Yuval claims to know how human thinking processes operated in the dim past, assuming the evolutionary theory. Yuval has no firsthand information about brain functionality millennia ago. Yuval assumes all ancient documents are fiction, so he can’t rely on them for info. No observation or experiment done in 2018 can describe brain functions 10,000 years or generations ago. Yuval says: “humans have always lived in the age of post-truth. Homo sapiens is a post-truth species, whose power depends on creating and believing fictions.” “Always,” an absolute adverb, makes his statement a Categorical Affirmative covering times for which we have no observational or recorded info. Yuval offers no reason to believe his asserted facts. How would a “post-truth” species recognize a fact anyway? He says: “if you want reliable information – pay good money for it. If you get your news for free, you might well be the product.” No reason given to trust info just because it is paid for.

Yuval makes other claims. (1) “The truth is that truth was never high on the agenda of Homo sapiens.” Well, “Never” is an absolute adverb, making his statement a Categorical Negative. Does Yuval even pretend to prove that absolute unvarying historical assertion? (2) “In practice, the power of human cooperation depends on a delicate balance between truth and fiction.” Source of this claim? True for the entire history of humankind and in every civilization and in every society? Can Yuval verify these claims? Why would he expect his statements to be treated as anything other than the “fiction” that he ascribes to what other people have said (allegedly for the entirety of human history)? Why do we believe him and not others, if all are fictions? Liberty requires access to truth; Yuval’s approach eliminates truth as a category. Liberty morphs into a battle among competing aggressors. Not good.