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We can only guess what medieval peasants would have made of the apparent absurdity of paying to walk or run on the spot, pounding out virtual miles on the treadmill (used as form of punishment by hard labour in early-nineteenth-century British prisons, incidentally).

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (41%)

Our fast-moving technological society no longer allows us to respond passively to our biological rhythms; we are expected to adapt them to the dictates of its digital clock.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (27%)

In this way, the history of tea is rooted in the exploitation of labour — from where it was grown in India to the sugar plantations in the Caribbean to the factories in Britain that squeezed every waking hour out of their workers.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (27%)

And in a constitutional sense beer and bread are two sides of the same coin: beer is liquid bread, and bread is solid beer.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (25%)

The freed slaves, with aerial support from the common mosquito, had defeated not one but two of the most highly trained and best-equipped armies in the world.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (13%)

At the time of writing, Elon Musk has a personal net worth of nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars. With this fortune he could materially support hundreds of thousands of wives, utterly overshadowing the harems of the greatest despots of history.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (8%)

Poor men, on the other hand, have been monogamists all around the world.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (8%)

Indeed, a state is often defined as a coherent polity that is able to operate a monopoly on violence within its boundaries — with the sovereign ruler controlling where and when that violence is directed.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (2%)

To be human is to be the sum total of all our capabilities and constraints — both our flaws and our faculties make us who we are.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (1%)

We have emerged from our evolutionary history as a palimpsest of overlaying designs, with each new adaptation modifying, or being built on top of, what already existed.

— Being Human by Lewis Dartnell (1%)

Bombarded with cultural propaganda ready to instill in all of us the niton that lies are more important, that truth does not matter, we are all potential victims. Consumer culture in particular encourages lies. Advertising is one of the cultural mediums that has most sanctioned lying. Keeping people in a constant state of lack, in perpetual desire, strengthens the marketplace economy. Lovelessness is a boon to consumerism. And lies strengthen the world of predatory advertising. Our passive acceptance of lies in public life, particularly via the mass media, upholds and perpetuates lying in our private lives.

— All About Love by bell hooks