3 Ways Fictions That Shape Our Reality: Insights from ‘Homo Deus’
After being deeply impressed by Yuval Noah Harari’s profound insights into humanity in Sapiens, I naturally picked up his following book, Homo Deus. Harari, a historian with deep knowledge of biology and psychology, offers a captivating perspective on what makes us human.
The central theme that captivated me was his exploration of the fictions that shape our reality. What is the fundamental reason Homo sapiens became the dominant species on Earth? It wasn’t just fire, intelligence, or language. According to Harari, the secret lies in our unique ability to imagine and collectively believe in these powerful stories.
This shared belief in unseen things enabled unprecedented cooperation between strangers. Belief became the powerful glue holding thousands together, allowing humanity to rule the planet. But what exactly are these fictions that shape our reality, and how do they govern our lives today?
1. Defining the Fictions That Shape Our Reality
When we hear the word “fiction,” we might think of novels. However, Harari uses a more technical term: “social reality” or “intersubjective reality.”
Nations, laws, money, human rights, corporations, and stocks—almost everything that structures our modern lives is made of these unseen fictions that shape our reality. None of these have a physical form you can touch, yet they act as powerful chains, compelling us to abide by them.
We go to work daily not because of physical laws, but because we believe in the fiction of an ’employment contract’—a mutually agreed-upon social arrangement. Human life is governed not just by biological survival, but by these powerful shared imaginations.
2. The Power of Social Reality: Indulgences and Crusades
To understand the immense power of these fictions, we can look at history. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the dominant “social reality.”
Because the local priest was often the sole intellectual authority, the majority desperately believed in the fiction of a painless afterlife. The Church, understanding this desire, utilized two powerful fictions to shape the reality of the era:
- Indulgences: The brilliant “business idea” of selling certificates that forgave sins, turning spiritual anxiety into financial profit for the Church.
- The Crusades: By propagating the fiction that killing “infidels” guaranteed a spot in heaven, the Church launched massive wars. Countless people marched to Jerusalem for salvation, guided by a story rather than physical necessity.
Did common people join the Crusades purely out of religious fervor? Perhaps some did. But for powerless lords or those suffering in hopeless reality, the fiction of “a new land of opportunity with guaranteed salvation” was an incredibly attractive escape. These historical events were successful policies enacted by a minority that masterfully understood and exploited the fictions that shape our reality at the time.
As Saladin replies in the movie Kingdom of Heaven when asked what Jerusalem is worth: “Nothing… Everything.” It is physically nothing, but as a shared fiction, it is everything.
3. Navigating the Stories That Govern Our Lives
The Crusades may seem distant, but the structure where an “unseen story” moves the world is still at play today, perhaps even more subtly. Has the faith of the Middle Ages simply changed form into nationalism, capitalism, or ideology?
We are still deeply bound by invisible “social reality.” We must recognize that we are living within fictions that shape our reality even today. The question Homo Deus ultimately poses is this: Are you consciously choosing the story that governs your life, or are you merely an actor on a stage built by others?
The first step is recognizing that these are stories, not physical realities. We must ask: “Who benefits from this story?” and “What do I gain or lose by believing it?” We cannot live without stories like money or laws. The key is to have the wisdom to discern which fictions that shape our reality empower us, and which ones ensnare us.
Further Reading for Context
