Stories are powerful cognitive tools that help humans make sense of the world around them. A well-crafted character can come to life in a reader’s mind to the point where one longs for their company long after the story ends. An article in the *Harvard Business Review* titled “If You Want to Lead, Read” highlights the importance of literature in leadership. Reading fosters empathy and develops a person’s sense of understanding others.

In *Sapiens*, Yuval Noah Harari notes the crucial role imagination plays in culture. He attributes humanity’s success to its ability to imagine systems—like banking, organizations, and cultures—and share those ideas with others. For example, BMW is not a tangible entity, but because we collectively agree on its existence, we act as though it is real. This ability to imagine things that don’t physically exist is both powerful and profound.

I now understand what James Carse, author of *Finite and Infinite Games*, meant when he spoke at the Long Now Foundation about the importance of poets. He argued that to face the challenges of our time, we need more poets—individuals who can imagine and communicate beyond the limits of the present.

What’s interesting is that when I first wrote those words, back in June 2015, I had a lot of admiration for Harari and his thesis. But after reading *Homo Deus*, which came out around 2019 or 2020, I found his ideas increasingly dark and depressing. Harari has since become a strong advocate within the World Economic Forum, endorsing what I see as a nihilistic view of humanity. He is anti-human, anti-population growth, and seems to have a grim sense of purpose. He dismisses the validity of human rights, claiming they are just constructs, and suggests that nothing—especially humans—truly matters.

It’s fascinating how someone can take a profound insight, like the importance of stories and imagination, and twist it into a dark, nihilistic conclusion. It’s a reminder of how ideas, even valuable ones, can be co-opted or distorted into something quite destructive.