Sapiens Lessons Part 2
2-27 Essay #1 is due on turnitin. No hard copy required. No homework today. We will look at essay #2 options. If we have time, we will look at essay topic from Hasan Minhaj. We will examine logical fallacies. We will review top 20 grammar errors. Homework #4: Read Sapiens, pages 163-187, and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains the development of money.
3-5 Homework #5: Read Sapiens, pages 305-349, and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains how trust in the future is required for banks to flourish.
3-7 Homework #6: Read Sapiens, pages 350-416, and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains the causes of the collapse of the family and the community.
3-12 Explain the collapse of the family. See Harari video “The Future of Humanity.” Homework: Write a preliminary or tentative thesis.
3-14 Look at students’ thesis statements. Look at 5 types of thesis statements. See Harari’s video “Why Fascism Is So Tempting.”
3-19 Peer Edit for Essay #2
Essay #2 Due 3-26-19
Minimum of 2 sources for your MLA Works Cited page.
Choice A
Watch Netflix documentary Ronnie Coleman: The King. Considered to be the greatest bodybuilder of all time, Coleman is now on crutches, faces a lifetime of excruciating pain, must take opioid pain medication, may have to be consigned to a wheelchair, and by most accounts the abuse he took to become a champion bodybuilder is the reason for his condition. The film celebrates Coleman’s life principle to persist in doing what he loves, but doing what he loves comes with a price: excruciating, life-altering injuries. Is doing what we love worth it? In this context, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the notion that in order to achieve exceptional success, we are justified to make sacrifices of our body, minds, and souls. Is Coleman’s current condition justified by his success and his heroic drive to do what he loves? Answer this question and be sure to have a counterargument section. You need to cite two sources, the Ronnie Coleman documentary and Bourree Lam’s Atlantic article “Why ‘Do You What You Love’ Is Pernicious Advice.”
Option B
Watch Netflix Black Mirror episode “Nosedive,” and listen to the NPR Hidden Brain episode “Why Social Media Isn’t Always Very Social,” and watch Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk video, “Connected, But Alone?” Then in the context of those 3 sources develop an argumentative thesis about the way the social media misuse creates psychological dissolution, depression, and thwarted emotional development.
Choice C
Take an episode from Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix news show Patriot Act and develop an argumentative thesis that addresses one of Minhaj’s topics.
Choice D
In Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, read Chapter 9 “The Arrow of History” and write an essay that applies Yuval’s notion of cultural inconsistencies and contradictions (164) to a contradiction you see in contemporary life.
Choice E
Based on Chapter 9 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, develop a thesis that argues that money is in many ways a form of religion.
Choice F
Based on Chapter 16 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, support, refute, or complicate Harari’s assertion that the free market is a dangerous cult that results in “Capitalist Hell.”
Choice G
Based on chapters 18 and 19 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses Harari’s notion of “imagined communities” and the human quest for happiness and meaning.
Choice H
Based on Chapter 20 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, develop an argumentative thesis about the viability of the “Frankenstein Prophecy.”
Choice I
Watch Yuval Noah Harari’s Ted Talk video “Why Fascism Is So Tempting” and write an argumentative thesis that addresses his claim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHHb7R3kx40
Sapiens Part 2, Lesson #1 Based on 163-187
Study Questions
One. What is Harari’s definition of culture?
Culture is the “network of artificial instincts” that result from the myths and fictions generated from the Agricultural Revolution.
He writes that we are born into a network of assumptions and desires, all artificial from our environment, and to sustain the social order we conform to these artificial assumptions and desires.
We stick to the script society gives us. Otherwise, we are misfits.
This conformity allows masses of people to cooperate to work toward shared goals.
Throughout his book, Harari frames religion as part of culture’s artificial network, which is why in many ways his book is an anti-religious screed.
Culture’s Constant Flux
Harari observes that in the first half of the twentieth century scholars were misguided in their belief that culture is timeless, complete, and harmonious.
Today, scholars conclude that culture is in “constant flux.”
Societies, even isolated ones, are constantly trying to address their internal contradictions, and these adjustments result in constant change.
Two. What are some examples of contradictions existing in a particular culture?
In medieval Europe there were opposing forces: the gentle meekness taught from Christianity and the tough honor taught from chivalry.
Gentle meekness and masculine honor don’t mix because the former encourages passivity while the latter encourages violence. To defend one’s honor, one must draw the sword.
The Crusades, which involved conquering non-Christian societies, allowed medieval Europe to integrate their contradictory values into one movement.
American Democracy Vs. American Snobbery
In America today, we claim to be a democratic society where everyone is equal. But we are a highly stratified society with Winners and Losers, the Haves and the Have-Nots.
When we give our keys to the valet at Cheesecake Factory, if our car is old, the valet drives it several blocks away out of sight of the restaurant. If we have a brand new shiny Mercedes, the valet parks it close the restaurant for everyone to see.
When we fly coach, we must walk the gauntlet of shame past the luxury passengers who were seated before us in the opulent accommodations of first class while we cram ourselves into a sardine tin. We seethe with class envy and humiliation for six hours on the way to Hawaii before being met off the plane by a friendly greeter who dons us with garlands to restore our self-esteem.
At different family vacation hotel packages, you wear a wrist band and the color of the band tells the workers what level of the vacation hierarchy you and your family are on. Lower priced vacation packages have more “restricted areas.” Some hotel functionary says, “Stand back, sir. You don’t have the free range of the superior vacationers.” Everywhere I go, there is someone there to tell me I have been slotted into some inferior ranking. I’d rather just stay home during vacation time and watch Shark Week. At least, no one is humiliating me.
Class Conflict in American Politics: Equality vs. Individual Freedom
Harari explains the class conflict in American politics. For Democrats, there must be taxes to help raise up the poor and create a more equal America. For Republicans, maximum freedom is minimum taxes so they can spend their money on what they want.
Harari says this contradiction is not a defect but a natural part of any culture.
Three. What cultural disease did the Aztecs discover in the Spaniards?
When the Aztecs questioned Cortes about the Spaniards’ obsession with Gold, Cortes answered, “Because I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart which can be cured only with gold.”
The love of gold and money was the byproduct of an advanced society. Hunters and gatherers could be barbaric as more advanced societies, but their hearts did not know the disease that longs for money and precious jewels.
Money in advanced societies
Advanced cities were more densely populated. People become successful and distinguished themselves through specialization: making fine wines, olive oil, jewelry, modes of transportation and accessories, fine clothing.
Image became a lifestyle. In advanced societies, we curate our lifestyle to others to achieve status, and this costs money.
The world of barter no longer works in large, densely populated societies. Money becomes the form of exchange.
Money requires no advanced technology but a “mental revolution.” This requires a “new inter-subjective reality that exists solely in people’s shared imagination.”
Advantage of Money in Advanced Societies
Harari writes: “Because money can convert, store and transport wealth easily and cheaply, it made a vital contribution to the appearance of commercial networks and dynamic markets.” In other words, you can transfer and transport money all over the world for various purposes.
Cash Disappearing for Electronic Money
We see in New York Times article that we are getting away from cash and moving toward electronic money.
The Conversation explains how we may turn into a world without cash.
We read in New York Times that in China people use phones to pay for just about everything.
Our Imagination Can be Manipulated by Hype and Notions of “Cool”
Hasan Minhaj, from Netflix’s Patriot Act, explains how marketers hijack our brains to manipulate us into buying hype. A brand that uses hype is Supreme. My daughters are caught up in LOL dolls. The unboxing event becomes an addiction, as we read in The Atlantic.
Foragers living in the jungle did not get manipulated into brand hype or unboxing addiction. Those are afflictions of post-industrial society.
We’ve now created consumer anxieties that never existed before.
Four. Why is money a successful form of currency?
Harari writes that money, whether it be cowry shells or dollars, “have value only in our common imagination.” We have to all agree in our minds that what is designated money is valuable.
People exchange worthless pieces of paper only when “they trust the figments of their collective imagination. Trust is the raw material from which all types of money are minted.” We further read that “Money is accordingly a system of mutual trust, and not just any system of mutual trust: money is the most universal and most efficient system of mutual trust ever devised.”
Bitcoin
If Bitcoin is to survive in the future, then it will survive because masses of people have trust in it. There is an Explained Bitcoin episode on Netflix.
Five. Is money evil?
Harari concedes that money might be evil, or at least the obsession for it. But he also points out that because of universal trust and universal convertibility, money has built bridges between diverse cultures and has bred tolerance. He writes: “Money is the only trust system created by humans that can bridge almost any cultural gap, and that does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, reace, age or sexual orientation. Thanks to money, even people who don’t know each other and don’t trust each other can nevertheless cooperate effectively” (186).
Three Essay Topic Options Pertinent to Today’s Reading
Choice C
Take an episode from Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix news show Patriot Act and develop an argumentative thesis that addresses one of Minhaj’s topics.
Based on Patriot Act: Supreme brand shows the dark side of money, capitalism, and human manipulation.
Choice D
In Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, read Chapter 9 “The Arrow of History” and write an essay that applies Yuval’s notion of cultural inconsistencies and contradictions (164) to a contradiction you see in contemporary life.
Choice E
Based on Chapter 9 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, develop a thesis that argues that money is in many ways a form of religion.
Sapiens Part 2, Lesson #3: Capitalistic Greed and Hasan Minhaj’s Hot Take on Amazon
3-5 Homework #5: Read Sapiens, pages 305-349, and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains how trust in the future is required for banks to flourish.
3-7 Homework #6: Read Sapiens, pages 350-416, and write a 3-paragraph essay that explains the causes of the collapse of the family and the community.
3-12 Explain the collapse of the family. See Harari video “The Future of Humanity.” Homework: Write a preliminary or tentative thesis.
3-14 Look at students’ thesis statements. Look at 5 types of thesis statements. See Harari’s video “Why Fascism Is So Tempting.”
3-19 Peer Edit for Essay #2
Essay #2 Due 3-26-19
Minimum of 2 sources for your MLA Works Cited page.
Choice A
Watch Netflix documentary Ronnie Coleman: The King. Considered to be the greatest bodybuilder of all time, Coleman is now on crutches, faces a lifetime of excruciating pain, must take opioid pain medication, may have to be consigned to a wheelchair, and by most accounts the abuse he took to become a champion bodybuilder is the reason for his condition. The film celebrates Coleman’s life principle to persist in doing what he loves, but doing what he loves comes with a price: excruciating, life-altering injuries. Is doing what we love worth it? In this context, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the notion that in order to achieve exceptional success, we are justified to make sacrifices of our body, minds, and souls. Is Coleman’s current condition justified by his success and his heroic drive to do what he loves? Answer this question and be sure to have a counterargument section. You need to cite two sources, the Ronnie Coleman documentary and Bourree Lam’s Atlantic article “Why ‘Do You What You Love’ Is Pernicious Advice.”
Option B
Watch Netflix Black Mirror episode “Nosedive,” and listen to the NPR Hidden Brain episode “Why Social Media Isn’t Always Very Social,” and watch Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk video, “Connected, But Alone?” Then in the context of those 3 sources develop an argumentative thesis about the way the social media misuse creates psychological dissolution, depression, and thwarted emotional development.
Choice C
Take an episode from Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix news show Patriot Act and develop an argumentative thesis that addresses one of Minhaj’s topics.
Choice D
In Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, read Chapter 9 “The Arrow of History” and write an essay that applies Yuval’s notion of cultural inconsistencies and contradictions (164) to a contradiction you see in contemporary life.
Choice E
Based on Chapter 9 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, develop a thesis that argues that money is in many ways a form of religion.
Choice F
Based on Chapter 16 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, support, refute, or complicate Harari’s assertion that the free market is a dangerous cult that results in “Capitalist Hell.”
Choice G
Based on chapters 18 and 19 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses Harari’s notion of “imagined communities” and the human quest for happiness and meaning.
Choice H
Based on Chapter 20 in Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, develop an argumentative thesis about the viability of the “Frankenstein Prophecy.”
Choice I
Watch Yuval Noah Harari’s Ted Talk video “Why Fascism Is So Tempting” and write an argumentative thesis that addresses his claim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHHb7R3kx40
Videos
“Will the Future be Human?” (30)
“Is Fascism Back in Fashion?” (8)
“Where Does Power Really Lie?” (8)
“Scientific Revolution,” Part 1
“Scientific Revolution,” Chapters 17 and 18
Study Questions for 305-349
Chapter 16 The Capitalistic Creed and Chapter 17 The Wheels of Industry
One. Why does Harari claim that the modern economy “has been growing like a hormone-soused teenager”?
He observes that in 1500 the global production was $250 billion. Today it’s around $60 trillion.
Banks grow exponentially through loans because we have trust in the future. He writes, “This trust is the sole backing for most of the money in the world.”
Trust in the future encouraged credit, and credit propelled economic growth on an exponential level.
Having money used to be a zero-sum game in which winners took money from losers, but in a credit economy everyone could join the party of wealth (308, 309).
Trust, and credit, were the first two causes of growing economy.
Then came the Scientific Revolution.
Harari writes: “Over the last 500 years the idea of progress convinced people to put more and more trust in the future. This trust created credit; credit brought real economic growth; and growth strengthened the trust i the future and opened the way for even more credit” (310).
Two. What is Adam Smith’s Greed Is Good Principle?
The richer one becomes the more one is compelled to employ more people thereby bolstering the economy. “By becoming richer, I benefit everyone. Egoism is altruism.”
My getting rich is a “win-win.”
For Smith, wealth was a sign of goodness, thereby making capitalism a religion.
Capitalism is “money, goods, and resources that are invested in production.”
Wealth is an inferior thing to capitalism: Wealth is wasteful extravagance like investing in a “non-productive pyramid.”
Three. Is there evidence that the rich industrialists and techies who are for wealthier than medieval nobility really believe in their Capitalism Is Great credo?
These rich magnates might spew the capitalism creed, but they appear to know the terrifying truth:
For one, wealth is being amassed by a smaller and smaller few: them.
For two, they can see economic disparity and all the world’s geopolitical problems that aren’t being solved are on the verge of blowing up into full-blown apocalypse. We see evidence of this in the tech billionaires who are spending millions reserving luxury condos inside bunkers for the apocalypse.
For three, with few exceptions like Bill Gates, no one, not private enterprise or government, shows faith or trust in helping the poor. There is no investment in poor schools or poor neighborhoods because the rich have dismissed the poor as a lost cause.
Four. Does Harari advocate for the free market?
No, because “avaricious capitalists can establish monopolies or collude against their workforces.”
Look at the rising power of Amazon in Hasan Minhaj’s presentation on Netflix’s Patriot Act.
Recent Comments