Since you wrote sapiens. It was a worldwide hit, and in essence, it was a very sort of positive explanation of how we humans have come to sort of dominate this planet. It was about our ability to cooperate, to tell shared stories, to give ourselves common purpose. Ijust wonder whether in the last decade, youve lost some of that optimism. I think our shared stories and our ability to cooperate, both as a species, but also on the national level, is collapsing in more and more places. I see it now in my home country of israel, which is really on the verge maybe of a constitutional crisis or even a civil war. Maybe what we need to understand specifically about democracies is that democracy, in essence, is a conversation. You know, dictatorship, there is one person dictates everything. Democracy is trying to reach some agreement through conversation, and conversation is not always possible. For most of history, large scale conversation was just technically impossible. You had small scale de
It is now more than a decade since you wrote sapiens. It was a worldwide hit, and in essence, it was a very sort of positive explanation of how we humans have come to sort of dominate this planet. It was about our ability to cooperate, to tell shared stories, to give ourselves common purpose. I just wonder whether, in the last decade, youve lost some of that optimism. I think our shared stories and our ability to cooperate, both as a species, but also on the national level, is collapsing in more and more places. I see it now in my home country of israel, which is really on the verge, maybe, of a constitutional crisis or even a civil war. Maybe what we need to understand, specifically, about democracies is that democracy, in essence, is a conversation. You know, dictatorship, there is one person dictates everything. Democracy is trying to reach some agreement through conversation, and conversation is not always possible. For most of history, large scale conversation was just technically
Spoke about the issues at stake with the president of the un generalassembly, dennis francis. Thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news, president. This is obviously a very busy week at the General Assembly, but also special summits on the sdgs, global finance, Un Security Council is meeting as well, High Level Health meetings, but leaders of some of the most powerful countries have chosen not to attend france, the uk, india, china, russia. Do you consider that a snob . No, i dont. I dont at all. Of course, we hoped that the house would be full, but we appreciate that leaders may have other pressing matters that require their attention, and i am sure the views and perspectives of those countries not led by Heads Of State and or government will be expressed and represented by their heads of delegation. But if you have only one of the five permanent members sending their leader here, does that raise legitimacy issues about the un . No, it doesnt, because the permanent members have a
Like ending extreme poverty and tacking Climate Change. And president s and Prime Ministers will take the opportunity to seize the global spotlight, including us President Joe Biden who arrived On Sunday Evening in new york. Earlier, i spoke to michael bociurkiw, Global Affairs analyst and non resident Senior Fellow at the atlantic council, about what we can expect from the week ahead. Lets touch on whos not going to be there. French president macron, british Prime Minister rishi sunak, chinese president xijinping, russian president vladimir putin, indian Prime Minister narendra modi, among others. It is quite a list. What do you make of those absences . Yes, it is quite a list indeed. Well, the un Secretary General played it down and says this isnt a show for vanity fair. Whoever comes, he will engage with them. But im finding World Leaders are using more and more of that excuse, that theyre very busy, so they are show up at certain summits. In the case of the uk Prime Minister, if re
It is now more than a decade since you wrote sapiens. It was a worldwide hit, and in essence, it was a very sort of positive explanation of how we humans have come to sort of dominate this planet. It was about our ability to cooperate, to tell shared stories, to give ourselves common purpose. I just wonder whether in the last decade, youve lost some of that optimism. I think our shared stories and our ability to cooperate, both as a species, but also on the national level, is collapsing in more and more places. I see it now in my home country of israel, which is really on the verge maybe of a constitutional crisis or even a civil war. Maybe what we need to understand specifically about democracies is that democracy, in essence, is a conversation. You know, dictatorship, there is one person dictates everything. Democracy is trying to reach some agreement through conversation, and conversation is not always possible. For most of history, large scale conversation was just technically impo