Mini Decoding: Yuval and the Philosophers

Join us for a mini decoding to get us back into the swing of things as we examine a viral clip that had religious reactionaries, sensemakers, and academic philosophers in a bit of a tizzy. Specifically, we are covering reactions to a clip from a 2014 TEDx talk by Yuval Noah Harari, the well-known author and academic, in which he discussed how human rights (and really all of human culture) are a kind of 'fiction'.

Get ready for a thrilling ride as your intrepid duo plunges into a beguiling world of symbolism, cultural evolution, and outraged philosophers. By the end of the episode, we have resolved many intractable philosophical problems including whether monkeys are bastards, if first-class seating is immoral, and where exactly human rights come from. Philosophers might get mad but that will just prove how right we are.

Links

• The original tweet that set everyone off
• Bananas in heaven | Yuval Noah Harari | TEDxJaffa
• Paul Vander Klay's tweet on the kerfuffle
• An example of a rather mad philosopher
• Speak Life: Can We Have Human Rights Without God? With Paul Blackham (The longer video that PVK clipped from)
• Standard InfoWars article on Harari