Historians From Israel

"According to the science of biology, people were not 'created'. They... evolved. And... not... to be 'equal'. ...Advocates of equality and human rights may be outraged by this... Their response is likely.., ‘...if we believe that we are all equal in essence, it will enable us to create a stable and prosperous society.’ I have no argument with that. ...[B]elieving in it enables us to cooperate effectively and forge a better society."

"[W]hen... complex societies began to appear.., a... new type of information became vital ― numbers."

"[T]he first text of history contains no philosophical insight, no poetry, legends, laws, or... royal triumphs. They were humdrum economic documents, recording... taxes.., debts and... ownership of property."

"The earliest Sumerian writing was a partial... script. Full script is a system of material signs that can represent spoken language... everything people... say, including poetry. Partial script... can represent only particular... information... [in] a limited field of activity."

"Ancient scribes learned not merely to read and write, but also to use catalogues, dictionaries, calendars, forms and tables. They studied the internalised technique of cataloguing, retrieving and processing information very different from those used by the brain."

"A critical step was made sometime before the ninth century AD, when a new partial script was invented, one that could store and process mathematical data with unprecedented efficiency. This partial script was composed of ten signs, representing the numbers from 0 - 9. Confusingly, these signs were known as even though they were first invented by the Hindus."

"Writing is born as the maidservant of human consciousness, but is increasingly becoming its master. Our computers have trouble understanding how Homo sapiens talks, feels and dreams. So we are teaching Homo sapiens to talk, feel and dream in the language of numbers, which can be understood by computers."

"According to a famous Hindu creation myth, the gods fashioned the world out of the body of a primeval being, the Purusa. The sun was created from Purusa's eyes, the moon from Purusa's brain, the Brahmins (priests) from the mouth, the Kshatriyas (warriors) from its arms, the s (peasants and merchants) from its thighs, and Shudras (servants) from its legs."

"The ancient Chinese believed that the goddess Nü wa created humans from earth, she kneaded aristocrats from fine yellow soil, whereas commoners were formed from brown mud."

"American plantations in places such as Virginia, Haiti and Brazil were plunged by malaria and , which had originated in Africa. Africans had acquired over the generations a partial genetic immunity to these diseases."

"Paradoxically, genetic superiority (in terms of immunity) translated into social inferiority: precisely because Africans were fitter in tropical climates than Europeans!"

"[T]he burgeoning new society of America were to be divided into a ruling caste of white Europeans and a subjected class of black Africans."

"The European imperial expeditions transformed... history... from... isolated peoples and cultures... [to] the history of a single integrated human society."

"From the dawn of agriculture.., billions... armed with branches, swatters, shoes and poison sprays have waged... wars against diligent ants, furtive roaches, adventurous spiders and misguided beetles that constantly infiltrate the human domicile."

"The agricultural revolution is one of the most controversial events in history. Some... proclaim... it set humankind on the road to prosperity and progress. Others... that it has led to perdition."

"Throughout most of history, mathematics was an esoteric field that even educated people rarely studied seriously. In medieval Europe, logic, grammar and rhetoric formed the educational core... [M]athematics seldom went beyond simple arithmetic and geometry. ...The undisputed monarch of all science was theology."

"The greatness of Newton's theory was its ability to explain and predict the movement of all bodies... from falling apples to shooting stars, using three simple mathematical laws."

"Mere observations... are not knowledge. ...[T]o understand the universe, we need ...theories. Earlier traditions usually formulated... theories... [as] stories. Modern science uses mathematics."

"Only around the end of the nineteenth century did scientists come across a few observations that did not fit... with Newton's laws, and these led to the next revolution... the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics."

"Today... there is an irresistible urge to study the exact sciences - defined... 'exact' by their... mathematical tools."

"The Scientific Revolution... has been above all a revolution of ignorance. The great discovery... was... that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions."

"For most of history, humans knew nothing about 99.99 per cent of the organisms on the planet... the s. ...Each of us bears billions... They are our best friends, and deadliest enemies. Some... digest our food and clean our guts.., others cause illness and epidemics."

"[T]he prophet Muhammad began... by condemning... fellow Arabs for living in ignorance of the divine truth. Yet Muhammad... argue[d] that he knew the full truth, and... followers began calling him 'the '."

"[W]hy study history? ...[It] is not a means of making accurate predictions. We study history... to widen... horizons, to understand that our present... is... [not] inevitable, and that we... have many more possibilities before us..."

"In our time, 'imperialist' ranks second only to 'fascist' in the of political swear words."

"Revolutions are, by definition unpredictable."

"[[Postmodernism|[P]ostmodernist thinkers]] describe nationalism as a deadly plague that spread... in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, causing wars, oppression, hate and genocide."

"[W]illingness to admit ignorance... made modern science more dynamic, supple and inquisitive than... previous tradition[s]."

"Confucius, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad would have been bewildered if... told... that... to understand the... mind and cure its illness you must... study statistics."

"[E]mpire has been the world’s most common form of political organisation for... 2,500 years."

"Imperial elites used... profits of conquest to finance... armies and forts but also philosophy, art, justice and charity."

"Present-day speak Arabic, think of themselves as Arabs, and identify... with the Arab Empire that conquered Egypt in the seventh century and crushed... repeated revolts..."

"The first empire... was the of Sargon the Great..."

"[M]ost imperial elites... believed that they were working for the general welfare of... inhabitants. China's ruling class treated... neighbours and... foreign subjects as... barbarians to whom the empire must bring... culture. The was bestowed upon the emperor not... to exploit... but... to educate humanity."

"Muslim caliphs received a divine mandate to spread the Prophet's revelation, peacefully if possible... by the sword if necessary."

"Many Americans... maintain... a to bring the Third World countries... benefits of democracy and human rights, even if... by s and F-16s."

"[T]he modern Indian state is a child of the British Empire. The British killed, injured and persecuted... but... also united... warring kingdoms, principalities and tribes, creating a... national consciousness and a country that functioned... as a single political unit."

"[[Religion|[R]eligion]] has been the third great unifier... alongside money and empire."

"Religion can... be defined..[:] a system of human laws... founded on a belief in superhuman laws."

"[T]he majority of ancient religions were local and exclusive.., believed in local deties and spirits, and had no interest in converting the... human race."

"[U]niversal and missionary religions began to appear... in the first millennium BC.., one of the most important revolutions in history, and made a vital contribution to the unification of humankind, much like... universal empires and... money."

"For thousands of years after the Agricultural Revolution... consisted mainly of... sacrificing lambs, wine and cakes to divine powers... [for] promised abundant harvest and fecund flocks."

"These polytheistic] religions understood the world to be controlled by... powerful gods... Humans could appeal to these... to bring rain, victory... health."

"[M]onotheistic brainwashing... caused most Westerners to see polytheism as ignorant and childish idolatry."

"In Hindu polytheism, a single principle, Atman, controls the myriad gods and spirits, humankind, and the biological and physical world. Atman is the central essence or soul of the... universe.., of every individual and every phenomenon."

"The only god that the Romans long refused to tolerate was the monotheistic... evangelising god of the Christians."

"Christians slaughtered Christians by the millions to defend slightly different interpretations of the religion of love and compassion."

"The religious wars between Catholics and Protestants that swept Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are... notorious. ...[T]hey disagreed about the nature of... [Christ's] love."

"The first monotheist religion known... appeared in Egypt, c.1350 BC, when Pharaoh Akhenaten declared... one of the minor deties... ... supreme power ruling the universe."

"Most past cultures have... fallen prey to the armies of some ruthless empire, which... consigned them to oblivion. Empires... ultimately fall, but... tend to leave behind rich.., enduring legacies."