Sapiens 11 -- The Discovery of Ignorance

See also these transcripts, posted by someone else who took Dr. Harari's Coursera course.

Lesson 11 - part 1 -- “The scientific revolution” refers to the phenomenal growth of human power over the last 500 years, which resulted from the discoveries and inventions of modern science. In nature, speed, and magnitude, nothing like it has happened before.

• Investment in scientific research:  "Until the early modern period humans invested little effort in scientific research because they doubted their ability to obtain new medical, military or economic powers."  And "Rulers did finance educational institutions like universities and monasteries, but, their aim  was to spread and preserve traditional knowledge for the purpose of supporting the existing order."
• There is a  positive feedback loop of mutual reinforcement between modern science, politics, and economics.
• 3 ways modern science differs from previous traditions of knowledge:
• based on the idea of ignorance; we don't know everything
• Before:  Prophets of the past, ancient religious texts, were assumed to have all the answers. (or not, for things that were unimportant for humans)
• Imagine Darwin calling himself the "seal of the biologists" like Muhammed as "seal of the prophets"!
• In contrast, the dominant method in modern research is to take for granted the insufficiency of old knowledge.
• Makes modern science far more dynamic and inquisitive than any previous tradition of knowledge
• centrality of observation and mathematics
• Before:  narrative stories were used as proof (Bible stories)
• Medieval education = grammar, logic, rhetoric
• 1687 = Newton's “The Mathematical Principle of Natural Philosophy” -- math/mearsurements used as proof
• Today's education = emphasis on "exact sciences" that use mathematical tools
• theories are not enough; knowledge should lead to power
• Before, most thinkers did not try to translate their findings about the universe into technological gadgets; today = close connection between science and technology
• New things were invented before, but most often the result of trial-and-error by an uneducated craftsman, rather than the result of systematic science.
• Even when there was a tech-gap between civilizations, it was not an intentional plan of some ruler or king.  And often, it didn't translate into power (like in China, where the less-tech Mongols won).

Lesson 11 - part 2 -- (notes integrated above)

Lesson 11 - part 3 -- the revolutionary idea of PROGRESS

• What our ancestors saw as political, ethical and spiritual dilemmas, for us are technical problems, we hope the scientists will work out a solution.
• Before, the notion that ordinary people could overcome life's difficulties or change the world simply by discovering new knowledge, and inventing new tools was ludicrous. (Even Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha didn't do that!)
• Now, many of us are convinced that we can overcome every and any problem simply by acquiring and applying new knowledge.  For example, many past societies viewed poverty as an inescapable part of this world. Today it is more and more common to see poverty as a technical problem that can be solved.  (And in fact, Harari argues, there is really no more "biological poverty," where you're on the edge of life in terms of calories.)
• Can science defeat even death?  
• Over the last century the average life expectancy of humans jumped from about 30 years to about 67 years in the whole world, and 80 years in the developed world. 
• Gilgamesh (who eventually accepted that death was inevitable) vs. the Gilgamesh Project (for eternal life)
• Most late modern religions/ideologies have already taken death out of the equation: Communism, capitalism, feminism, etc. are all silent on what happens when you die, because they're not interested in afterlife

Lesson 11 - part 4 -- But it's not all so rosy.  It is "very rare that scientists dictate the agenda of science."

• Most scientific studies are funded because somebody believes that they can help attain some economic, political, or ideological goal.  For example, USA/USSR invested $$ in nuclear physics, but not underwater archaeology.
• "Scientific research can flourish only when it has found an alliance, with some religion, or some ideology. The ideology justifies the cost of the research and determines where the money should go and in exchange the ideology influences the scientific agenda and determines, what to do with the discoveries."
• "The feedback loop between science, empires, and capitalism has arguably been the chief mortar of history for the last 500 years."