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> The "Great Minds And Great Leaders" types are rushing to warn about the risks, as are a large number of people who spend a lot of time philosophizing. Except

> The "Great Minds And Great Leaders" types are rushing to warn about the risks, as are a large number of people who spend a lot of time philosophizing. Except they're not philosophizing, not in any real sense of the word. They're terrible at it. Most of them are frauds, quacks, and pseudo-intellectual con artists (like Harari) who adore the limelight offered to them by the media and a TED Talks-watching segment of the public who are, frankly, intellectually out of their depth, but enjoy the delusion and feeling of participating in something they think is "intellectual".

tasuki 3y ago
> frauds, quacks, and pseudo-intellectual con artists (like Harari) Uh, mind elaborating? Why is Harari that? Do you have any examples of non-frauds and actual intellectuals? > a TED Talks-watching segment of the public who are, frankly, intellectually out of their depth, but enjoy the delusion and feeling of participating in something they think is "intellectual" I'm afraid that would be me.
- leftcenterright 3y ago
  I believe at least part of the reason for calling Harari pseudo-intellectual is the use of misleading statements in favor of storytelling in the books and also building up on others' work with better storytelling. More on this: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/07/the-dangerous-populist-science-of-yuval-noah-harari https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/07/the-dangerous-populis...
- leftcenterright 3y ago
  > I'm afraid that would be me. I think a lot of us are that, personally speaking: honest sincere analyses and investing time into critical analysis almost always will bring out more than what we hear in a talk. It does take a big amount of effort though than just watching a talk while munching on some snack.
v-erne 3y ago
>> pseudo-intellectual con artists (like Harari) That seems a little bit harsh - he is just master storyteller that happen to write about intellectual stuff. Its a bit weird to read his books as science papers. I just finished sapiens and even if some facts are skewed I still believe that this book is a must read for anyone who dreams about any kind of sucess in science communication (99.9% of population will never read any kind of scientific paper even if their life depends on it)

tasuki 3y ago

> frauds, quacks, and pseudo-intellectual con artists (like Harari) Uh, mind elaborating? Why is Harari that? Do you have any examples of non-frauds and actual intellectuals? > a TED Talks-watching segment of the public who are, frankly, intellectually out of their depth, but enjoy the delusion and feeling of participating in something they think is "intellectual" I'm afraid that would be me.

leftcenterright 3y ago
I believe at least part of the reason for calling Harari pseudo-intellectual is the use of misleading statements in favor of storytelling in the books and also building up on others' work with better storytelling. More on this: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/07/the-dangerous-populist-science-of-yuval-noah-harari https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/07/the-dangerous-populis...
leftcenterright 3y ago
> I'm afraid that would be me. I think a lot of us are that, personally speaking: honest sincere analyses and investing time into critical analysis almost always will bring out more than what we hear in a talk. It does take a big amount of effort though than just watching a talk while munching on some snack.

v-erne 3y ago

>> pseudo-intellectual con artists (like Harari) That seems a little bit harsh - he is just master storyteller that happen to write about intellectual stuff. Its a bit weird to read his books as science papers. I just finished sapiens and even if some facts are skewed I still believe that this book is a must read for anyone who dreams about any kind of sucess in science communication (99.9% of population will never read any kind of scientific paper even if their life depends on it)