized by simple language, eloquence, and absorbing inflection, is top-flight – my focus could hardly deviate while I was watching it. According to Harari, humans rule the world because of our capability to cooperate in huge numbers with high flexibility. No other animals can do that. So, what makes humans capable of doing so? The answer is our imagination.
One brilliant example given by Harari is money. Money itself is merely a piece of paper, or a coin; what makes it valuable and powerful is the fact that vast numbers of people agree that it can be used as a means of exchange – and this takes imagination. The implementation of a monetary system makes life way easier and dramatically boosts development, enabling civilization to exist and become widespread.
I think it is safe to say that imagination is actually the most important trait which humans possess. If you think about it, all the privileges and niceties that we enormously enjoy stem from our collective imagination. For example, the laptop I'm using right now to write this article is a product made possible by a mind-boggling accumulation of cooperation of countless people in the past – the scientists who developed the technology, the supplier(s) of the materials, the workers in the factory, the deliveryman, and so on and so forth. It is mind-blowing to realize that we cooperate not only with those living at present, but also those who are deceased and those waiting to be born in the future. This is also what makes possible substantial progress in science, which itself can work thanks to our imagination – it is when our fictional realities are kept in tune with the objective reality. What about language? Same thing. It works because meaning is imbued in it by considerable numbers of people and 'accepted' by our imagination.
As impressively useful as human imagination can be, this landmark of our species has the potential to misfire. One obvious, extreme example I can think of is religious terrorist bombings, which unnecessarily cost lives due to the wrong path that human imagination (possibly) takes. Imagination is humankind's double-edged sword.
I haven't read any of Harari's bestselling books (including Sapiens) and I probably won't – my endless list of dinosaur and English books will most likely occupy the rest of my reading life. However, I am immensely grateful for having watched his engrossing talk Why humans run the world. If you haven't already, you should – you won't regret learning something about (y)our own species. ;-)
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