tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post5486644453140529051..comments2024-03-28T05:13:13.921-04:00Comments on Books, Inq. — The Epilogue: Beware the "Big Story" …Frank Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-67022178754811206742018-03-08T03:40:08.892-05:002018-03-08T03:40:08.892-05:00Frank, it's a fun read, with some questionable...Frank, it's a fun read, with some questionable BS (Big Story, not BullShit!) points--corporations as legal fictions, for example--but I quite enjoy his rather skewed and provocative take on certain broad questions. And since I love to gossip, it's refreshing to read his positive assessment of its importance in social cooperation and survival (gossip theory). Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-9911007791667550312018-03-07T12:16:12.372-05:002018-03-07T12:16:12.372-05:00Good points. I haven't read Harari. Maybe I sh...Good points. I haven't read Harari. Maybe I should. Though the brevity of life is now a factor when it comes to readingFrank Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18410473158808750903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10178279.post-60756619284561130822018-03-07T03:24:55.872-05:002018-03-07T03:24:55.872-05:00I tend to regard any Big Story as an interesting i...I tend to regard any Big Story as an interesting if oversimplified fiction, but Vernon seems to have read a very different version of Harari's <i>Sapiens</i> than have I. While it is certainly possible to object that Harari ignores the spiritual aspect of human nature, he is hardly as celebratory of science as Vernon claims: 'Science is unable to set its own priorities. It is also incapable of determining what to do with its discoveries.' (p. 305 in my pb edition)<br /><br />Nor does Vernon quite 'get' Harari's understanding of myth. There is nothing 'pejorative' about the way Harari regards myth. On the contrary: myths are integrative, rooted in people's collective imagination and enabling large-scale cooperation (loosely reworded from p. 30).Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.com