Table of Content
Not only that, modern technology has increasingly allowed us to understand the emotional and intellectual complexity of animals in a way that should make it difficult to treat them as lesser beings. This is an issue that has been playing on my mind for some time. It seems like every week now we are getting news reports of another animal ripped from its habitat for a selfie and dying as a result.
The rise of machine learning gets the most thorough treatment, being as it is likely the most severe social disruptor of this century, but even the predictions here feel brief, even perfunctory. A much more thorough discussion takes place in Pedro Domingo's excellent The Master Algorithm. I really hoped for more from Harari in speculating how current broad trends might plan out, but he shirks away from providing many predictions. Homo Deus’ closing chapters paint, with broad brush strokes, a grim picture of our possible future. Nietzsche prophetically called this the age of the “Last Man”.
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Hardcover – Illustrated, 21 February 2017
Sapiens was fantastic because it was almost like a novelisation of human history. It was dramatic and loaded with exciting revelations about what makes us human. It was a thought provoking, an exceedingly intelligent piece of writing. With this book Harari looks to the future, to where we may go and how we may get there. If you enjoyed Sapiens you will want to read Homo Deus, it is possibly the most thought provoking book of the year. • Democracy and the free market will both collapse and authority will shift from individual humans to networked algorithms.
He basically paints a dystopian vision of the future where humanity is by and large subjugated to non conscious intelligent machines. This would create a real caste system with real biological hierarchies. Yuval Noah Harari is on par with the best SF writers in painting a broad picture of long term trends and their impact.
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From superhumans to Dataism, what is being cooked up in Silicon Valley is supremely more important than the regressive reactionary forces which we are usually told are such a big deal. Homo Deus was complex and it covered a lot of things, but it is especially trying to decipher where the humanity is going. If programs can outperform us in our allegedly distinct 'human art' form, there's really no reason to think that it can't outperform us in every other field. Programs may lack subjective consciousness like us, but that doesn't stop them to outperform us in intellectual and artistic fields. Apparently, experts find it difficult to tell the difference between computer generated music, poetry – there are many professions we previously thought were exempt from automation. GP would always be up to date with the latest journals, papers, diagnoses, medications – for every disease imaginable, in real-time.
However, people want to commute to work in cars all at the same time. They sit in parking lots at work and at home because people have no need for them during work hours and overnight. In 1789 Marie-Antoinette (bride of France's King Louis XVI) told, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"—"Let them eat cake." when someone told her that French people had no bread. Many people criticized her for this insensible remark. But today, the poor are following this advice ironically. You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree.
Quotes from Homo Deus: A Hist...
Rather, Harari seeks to contemplate the underlying philosophies of what he concludes will be the new techno-religions of the future. It’s interesting how he defines religions, which don’t require belief in the supernatural and rather any thought process which ends in ‘-ism’ can pretty much be a religion. Much is written about individualistic humanism for example, and it’s various 20th century branches nationalism-socialism-communism-liberalism etc. as he defines them. One can draw a parallel to to the idea of evolutionary flaws (e.g. see Koestler's book trilogy) wrought large in an Information Age with unprecedented access to data, and data processing tools. The question is what becomes of us, and our nature, in the future created by that very same nature when our intelligence lives beyond our biology? In a sense, the book encourages us to imagine in a more realistic and possible way how machines we originally created can come to dominate us, or render us helpless or useless.
Most of the book is actually a re-telling of the power structures that have shaped human societies, focusing on the concept of religions. Naturally this includes Abrahamic religions, animalist or spiritualist beliefs, and a slew of ancient religions. However crucially Harari also classifies humanism as a religion, and, in fact, as the defining religion of the modern period, placing the individual human at the centre of the moral universe. With this framework in place Harari then extrapolates modern interplay of religion and society forward a few centuries, speculating about what future religions might look like. Generally the book feels as a world view supported selectively and not the wonderful voyage of discovery presented in Sapiens. Like Dawkins hating God though not believing, the author to object to humanism sneers at humans.
Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
And for me, this took the book to an entirely new level. And along with this march towards the godlike we are marching towards being machine-like too, as we outsource more and more of our internal algorithms to better data-based external algorithms. And the march is relentless, Homo Deus is taking birth before our eyes. This book reads like the author read a number of popular science articles, watched some sci-fi movies, attended a transhumanist meetup, got just a bit high on weed and then started writing. I would like to thank Net Galley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing and the author Yuval Noah Harari for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Maybe the world doesn’t need this – I don’t know about you, but a world without the things that make us human – love, grief, emotions, desires, sounds like no world at all. Where do you start reviewing a colossal piece of work such as Homo Deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari? Last year I read another work by this author Sapiens, I was so taken by that work I could have and should have given it 6 stars (rule breaker, I am – yes I live on the edge). Sapiens discussed how we got to where we are now, Homo Deus discusses where we could be heading. Harari envisions that these biological insights and technological developments will lead to a new narrative, wherein humans either need to upgrade, try to merge with the singularity, or become redundant like Neanderthals. Also the power of writing to enable the rise of empire, making it possible to track much more means and property than before, when only a human mind could be used to keep records, is fascinating.
I would criticize that he is too harsh at times, always saying that the ethics of human rights and whatnot are arbitrary and there is no sense that the social contract is any kind of evolution. It is true that borders and laws are intersubjective illusions, and it is true that human beings treat animals appallingly. But personally I still hope, however naively, that there is some kind of progress going on throughout the ages. Having read Sapiens, I had some idea that there would be new themes which Yuval Noah Harari would cover which nobody else has before. With Sapiens, it was about the agricultural revolution and the binding power of stories.
I do not doubt that these two books have the potential to change how you think about the world. They will open your eyes to issues you may never have thought about. Needless to say, the views have the grounding in scientific and research reality that a SciFi fanfic about Kirk banging Uhura has, and it is written with the same brain addling juvenile exuberance. I strongly suggest reading Sapiens first, as it'll make you more appreciative of the quality of information taught throughout the book, and will make it more receptive to the predictions divulged in Homo Deus. Although you'll find repetitions between the books, it won't do you much harm, for the volume of information dispensed is too large for one to completely assimilate everything in a single read.
Very interesting read, though I think his previous book is better. Despite my misgivings above I still think this book is a highly valuable read and makes a great contribution to what our future will be like. And I will be getting the authors next book as soon as I press submit. Anyone who hasn't read this book should get a copy and do so now. In a readable and extremely well set out manner Yuval Harari has elegantly summed up who we are and where we are headed.
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