That Van Jacobson talk got uproarious laughter from the audience at the end, as one might predict { surely VJ had an inkling... ;-) }. It's a way to do a long story and a punchline/zinger without anthropomorphically flipping the script "selfish-gene" style.

FWIW, I think Harari knows this is "his brand" and might avoid "off brand" articles, much as much as Christopher Nolan probably thinks doing a simple, linear movie would be off brand for him. (Or they both could just love their developed styles. It is oft overlooked, but in the world of humans "all of the above" is often a better answer than any single explanation.)

“Baffle non-phenomonologists with this One Weird Trick!”