Yet when it succeeds, it gives Sapiens immense power, because it enables millions of strangers to cooperate and work towards common goals. Just try to imagine how difficult it would have been to create states, or churches, or legal systems if we could speak only about things that really exist, such as rivers, trees and lions.
While I have taken issue with the definition of existent and non-existent used here, this is the heart of it. Our ability to conceptualize intangible things sets us apart from every other species that we know about.
