The History of Humanity

Since the Cognitive Revolution, humanity has lived in a dual reality. On one hand, we have objective realities that truly exist, such as rivers, trees, and lions; on the other hand, we have imagined realities, such as God, the nation, and the corporation.

One of the few truly unshakeable principles in history is that original luxuries often eventually become necessities, bringing with them new obligations. Once we get used to a certain luxury, we start to believe it is a matter of course. This leads to a kind of dependence. Finally, we can no longer live without that luxury.

“The bayonet certainly can do many things, but trying to sit comfortably on it is not very pleasant.”

“Often, the impact of one pastor is greater than that of a hundred soldiers, and he is cheaper and more effective. Furthermore, no matter how effective the bayonet is, someone has to come and

“Often, the impact of one pastor is greater than that of a hundred soldiers, and he is cheaper and more effective. Furthermore, no matter how effective the bayonet is, someone has to come and stab.”

What maintains military order? Trying to maintain military organization solely through threat is clearly not feasible. At least some officers and some soldiers must genuinely believe in certain things, whether it is faith in God, honor, the homeland, masculinity, or simply believing in money.

Whether it is Christianity, democracy, or capitalism, they are all orders constructed by imagination. So, how can we make people believe in these orders?

First, the external narrative must absolutely insist that they are certain and definitely not fictional. We must always emphasize that this order, which maintains social stability, is an objective fact created by a great God or by natural law.

Second, the same set of principles must be thoroughly implemented in education. From the moment a person is born, they must constantly be reminded that this order, constructed by imagination, must be integrated into everything—whether it is fairy tales, drama, painting, songs, rituals, political propaganda, architecture, recipes, or fashion.

The order constructed by imagination is deeply intertwined with the real world. Although these imagined orders only exist in our minds, they can be tightly bound and inseparable from the real world. For example, most Westerners today believe in individualism, believing that every person is an independent individual with independent value, unaffected by the opinions of others.
The order constructed by imagination shapes our desires. For most people, it is difficult to accept that their life order is merely a fictional imagination, but the fact is that we are placed within this imagination from birth, and even our desires are deeply influenced by it. Thus, individual desire becomes the strongest guardian of the fictional order.

The desires most valued by modern Westerners are built

Even those desires that people think are deeply hidden within themselves are usually influenced by the order constructed by imagination. For example, many people long to vacation abroad. However, this doesn’t have any natural or obvious reason. For instance, a chimpanzee leader wouldn’t want to use his power to take a vacation on the territory of the neighboring chimpanzees. Similarly, the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt used all his wealth to build pyramids and mummify his own body, rather than wanting to gamble in Babylon or ski in Phoenicia.

We constantly hear the romantic myth telling us, “That experience opened my horizons, and from then on, my entire life was different.”

The order constructed by imagination exists in the mental connection between people. Even if we assume that through some supernatural power, my desires escape this order constructed by imagination, I am still only one person. To change this order, I must convince millions of strangers to cooperate with me. The reason is: the order constructed by imagination is not a personal subjective imagination, but exists within the shared imagination of millions of people—this is what is called intersubjectivity (
The order constructed by imagination exists in the mental connection between people. Even if we assume that through some supernatural power, my desires escape this order constructed by imagination, I am still only one person. To change this order, I must convince millions of strangers to cooperate with me.
The order constructed by imagination exists in the mental connection between people. Even if we assume that through some supernatural power, my desires escape this order constructed by imagination, I am still only one person. To change this order, I must convince millions of strangers to cooperate with me. The reason is:

The existence of “objective” things is not affected by human consciousness and belief.

The existence of “subjective” things relies on the consciousness and belief of a single person. If this person changes their belief, this subjective thing either ceases to exist or changes along with it. For example, many children imagine they have a friend that only they can see and hear. This imagined friend exists only in the child’s subjective consciousness; once the child grows up and stops believing, this friend vanishes from the world.

The existence of “intersubjectivity” relies on the network of connections between many individual subjective consciousnesses. Even if one person changes their mind or even passes away, the impact on this phenomenon is not significant. But if the majority of people in this network die or change their minds, this intersubjectivity will disappear or change.

Let us take Porsche as an example again. This company is not a friend imagined in the mind of the Porsche CEO; rather, it is a shared imagination existing in the minds of millions of people.

Similarly, whether it is the US Dollar, human rights, or the United States, they all exist within the shared imagination of billions of people, and any single individual is powerless to shake these concepts. Even if I decide for myself to stop believing in the US Dollar, human rights, and the United States, it cannot cause any change. Precisely because these orders constructed by imagination possess intersubjectivity, if we want to change them, we must simultaneously change the thoughts of billions of people—this is by no means easy. To achieve such large-scale change, complex organizations must assist behind the scenes, perhaps political parties, ideological movements, or some religious sects. However, to establish such a complex organization, we must convince many strangers to cooperate, and this requires them to believe in other shared fictional stories.

Even the Declaration of Independence of 1776, although proclaiming “all men are created equal” with great fanfare, actually divided people into upper and lower classes. The Declaration distinguished between men and women, benefiting men, but women were deprived of the same rights. The Declaration also distinguished between white, black, and indigenous people, allowing white people to enjoy liberal democracy, while considering black and indigenous people to be relatively inferior humans who should not enjoy equal rights. Many slave owners signed the Declaration at the time; they did not free the slaves after signing, but they did not feel inconsistent in their words and deeds at all. In their view, what “human” rights did a black person have?

The iron law of history tells us that every order constructed by imagination absolutely refuses to admit that it originated from imagination and fiction; instead, it boasts that it is a natural, inevitable result.

However, as far as we currently know, these class distinctions are all products of human imagination. Whether it is the Brahmin or the Shudra, they were not created by the gods from different body parts of a single person.

But the facts have proven that most rich people are rich simply because they were born into wealthy families, and most poor people remain poor simply because they were born into poor families.

The facts have proven that most rich people are rich simply because they were born into wealthy families, and most poor people remain poor simply because they were born into poor families.

Class has an important function. Once there is class, strangers do not need to waste time and energy truly understanding each other; they also know how to treat each other.

Even if people from different classes develop completely identical abilities, because the rules of the game they face are different, the final results may be vastly different. For example, suppose in India under British rule, there are four people with completely identical business acumen, but the four people are a Dalit, a Brahmin, a Catholic Irishman, and a Protestant Englishman; their probability of becoming wealthy will still be greatly different.

But no one admits that they treat certain races or people of certain backgrounds as slaves merely for economic benefit.

They say: “Good men shouldn’t be soldiers, good iron shouldn’t be hammered into nails.”

Money is a system of mutual trust. Whether it is a shell or the US Dollar, its value exists only within our shared imagination. Merely its chemical structure, color, or shape cannot bring about that value. In other words, money is not a material reality, but merely a psychological imagination.

Money is the most universal and effective system of mutual trust in history.

If a wealthy farmer sells his house, land, and property to exchange for a bag of shells, and then carries this bag of shells to a distant province, it is because he believes that upon arrival, others will be willing to exchange rice, houses, and land for these shells. Therefore, money can be called a system of mutual trust, and it is not just any arbitrary system: money is the most universal and effective system of mutual trust in history.

Even Christians and Muslims, who are mutually exclusive in religion, can achieve the same faith in the monetary system. The reason is that the focus of religious faith is “self-belief,” but the focus of monetary faith is “other-belief.”

The Price of Money: The monetary system has two universally applicable principles: First, everything is exchangeable: Money is like alchemy; it allows you to turn land into the loyalty of your subordinates, health into justice, and sex into redemption. Second, universal belief: With money as a medium, any two people can cooperate to carry out various plans.

Money also has a darker side. Although money can establish common trust among strangers, what people trust is not humanity, community, or certain sacred values, but money itself and the impersonal system behind it. We don’t trust strangers, but we don’t currently trust our neighbors either; we only trust the money in their hands. Without money, there is no trust. When money seeps in and collapses the dam formed by society, religion, and the state, the world becomes a vast and ruthless market.

History is devoid of justice. Most past cultures are inevitably ravaged by some ruthless imperial army and are eventually completely forgotten in history. Even the empire itself will eventually collapse, but it often leaves behind a rich and timeless legacy. In the 21st century, almost everyone’s ancestors belonged to some empire.

The Soviets felt even more responsible, believing they must help drive this historical inevitability—from capitalism toward the utopia of proletarian dictatorship. As for many modern Americans,

The Soviets felt even more responsible, believing they must help drive this historical inevitability—from capitalism toward the utopia of proletarian dictatorship. As for many modern Americans, they also believe that the US must bear a moral responsibility to allow third-world countries to enjoy democracy and human rights, even if this requires cruise missiles and F-16 fighters.

Making “them” into “us.” In the process of many small cultures merging into a few large cultures, the empire’s influence plays a major role. The spread of ideas, population, goods, and technology within the empire is more convenient and rapid than in regions governed by different regimes. Moreover, it is often the empire itself that deliberately accelerates the spread of various ideas, institutions, customs, and norms. One reason is that it is easier to govern.

The importance of the second reason cannot be underestimated: by actively spreading a common culture, the empire strengthens its legitimacy to rule.

Although imperial civilization may conquer various ethnic groups from all directions and integrate their cultures, for the vast majority of members of the empire, the resulting hybrid culture still feels unfamiliar. The process of assimilation is often accompanied by pain and trauma.

Religion is a system of human norms and values built upon a supra-human order.

Making the Lamb Silent

These gods specialize in certain areas rather than being all-encompassing, so there are elephant-headed gods, gods of wealth, and gods of wisdom, etc., but they all still have their own selfish interests and biases. This way, humans can negotiate with these gods, relying on their help to win wars and defeat diseases. Since there are so many such lower-level deities, if you divide the omniscient, omnipotent, highest authority, it is conceivable that it will be divided among more than one deity. Thus, polytheism is born.

The war between Catholics and Protestants sweeping across Europe. All these people believe in the divinity of Christ and believe in His gospel of love and mercy, but they disagree on the essence of love. Protestants believe that God loved humanity so much that He became flesh, allowed Himself to be tortured and nailed to the cross, thereby atoning for original sin and opening the gates of heaven for those who believe in Him. Catholics believe that while faith is necessary, that alone is not enough; to enter heaven, believers must also attend church services and perform good deeds. This point is unacceptable to Protestants, who believe this is like a transaction, a diminishment of God’s love and greatness.

Generally, monotheists are more fanatical and more zealous in evangelism than polytheists. After all, if a religion is willing to acknowledge other faiths, there are only two scenarios: the first is that it originally believes there is no single God in the world, but many gods coexist; the second is that although there is a supreme God, there are many lesser deities below, and by believing in each deity, one can say they are seeing a part of the truth.

Because monotheists usually believe that they worship the only God and believe that only they have seen the complete truth, they naturally criticize all other religions as being untrustworthy.

Theological theory and historical reality have always been greatly inconsistent. Most people find it difficult to completely accept the idea of monotheism, so they continue to divide the world into “us” and “them,” and they also feel that the so-called supreme God is too distant and unfamiliar to care about their secular needs. The final situation is: monotheists loudly drive other deities out of the main door, but then bring them back through a small window. Taking Christianity as an example, the Catholic Church has consecrated many saints; the reverence they receive is virtually indistinguishable from the reverence given to the gods of polytheism.

Countless Christians, Muslims, and Jews believe that there is a powerful evil force (for example, the Devil or Satan in Christianity) that acts independently, opposing the good God, stirring up trouble, and remaining outside of God’s control.

(By the way, you cannot find these scenes in the Old Testament of the Bible.) This is fundamentally illogical. If it were truly rational, one must either believe that there is indeed an omnipotent God, or believe that there are two opposing forces, neither of which is omnipotent. However, despite this irrationality, humanity is still able to accept this contradictory concept. Therefore, seeing millions of devout Christians, Muslims, and Jews actually believe in “both an omnipotent God and a devil who acts independently,” one need not be too surprised. Furthermore, countless Christians, Muslims, and Jews can even imagine that “the good God needs human assistance to fight the devil,” which then leads to the Holy Wars and the Crusades.

The common characteristic of Chinese Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Mediterranean Cynicism and Epicureanism, is that what is worshipped is not a deity.

The common characteristic of Chinese Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Mediterranean Cynicism and Epicureanism, is that what is worshipped is not a deity. These faiths also believe: there is a supra-human order controlling this world, but the order they worship is natural law, not the will of any god.

Shakyamuni believes that when people encounter things, they usually generate desires (craving), and desire always causes dissatisfaction. When encountering something disliked, they want to drive it away; when encountering something liked, they want to maintain and increase that pleasure. But because of this, the human heart is always dissatisfied and always restless. This point is especially obvious when encountering displeasure, such as when feeling pain; as long as the pain continues, we feel dissatisfied and try every means to resolve it. However, even when encountering happiness, we are never truly satisfied; we are always worried that this happiness will eventually end, or that it cannot be sustained or increased. Some people have been searching for love for years, but even when they finally find it, they are still unsatisfied. Some start worrying all day that the other person might leave; others feel they are too complacent and should look for someone better (and we know that others will also be restless and scheming like this).

…[the restless mind/scheming]. He requires his followers not to kill, not to commit sexual misconduct, and not to steal, because these actions will certainly cause desires to spread like a wildfire, single-mindedly pursuing power, sensual pleasure, or wealth. When these flames are completely extinguished, the original desires are replaced by perfection and tranquility, called Nirvana (Sanskrit meaning “extinction”). Achieving Nirvana means being liberated from all suffering, being able to perceive the reality around us with extreme clarity, free from any illusions. Although it is very possible to still encounter suffering, that suffering can no longer affect us. After all, no desire means no suffering. According to Buddhist scriptures, Shakyamuni himself achieved Nirvana, completely liberated from pain. After this, he is called “Buddha,” meaning “the enlightened one.”

Suffering Arises from “Desire.” Shakyamuni grounds meditation in various moral norms so that followers can focus more on actual sensations and not fall into various desires and fantasies. He requires his followers not to kill, not to commit sexual misconduct, and not to steal, because these actions will certainly cause desires to spread like a wildfire, single-mindedly pursuing power, sensual pleasure, or wealth. When these flames are completely extinguished, the original desires are replaced by perfection and tranquility, called Nirvana (Sanskrit meaning “extinction”). Achieving Nirvana means being liberated from all suffering, being able to perceive the reality around us with extreme clarity, free from any illusions. Although it is very possible to still encounter suffering, that suffering can no longer affect us. After all, no desire means no suffering. According to Buddhist scriptures, Shakyamuni himself achieved Nirvana, completely liberated from pain. After this, he is called “Buddha,” meaning “the enlightened one.”

When the Object of Worship Becomes Man. Many people say that over the past three hundred years, the world has become increasingly secularized, and the influence of religion has been gradually declining. This is generally true for theistic religions. But if we include natural law religions in the discussion, we see that modern times are actually full of intense religious fervor, with unparalleled missionary zeal, and countless bloody religious wars have occurred throughout history. These new types of natural law faiths include liberalism, communism, capitalism, nationalism, and Nazism. They prefer not to be called religion, but rather “consciousness types.” But this is merely rhetoric. As we mentioned before, religion is “a system of human norms and values built upon a supra-human order,” so in this sense, Soviet Communism is consistent with Islam

Completely different. Islam believes that the supra-human order controlling everything is an omnipotent God (Allah), whereas Soviet Communism does not believe in the concept of God. However, Buddhism does not believe in a god either, yet we often classify Buddhism as a religion. Communists, like Buddhists, also believe in a set of natural, unchangeable supra-human orders that guide human behavior. Buddhism believes this set of natural laws was discovered by Shakyamuni, while Communists believe that Marx, Engels, and Lenin found their specific set of natural laws.

The similarities are not limited to that. Communism, like other religions, has its own Bible and prophecies; for example, Marx’s Capital predicts that history will soon move toward the inevitable victory of the proletariat. Communism also has its own holidays, such as May Day Labor Festival and the anniversary of the October Revolution. The “theologians” of Communism are skilled in Marxist dialectics, and every unit of the Soviet army has its own “pastor,” called a political commissar, to check whether the soldiers and officers are devout enough. Communism also has martyrs, holy wars, and heretical doctrines like Trotskyism. From this, it is clear that Soviet Communism is indeed a fanatical and zealous religion. A devout Communist believer cannot be a Christian or a Buddhist, and they may even be willing to sacrifice their life to spread the gospel of Marx and Lenin.

Observation. The iron law of history is: things that seem inevitable in retrospect are always unclear at the time.

Measurement. The reason we study history is not to predict the future, but to broaden our horizons and understand that many things in the present are not “natural” and are not inevitable.

These calculations are attributed to several breakthroughs that occurred recently in the fields of statistics and probability. One of them is Jacob Bernoulli’s Law of Large Numbers. Bernoulli believed that although certain single events (such as a person dying) are difficult to predict accurately, as long as there are many similar events, predicting using the average result will be close.

A Mr. A can easily handle withdrawing cash. Therefore, we can see that this entire operation is based on trusting an imagined future; bankers and entrepreneurs believe that the bakery will succeed, and contractors believe that the bank will definitely repay the money to them in the future.

We can see that this entire operation is based on trusting an imagined future; bankers and entrepreneurs believe that the bakery will succeed, and contractors believe that the bank will definitely repay the money to them in the future.

Based on trust in the future, we developed a new system, which finally allowed us to jump out of this predicament. In this new system, humanity developed the monetary concept of “credit,” representing goods and wealth that do not yet exist but only exist in imagination. It is the concept of “credit” that allows us to advance on the future and build the present. Behind this is a basic assumption: that future resources will certainly far exceed current resources; as long as we use future income to invest in the present, it will bring many new and wonderful business opportunities.

The problem in the past was not whether there was the concept of credit or whether people knew how to use this concept, but because people at the time did not believe that “tomorrow will be better,” they were unwilling to extend credit. After all, in the concept of that time, they always felt that the Golden Age had passed, and the future would at best maintain the status quo, and possibly be worse.

In economic terms, this means they believed that the total amount of wealth was limited and might even shrink. Therefore, at that time, whether speaking of individuals, kingdoms, or the world, everyone generally did not believe that more wealth could be produced in ten years. Business looked like a zero-sum game: after opening a bakery, it might indeed make a profit, but it must be because it stole the profits of the neighboring bakery. If Beijing flourishes, it must be by taking resources from Shanghai. If the King of England has overflowing wealth, it must be at the expense of the King of France’s purse. The entire world is like a large cake, cut in different ways, but ultimately, it is only one cake, and it cannot become bigger.

Credit is the price difference between “today’s cake” and “tomorrow’s cake.” If the size of the cake does not change, credit loans are meaningless. Unless you believe that the baker (or king) lending you money will steal a larger slice from the competitor, isn’t the risk of borrowing from him too great? Therefore, before entering the modern era, obtaining a loan was extremely difficult; even if one managed to borrow a sum, it was usually a small amount, short-term, and high-interest. As a result, the baker who wanted to start a business felt that the future was bleak…

Adam Smith clearly proposed: the foundation of all human wealth lies in the selfish desire to increase individual profit.

Adam Smith clearly proposed: the foundation of all human wealth lies in the selfish desire to increase individual profit. This point can be called the most revolutionary concept in human history, and it is not just from an economic perspective, but also from moral and political perspectives. Adam Smith actually tells us: greed is good, and when we make ourselves better off, it is not just ourselves who benefit, but others benefit too. Self-interest is other-interest. Thus, Adam Smith makes us believe that the economy is a win-win situation; my profit is your profit. In this way, we can not only enjoy this growing cake simultaneously, but because my slice grows, your slice also grows. And if I become poor, I cannot afford your products or services, and you won’t make money, so you will also become poor.

A major focus of modern capitalist economics is the emergence of a new moral standard: profits should be taken out and reinvested in production. This way, more profits can be generated, reinvested in production again, generating more profits, thus creating a continuous cycle. Investment can be divided into many types: expanding factories, engaging in scientific research, developing new products… Regardless, the key is to increase output and convert it into more profit. In the new capitalist doctrine, the most sacred and fundamental first principle is: the profits generated from production must be reinvested to increase output.

The basic principle of capitalism is that: since happiness, freedom, and even justice must rely on economic growth,

The basic principle of capitalism is that: since happiness, freedom, and even justice must rely on economic growth, it can be said that economic growth is the highest good (or

If the king or government is ineffective and fails to implement appropriate market norms, it will lose trust, causing credit to shrink, and the economy will also decline. Whether it is the Mississippi Bubble of 1719 or the credit crunch and economic recession brought about by the 2007 US real estate bubble, they repeatedly remind us of these lessons.

The reason we should not expect or allow the market to be completely free is due to another more fundamental

The modern economy can grow because we are willing to trust the future, and capitalists are willing to reinvest profits in production.

In medieval Europe, nobles squandered fortunes and enjoyed luxury, while peasants were frugal and counted every penny. But today the situation is the opposite: the very wealthy are extremely cautious in managing assets and investing, while those who are not so wealthy buy cars and televisions they don’t really need without hesitation.

The highest guiding principle for the rich is “Investment,” while the highest guiding principle for us others is “Consumption”!

Discussion: Money certainly brings happiness, but there is a limit; beyond that limit, the effect is not as obvious. Therefore, for people at the lower economic strata, more money truly means more happiness.

Illness temporarily reduces a person’s sense of happiness, but unless the condition continuously worsens or the pain is persistent, the illness will not cause long-term unhappiness.

We often think that as long as we change jobs, find a spouse, buy a new car, finish a novel, or pay off a mortgage, doing such things will make us extremely happy. However, when we actually achieve these expectations, we don’t feel truly happier. After all, buying a car or writing a novel does not change our biochemical mechanism. Although there may be temporary stimulation, we quickly return to the original point.

As said, as long as there is a reason to live, almost anything can be endured. If life has meaning, one can accept it willingly even in adversity; if life is meaningless, one will feel like the days drag on even in good times.

As Nietzsche said, as long as there is a reason to live, almost anything can be endured. If life has meaning, one can accept it willingly even in adversity; if life is meaningless, one will feel like the days drag on even in good times.

Any meaning we bestow upon life is actually just an illusion. Whether it is the transcendent meaning of life in the Middle Ages, or modern humanism, nationalism, and capitalism, they are fundamentally the same, with no difference in superiority.

For example, a scientist might feel that by increasing human knowledge, his life has meaning; a soldier might feel that by defending his country, his life has meaning. Whether it is an entrepreneur who wants to start a new company, or a medieval person who wants to read scriptures, participate in holy wars, or build a new temple, the meaning they feel from it is merely an illusion and a fantasy.