{"id":266429,"date":"2022-10-14T12:42:43","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T12:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/uk\/?p=266429"},"modified":"2024-03-11T16:10:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T16:10:55","slug":"yuval-noah-harari-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/history\/general-history\/yuval-noah-harari-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Yuval Noah Harari Interview!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Meet world-famous<strong> <\/strong>author <strong>Yuval Noah Harari<\/strong>! He&#8217;s a <strong>historian<\/strong> and <strong>philosopher<\/strong> who has spent years investigating <strong>ancient humans<\/strong> and figuring out how we got so <strong>smart<\/strong>. Learn more about this <strong>awesome thinker<\/strong> in our <strong>Yuval Noah Harari interview<\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who is Professor Yuval Noah Harari? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Name: <\/strong>Yuval Noah Harari <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Born: <\/strong>24 February 1976<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>From: <\/strong>Israel<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Job: <\/strong>Historian, author, philosopher and all-round clever chap! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Famous for: <\/strong>Writing best-selling books about human history and technology. They&#8217;ve sold over 40 million copies and been translated into 65 languages!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hobbies: <\/strong>Playing board games, watching telly, walking and meditating<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-4.jpg\" alt=\"yuval noah harari stands in frond of a sandy desert. He wears a striped t-shirt and glasses and is smiling at the camera.\" class=\"wp-image-269533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-4.jpg 635w, https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-4-300x191.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prof. Yuval Noah Harari interview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Hi Yuval! What can you tell us about ancient humans? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: We&#8217;re used to being the <strong>only humans <\/strong>in the world, but if you go back <strong>hundreds of thousands of years<\/strong>, the world was actually populated by many <strong>types of humans <\/strong>living in <strong>different places <\/strong>&#8211; some big, some small, and often quite different to us. It&#8217;s a <strong>remarkable realisation!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: It&#8217;s so cool to think that there were once loads of other types of humans around at the same time as us. What were some of the others like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: In 2004, scientists on the island of <strong>Flores <\/strong>in <strong>Indonesia <\/strong>found bones of ancient humans who were just <strong>1m tall <\/strong>and had <strong>tiny heads <\/strong>the size of <strong>grapefruits<\/strong>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Woah! Who were they and how did they get there? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: Ancient humans reached Flores almost a <strong>million years ago <\/strong>before it was an island. But then <strong>sea waters rose <\/strong>and it became <strong>cut off from the rest of Asia. <\/strong>There <strong>wasn&#8217;t much food <\/strong>on this island, so scientists think that the <strong>smallest humans <\/strong>had the <strong>best chance of survival <\/strong>as they didn&#8217;t need as much to eat. Then these smaller people had kids of their own &#8211; and they became <strong>smaller <\/strong>and <strong>smaller<\/strong>, <strong>generation <\/strong>after <strong>generation<\/strong>. So in the end, the inhabitants of Flores became a very, very <strong>small type of human<\/strong>, nicknamed &#8216;Hobbit&#8217;! And the same thing happened to the <strong>elephants <\/strong>there &#8211; so you had very small humans hunting very small elephants. And no, this isn&#8217;t a fairy tale! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Wow! What about other types of humans? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: Well, you&#8217;ve probably heard of <strong>Neanderthals<\/strong>. These stocky hunters were more or less the <strong>same size as us <\/strong>and lived in Europe. Like us, they knew how to <strong>light fires <\/strong>and <strong>make tools <\/strong>&#8211; but they were a <strong>different species. <\/strong>It was thought that they <strong>died out<\/strong>, but scientists have <strong>recently discovered <\/strong>that <strong>ALL <\/strong>of today&#8217;s <strong>modern humans <\/strong>have traces of Neanderthal in them &#8211; because when <strong><em>Homo sapiens <\/em><\/strong>(<em>our <\/em>type of human) arrived in Europe around <strong>50,000 years ago<\/strong>, some of these different animals mixed together and had <strong>families<\/strong>! So, almost certainly, you&#8217;ll have a <strong>great-great-grandparent <\/strong>from <strong>thousands of years ago <\/strong>who was a Neanderthal! <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-3.jpg\" alt=\"yuval noah harari interview | a white, red-headed man touches palms with a black, dark-haired woman\" class=\"wp-image-269532\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-3.jpg 635w, https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-3-300x191.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Did humans (right) and Neanderthals ever fall in love?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Ha! What can you tell us about OUR type of human? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: We are a type called <em>Homo sapiens<\/em>. <strong>&#8216;Sapiens&#8217; <\/strong>is <strong>Latin <\/strong>for &#8216;<strong>wise<\/strong>&#8216; or &#8216;<strong>smart<\/strong>&#8216;. Not very modest, is it? And it&#8217;s open to debate whether we really are that wise! I mean, look at how we are treating the planet&#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Hmm, yes&#8230; not that wise. Where did we <em>Homo sapiens <\/em>come from? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: We originally came from <strong>Africa <\/strong>&#8211; and now live all over the world. People from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/geography\/countries\/country-fact-file-brazil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brazil<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/geography\/countries\/facts-about-australia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Australia<\/a>, Europe, Greenland, Asia<\/strong>, we are ALL <em>Homo sapiens <\/em>&#8211; with a little bit of Neanderthal thrown in! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: But why are we the only humans left? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: Well, that&#8217;s an <strong>uncomfortable question! <\/strong>We don&#8217;t know for sure, but there is a lot of evidence that points the finger at <strong>us<\/strong>. One theory is that as <em>Homo sapiens <\/em><strong>spread from Africa <\/strong>they were <strong>better at everything <\/strong>than other types of human &#8211; better at <strong>hunting<\/strong>, at <strong>climbing trees <\/strong>to <strong>pick fruit <\/strong>and so on &#8211; and so we didn&#8217;t leave a lot of food for the others. The other theory is that there were <strong>violent clashes <\/strong>between <em>Homo sapiens <\/em>and the other humans &#8211; like the wars we have today &#8211; and that we <strong>killed off <\/strong>the other humans in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Oh no! How did we <em>Homo sapiens <\/em>manage to spread all over the world? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: Because of a very important but very small <strong>human invention <\/strong>&#8211; the <strong>needle<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Eh? Please explain!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: With a needle, you can make <strong>warm clothes<\/strong>! And this was crucial for <em>Homo sapiens <\/em>to survive as we crossed through the <strong>Arctic <\/strong>to <strong>America<\/strong>, in <strong>minus 50 degree temperatures<\/strong>. Ancient humans took the <strong>furs <\/strong>and <strong>skins <\/strong>of different animals and <strong>sewed them together <\/strong>to make <strong>thermal clothing<\/strong>. Without this, we couldn&#8217;t have spread around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: How did <em>Homo sapiens&#8217; <\/em>brains become clever enough to invent stuff like needles and rafts? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: It&#8217;s all connected to <strong>fire! <\/strong>We&#8217;re the <strong>only animal <\/strong>that has <strong>learned to control <\/strong>and <strong>&#8216;befriend&#8217; <\/strong>fire &#8211; the most ferocious and wild thing out there. And this transformed everything&#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-6.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-6.jpg\" alt=\"yuval noah harari interview | two hands knock flint rocks together to create a spark, which catches light on two brown leaves\" class=\"wp-image-269536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-6.jpg 635w, https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-6-300x191.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Learning to control fire helped our brains get bigger! Evidence of humans cooking with fire dates back 400,000 years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: How so? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: Originally, like other animals, ancient humans ate <strong>raw food<\/strong>. And food can be <strong>hard to eat <\/strong>when it&#8217;s uncooked. Have you ever tasted a <strong>raw potato? <\/strong>It&#8217;s yucky, and it&#8217;s also poisonous! But amazingly, if you take this disgusting, dangerous thing and put it in fire, suddenly it tastes<strong> delicious <\/strong>and is more <strong>nutritious<\/strong>. And this gave <em>Homo sapiens <\/em>more <strong>energy <\/strong>and more <strong>time<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: In what way? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: When we eat something that&#8217;s <strong>cooked<\/strong>, we don&#8217;t need to spend <strong>hours and hours consuming and digesting it<\/strong>, like our cousins, the <strong>great apes<\/strong>, do. And that means more energy can be diverted to our <strong>brains<\/strong>, which is what enabled them to <strong>grow big <\/strong>and have the ability to <strong>invent stuff! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: What helps historians learn about<\/strong> <strong>ancient humans? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: One of the best sources of evidence is <strong>ancient art <\/strong>made <strong>tens of thousands of years ago. <\/strong>Some of the most <strong>famous paintings <\/strong>were found in a cave called <strong>Lascaux <\/strong>in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/geography\/countries\/facts-about-france\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">France<\/a> <\/strong>by a group of <strong>teenagers <\/strong>in <strong>1940. <\/strong>The teens were exploring in the woods when they <strong>saw a hole <\/strong>and <strong>crawled inside<\/strong>! They stumbled across one of the <strong>most important scientific discoveries <\/strong>of the <strong>20th century <\/strong>&#8211; <strong>huge caves <\/strong>with amazing <strong>paintings <\/strong>of <strong>mammoths, bison, deer <\/strong>and <strong>horses<\/strong>! This <strong>totally changed our understanding <\/strong>of the past. Before that, scientists thought ancient humans were like <strong>monkeys <\/strong>who couldn&#8217;t really do anything. But this old art is as <strong>beautiful <\/strong>and <strong>sophisticated <\/strong>as anything we can produce today&#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-2.jpg\" alt=\"an ancient cave painting of a horned cow, made from rough charcoal lines\" class=\"wp-image-269531\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-2.jpg 635w, https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-2-300x191.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The cave paintings at Lascaux Caves give us an insight into ancient human life!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: So if those ancient humans were just as sophisticated as modern people, what changed to make <em>us <\/em>achieve so much? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: Firstly, it&#8217;s our <strong>ability to cooperate <\/strong>in very <strong>large numbers. <\/strong>Think about a <strong>big building <\/strong>near you. <strong>Tens of thousands of people <\/strong>had to cooperate to build it. Not just the <strong>builders<\/strong>, but the people who <strong>fed <\/strong>the builders, and the ones who <strong>provided the materials<\/strong>, too. So how do we do it? The answer is with <strong>stories. <\/strong>That&#8217;s the way you <strong>connect <\/strong>a lot of <strong>strangers <\/strong>together so they can <strong>trust <\/strong>each other and cooperate. If loads of people <strong>believe in the same story <\/strong>then they don&#8217;t need to <strong>know each other personally <\/strong>in order to work as a team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Can you give us some examples of the stories humans tell each other? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: You have <strong>mythological stories<\/strong>, about <strong>spirits <\/strong>and <strong>gods <\/strong>and things like that. But you also have <strong>economic stories<\/strong>, like <strong>money<\/strong>. We don&#8217;t normally think of money as story, but it&#8217;s really just a <strong>fairy tale for adults<\/strong>! You can&#8217;t eat money, you can&#8217;t drink it, but everybody <strong>wants it<\/strong>, and lots of people do lots of things to get it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Haha! It IS kind of weird! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: You have the <strong>biggest storytellers in the world <\/strong>and they wave this <strong>colourful piece of paper <\/strong>and say: &#8220;This is worth <strong>ten bananas<\/strong>,&#8221; and all the adults believe it for some reason, and it works! You can give a <strong>complete stranger <\/strong>in a <strong>supermarket <\/strong>this <strong>useless piece of paper <\/strong>and the stranger gives you <strong>ten bananas<\/strong>. It&#8217;s this ability to come up with these stories and <strong>convince people to believe in them <\/strong>&#8211; and then cooperate &#8211; that made us so <strong>powerful! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: We&#8217;ll never shop in the same way again! You&#8217;re also famous for writing about technology. Should parents be worried about their kids using social media? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: <strong>Technology <\/strong>is at the <strong>centre of our lives<\/strong>, so kids need to <strong>engage <\/strong>with it. But adults need to teach them how to do that in a <strong>responsible <\/strong>way. There are <strong>wonderful things <\/strong>about <strong>social media <\/strong>&#8211; it has unleashed this ocean of <strong>creativity<\/strong>, with kids jumping all over the place filming stories! But there are also dangers&#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: What sort of dangers? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: <strong>Smartphones <\/strong>can be used to <strong>hijack human attention <\/strong>&#8211; to <strong>grab your brain<\/strong>, <strong>sell you things <\/strong>you don&#8217;t need and encourage <strong>harmful tendencies<\/strong>. Smart people figured out that the easiest way to grab someone&#8217;s attention is to press their <strong>fear, anger and<\/strong> <strong>greed buttons. <\/strong>There are social media users who <strong>feed their mind <\/strong>for hours a day with a <strong>diet of fear, anger <\/strong>and <strong>greed<\/strong>. If you saw them sitting <strong>eating sugar for hours <\/strong>on end you would say, &#8220;That&#8217;s bad for you. Don&#8217;t do that!&#8221; And it&#8217;s the same thing! That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s good to <strong>disconnect <\/strong>sometimes. <strong>Meditation <\/strong>helps me with that. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-1.jpg\" alt=\"yuval noah harari interview | two young girls sit on mats on the grass. they are cross legged and have their eyes closed and their hands resting loosely on their knees.\" class=\"wp-image-269530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-1.jpg 635w, https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-1-300x191.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sitting in silence away from technology can be a wonderful thing!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Are you worried about technology? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: The thing I&#8221;m most afraid of is that we&#8217;ll see more technology for <strong>monitoring <\/strong>and <strong>controlling people. <\/strong>For the first time in history, it&#8217;s technically possible to <strong>follow everybody all the time <\/strong>&#8211; and for <strong>governments <\/strong>and <strong>businesses <\/strong>to <strong>know more about you <\/strong>than you know about yourself! And this allows them to <strong>manipulate <\/strong>our <strong>emotions <\/strong>and <strong>opinions. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Scary!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: But it <strong>doesn&#8217;t have to be like that! <\/strong>We can develop <strong>different technology<\/strong>, or we can use the same technology to monitor governments and businesses and make sure there is <strong>no corruption <\/strong>and that they <strong>pay <\/strong>their <strong>taxes<\/strong>! And if we&#8217;re smart, we can use <strong>Artificial Intelligence <\/strong>wisely, to help us solve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/geography\/general-geography\/what-is-climate-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">climate change<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: Good idea! You\u2019ve always had pet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/animals\/general-animals\/dog-facts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dogs<\/a>. Do you think humans can learn anything from animals?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: Absolutely! I don\u2019t think I could have written many of the things in my books if I didn\u2019t have close contact with some animals; my perspective would be different. Only people who don\u2019t have cats or dogs could even have a debate about whether animals have consciousness or emotions!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-5.jpg\" alt=\"yuval sits on the floor with his pale dog\" class=\"wp-image-269534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-5.jpg 635w, https:\/\/cdn.creatureandcoagency.com\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Interview-5-300x191.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">It&#8217;s Yuval and his beloved dog Pengu!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK:<\/strong> <strong>We think they do, too! Can you tell us a bit about your meditation practice&nbsp;&nbsp;\u2013 how does it work and why do you do it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: You just sit with closed eyes for a couple of minutes, or maybe a couple of hours. You don\u2019t look at your smart phone or the television, and you don\u2019t talk to people. It helps because we are flooded with so much information \u2013&nbsp;&nbsp;news and tweets and images \u2013 that we don\u2019t have time to stop and think. I think as humans, silence is equally as important as stories, because this is a time that we can really observe things. Meditation is sometimes difficult but it also brings a lot of joy. I do it for two hours every day. It\u2019s a wonderful thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: You\u2019ve met so many celebrities from around the globe \u2013 movies stars, politicians and business people all want to pick your brains. Who\u2019s the most the most interesting person that you\u2019ve met?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: I\u2019m less and less excited by meeting famous people. They may be extremely skilful in their field, but on the broader questions, they are just like the rest of us \u2013 no one really has the answers. But recently I listened to the most inspiring talk by a Nobel Peace Prize winner from the Philippines, a journalist called Maria Ressa. She spoke about her efforts to stand up for truth, and for freedom of the press under extremely difficult conditions. It left me speechless.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: She sounds amazing. And who would you talk to if you could talk to anyone from history?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: The Buddha!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK: In case our readers don\u2019t know \u2013 he\u2019s the founder of a spiritual religion called Buddhism, who lived during the 5th or 6th centuries BC. Why Buddha?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuval: The meditation I practice comes from Buddhist teaching. And maybe these are just stories, but the impression is that if one person really understood something deep about life&nbsp;\u2013 it was Buddha. So it would be good to talk to him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NGK<\/strong>: <strong>Thanks Yuval. We\u2019ve learned a lot from you!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">If you enjoyed this interview, look out for Yuval\u2019s new book series for kids, Unstoppable Us. It tells the strange and remarkable story of how humans took over the world! Out now.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Images of Yuval courtesy of Yuval Noah Harari, and all illustrations (c) Ricard Zaplana Ruiz. All others (c) Adobe Stock.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/uk\/competition\/win-unstoppable-us-books\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WANT TO WIN BOTH UNSTOPPABLE US BOOKS? CLICK HERE!<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet world-famous author Yuval Noah Harari! He&#8217;s a historian and philosopher who has spent years investigating ancient humans and figuring out how we got so smart. Learn more about this awesome thinker in our Yuval Noah Harari interview&#8230; Who is Professor Yuval Noah Harari? Name: Yuval Noah Harari Born: 24 February 1976 From: Israel Job: &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.natgeokids.com\/ie\/discover\/history\/general-history\/yuval-noah-harari-interview\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Yuval Noah Harari Interview!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258443,"featured_media":269537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,13],"tags":[3054,3057,3055,201,3056,3058,1700,1012,1101,2971,3053],"christmas-category":[],"class_list":["post-266429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-history","category-prehistoric-animals","tag-ancient-humans","tag-general-history","tag-historian","tag-history","tag-homo-sapiens","tag-human-history","tag-humans","tag-interview","tag-neanderthals","tag-scientist","tag-yuval-noah-harari","countries-australia","countries-ireland","countries-new-zealand","countries-south-africa","countries-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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