Posted: May 24, 2017 5:53 am
Yep, one of the best books I read last year.
I liked the author's explorations into the fabrications/delusions that we indulge in to make society work.
Money....yeah, as long as we all pretend that this piece of paper can be exchanged for that pint of beer, we'll be alright.
Even though we both know the piece of paper is in actual fact valueless. The whole system only works because people believe in it.
This is related to some of the stuff I research in language and pragmatics. In Conversation Analysis researchers use the term 'talk into being'. That is, through talk, people actually construct social reality in the here and now of the interaction.
Great book and I've heard good things about the follow up 'Homo Deus'. I'll get round it it at some point.