Many theories have been proposed, but one is especially pertinent to the idea of causation. In his book Sapiens, historian Yuval Harari posits that our ancestors’ capacity to imagine nonexistent things was the key to everything, for it allowed them to communicate better. Before this change, they could only trust people from their immediate family or tribe. Afterward their trust extended to larger communities, bound by common fantasies (for example, belief in invisible yet imaginable deities, in the afterlife, and in the divinity of the leader) and expectations. Whether or not you agree with
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