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Kindle Notes & Highlights
Our ancestors made the world what it is. We can decide what the world will become.
To be a good human being, you need to understand the power you have and what to do with it.
This is one of the big laws of life: small changes that nobody notices accumulate over time and become big changes.
In science, saying “I don’t know” is especially important. It’s the first step, because only after you admit that you don’t know something can you start searching for the answer. If you claim to already know everything, why bother?
All the big achievements of humankind, such as flying to the moon, were the result of cooperation between hundreds of thousands of people.
Eagles fly because they have wings. Humans fly because they know how to cooperate in large numbers. This is what makes us so powerful.
our ability to dream up stuff that isn’t really there and to tell all kinds of imaginary stories. We’re the only animals that can invent and believe in legends, fairy tales, and myths.
Mistakes can sometimes create wonderful new things.
Well, the useful thing about stories is that no matter how ridiculous they are, they help large numbers of people cooperate. If thousands of people believe in the same story, then they’ll all follow the same rules, which means they can cooperate effectively, even with strangers. Thanks to stories, Sapiens cooperate much better than Neanderthals or chimpanzees or ants.
