This Life of Mine with James Corden

Guest: Yuval Noah Harari

Date: February 3, 2026
Host: James Corden (for Lemonada Media)

Overview

In this episode, James Corden interviews Yuval Noah Harari, renowned historian, philosopher, and author of bestsellers like Sapiens. Their conversation explores the pivotal people, places, possessions, music, and memories that shaped Harari’s life and worldview. The discussion ranges from personal rituals to AI, education, meditation, philosophy, and what it means to be human in the modern era. Harari brings both humor and depth, reflecting on the pressing existential questions of our time, leadership, and the balance between intellect, emotion, and action.

Key Discussion Points

The Role of Philosophers in Business & Learning from History

• Philosophers and Business Boards

  • Harari believes companies, especially in tech, should include philosophers on their boards to keep them mindful of historical perspective and ethical considerations.
  • Quote:

    “Tech companies...sometimes think they are exempt from history, but they are not. They are just part of it, like everything else.” (04:17 – Harari)

• Ignoring Historical Lessons

  • Harari illustrates how companies believe they’re exempt from established ethical guidelines ("don’t steal") because data is “different,” and recounts parallels with the era of the printing press, where the first bestsellers were guides to witch hunts and not scientific treatises.
  • Quote:

    “People say...the printing press, it brought about the scientific revolution. Well, not exactly. It first of all brought about a wave of wars...and witch hunts.” (05:17 – Harari)

The Nature of History

• Against the 'Single Cause' Fallacy
  • History is not “just one thing after another.” Harari warns against simple explanations and mythology, urging recognition of the complex, multi-causal web that shapes societies.
  • Quote:

    “History turns into mythology when you think it’s just one thing leading to another thing.” (06:50 – Harari)

The Music That Shaped Him

• Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer”
  • At age six, Harari was captivated by the video filmed among Buddhist ruins, sparking an enduring fascination with Buddhism.
  • Quote:

    “It made me realize how huge and amazing the world is, which is a very strange connection to make...It just made me realize what the world is so big.” (08:14 – Harari)

Meditation and Dealing with Boredom

• Annual Retreats

  • Harari spends 30–60 days each year on silent meditation retreats, seeing it as “the most interesting thing in the world” for understanding the workings of the mind.

  • The Challenge of Boredom:

    “Boredom is one of the hardest things to deal with. A lot of things in life are driven by boredom.” (09:38 – Harari)

  • On Excitement and Modern Life:

    “We need more boring politicians, for instance. For sure we need more boring times. And the problem is not the excitement, it’s the boredom.” (10:27 – Harari)

• Memorable Moment:

  • Harari recalls entering a retreat before the 2016 US election:

    “I earned something like 30 days in a world in which Donald Trump is not the President of the United States.” (11:39 – Harari)

First Historical Memory

• The Sinking of the HMS Sheffield (Falklands War, 1982)
  • As a child, Harari was struck by seeing a posthumous interview:

    “How am I able to...he’s now talking and he’s dead...maybe it was really this interview with this dead person which kind of shook me.” (12:31 – Harari)

On Gifted Education & The Value of Skills

• The Pressure of “Gifted” School

  • Harari describes his time in a school for gifted children as “horrible”, calling it a “Darwinian nightmare” focused almost exclusively on intellect to the detriment of social and physical skills.

  • Quotes:

    “It was the most competitive place I’ve ever been in the world.” (15:54 – Harari)
    “The intellect is vastly overrated in human society. It has its usages, but if you ask me what is the most overrated thing about humans except for excitement? It’s the intellectual.” (15:58 – Harari)

  • On What’s Underrated:
    “Every time we kind of focus on just one thing, it’s a mistake...you need all three: head, heart, hands.” (16:21 – Harari)

• Education for the Future

  • With AI disrupting professions, Harari urges balance:

    “We don’t know what will be the job market like in 20 years. So if you place all your bets on just one set of skills, this is a bad idea.” (16:34 – Harari)

  • Emotional and Social Intelligence:

    “We will need the most kind of psychologically robust and flexible generation ever to deal with what’s coming in the next 20 or 30 years.” (18:51 – Harari)

Charles Darwin: Person of Significance

• Darwin as a Model and Inspiration
  • Harari calls Darwin “a prophet of gay liberation,” explaining how evolutionary theory strips away the notion of essential purpose in biology and naturalizes variations in sexuality and behavior.
  • Quotes:

    “Anything that exists is in line with the laws of nature...In evolution, there are no purposes.” (22:40 – Harari) “You can’t ban homosexuality because it’s against the laws of nature. Find a better excuse. Now if you say, well, it causes suffering to people, no, it doesn’t.” (26:39 – Harari)

Media, Evolution, and Fear

• Our Evolutionary Bias for Bad News
  • Harari explains our attraction to negative stories as a product of evolutionary survival mechanisms that are now exploited by social media algorithms.
  • Quotes:

    “We are primed to focus attention on dangerous and frightening things. And now this evolutionary mechanism...is being hijacked by social media algorithms against us.” (28:09 – Harari) “If you have all these good stories and you have this one scary story, you will pay attention to the scary story.” (30:01 – Harari)

Book: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

• Influence and Writing Model
  • Diamond’s work inspired Harari’s approach to writing sweeping, accessible, big-history narratives, culminating in his own books like Sapiens and Nexus.
  • Quote:

    “What I was missing is then somebody taking all these pixels and putting them together to give us a big picture.” (31:51 – Harari)

AI: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

• Harari likens humankind’s relationship with increasingly autonomous AI to “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”—potentially unleashing forces beyond our control unless we proceed with caution.
• Quotes:

  “AI is different from every previous technology in history because it’s not a tool, it’s an agent.” (33:24 – Harari) [On the future] “The AIs of today, they’re like the microorganisms...We are now at the beginning of a parallel evolutionary process which is inorganic.” (36:53 – Harari)

• He contrasts “tools” and “agents” and explains AI’s exponential development compared to organic evolution.

Place: Dhamma Dipa Meditation Center (UK)

• The Power of Silence and Direct Experience

  • Harari recounts the life-changing simplicity of his first 10-day silent meditation retreat:

    “Just observe your breath...no mysticism whatsoever. And I was really amazed by how little I knew about myself and that I can’t control like my attention even for a few seconds.” (39:15 – Harari)

• On Worry, Rest, and Human Limits vs. The Digital World

  • Harari discusses the importance of rest and cycles for human well-being, juxtaposed with the 24/7 pace of the digital/AI-driven world.
  • Quotes:

    “Worries are like gas. They expand to fill whatever space you give them.” (40:21 – Harari) “We are basically carbon animals in a silicon world, organic beings...now more and more of the systems in the world, they are not run by human beings. They are run by these inorganic silicon entities that never need to rest.” (41:54 – Harari)

  • He cautions that our systems force us to adapt to machines, not the other way around, which is harmful for human society.

Possession: His Morning Porridge Pot

• Ritual and Home
  • Harari describes the humble, lidless pot he’s used for a decade to make his daily breakfast as a grounding ritual:
  • Quote:

    “It has no lid. It had a lid when it was born...But I didn’t switch to a different pot. And it works well...rituals are important. They give you some kind of ground of stability in life.” (44:48 – Harari)

Concluding Reflection: Hope for the Future

• Human Mind vs. AI: Parallel Potential
  • Harari closes with guarded optimism:

    “AI is nowhere near its full development, its full capacity. But the same is true of the human mind. We still utilize just a small part of its capabilities. If for every minute and every dollar that we invest in developing AI, we will also invest a minute and a dollar in developing our own minds, we will be okay.” (46:40 – Harari)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Tech & History:

  “They sometimes think they are exempt from history, but they are not.” — Harari (04:17)

• On Meditation & Modern Life:

  “We need more boring politicians, for instance...If you don’t know how to deal with boredom, you’ll be constantly chasing the next exciting thing.” — Harari (10:27)

• On Diversity of Skills:

  “If you have a human with just a head, not a good idea.” — Harari (16:35)

• On Darwin and Gay Liberation:

  “Charles Darwin, in many ways was a prophet of gay liberation.” — Harari (22:40)

• On Social Media & Evolution:

  “This evolutionary mechanism, it’s now being hijacked by social media algorithms against us.” — Harari (28:09)

• On Human Limits vs. Machine Cycles:

  “We are basically carbon animals in a silicon world, organic beings...now more and more of the systems in the world...are run by these inorganic silicon entities that never need to rest.” — Harari (41:54)

• On Rest for Leaders:

  “Obviously [the Prime Minister] should go on vacation. He’s a human being. I mean, I don’t want any country to be managed by people who never go on vacation, who don’t have time to relax, to think.” — Harari (41:54)

• On Hope:

  “If for every minute and every dollar that we invest in developing AI, we will also invest a minute and a dollar in developing our own minds, we will be okay.” (46:40)

Important Segments (Timestamps)

• 04:00: Discussion of tech companies and ignoring history
• 07:40: Harari’s significant music choice and influence of Buddhist imagery
• 09:14: Meditation retreats and insights into dealing with boredom and excitement
• 12:05: First historical memory — HMS Sheffield
• 14:26: Gifted school experience and critiques of overemphasis on intellect
• 22:40: Choice of Charles Darwin as a person of influence, and implications for gay liberation
• 28:10: How humans are hardwired for fear, and social media’s exploitation of this
• 31:51: Book selection: Guns, Germs and Steel
• 33:24: The unique risks and nature of AI as an “agent,” not just a tool
• 38:09: Place: Dhamma Dipa Meditation Center and the impact of silent retreat
• 44:48: Possession: The story and symbolism of Harari’s morning porridge pot
• 46:32: Closing note on hope for humanity’s future

Final Thoughts

This conversation offered an intimate look at how Yuval Noah Harari’s early experiences, daily rituals, and philosophical influences shape his views on history, society, technology, and the future. Both Corden and Harari blend humor and depth, resulting in a thought-provoking yet accessible talk that’s rich with reflection, anecdotes, and concise wisdom for anyone wondering not just what the future holds, but how best to meet it as a human being.