From Humanity v1.0 to v2.0: Five Reasons to Read Homo Deus (and Go Beyond)

If you are lucky you may come across a book that challenges your assumptions, upends your convictions and knocks down your indoctrination. If you are really lucky then said book may present an alternative and limitless world view of possibilities that generates a warm fuzzy feeling within, perhaps because your assumptions have been challenged, convictions upended and indoctrination knocked down.

I can safely say this has happened to me recently. After several years of sporadic reading of contemporary fiction, creative non-fiction and general non-fiction, I present to you….drum roll….Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari! This remarkable book belonging to the genre of ‘popular science’ per it’s cover is certainly that but goes far beyond.

It is a highly evocative, provocative and candid outlook on Homo sapiens (modern human beings, in other words) – where they’ve come from, but more importantly where they are headed (hence, Homo Deus alluding to humanity version 2.0). All that, and more within the book, is looked at through the multi-prismatic lens of human history, religion, politics/governance and science. 

Through his unapologetic and no-nonsense writing, Harari subtly and overtly critiques contemporary institutionalized practices be they cultural, religious, political or health-related, but presents cogent arguments for said criticism. He effectively utilizes humor and wit to support his insightful viewpoints, and that makes all the difference.

I’m not a literary critic; ergo, my intention for writing this blog is not to criticize (constructively or otherwise) Harari’s work. Au contraire, I can only extol it because, in my opinion, it’s a gem. You may want to consider this essay more of a book report versus book review.

Without further ado, I present below just five among several reasons which might convince you to delve into the book.   

1.    Harari describes in intricate and intimate details how the ‘great human projects’ of the twentieth century – namely, war, plague (infections) and famine – will be replaced by the ‘new projects of the twenty first century’ – gaining immortality, bliss and divinity. This appears to be the essence of the book, with a lot more elegant detail and evidence of course, for aforementioned contention. Interestingly per Harari, the new initiatives that will be launched, like their predecessors, will also be to improve humanity’s lot, but in the process of trying to achieve the new goals, humanity, as we know it, is likely to be superseded by those very aspirations.

2.    If, like me, you are intrigued and excited by healthcare or biomedicine-related aspects of all things modern, then this book is certainly worth your read. Keeping this point in mind, Harari describes exponential improvement in artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology that will likely make doctors irrelevant first and then obsolete. He gives several credible examples of how IBM’s Watson (and other similar medical platforms) with its inherent technology is evolving at breakneck speed. Quite convincingly he articulates how humanity will go way past fixing diseases to upgrading normality, i.e., enhancing not only its physical self but also its brain and mind. [There is a caveat though regarding the latter point. Harari gives a lot of attention to distinguishing between the brain and mind, arguing that perhaps the latter as an inter-subjective entity is best let go of and it would be infinitely better to just work on understanding the much more objective brain.]

3.    Harari makes the point that contemporary science seems to be converging on the viewpoint that all organisms are basically (biochemical) algorithms – a concoction of genetic and environmental influences. He goes on to say that what follows thus is that life is perhaps mere algorithmic data processing. He makes the point that there is nothing sacred or worthy of celebration by taking the stance that humans are at the center of all cosmic action (drama, he prefers to allude to it, to be more precise). By saying so, Harari rattles the central tenets of liberal humanism. He adds that as in other aspects of life in general, humanity is perhaps likely nothing more than data flow. 

4.    With intelligence decoupling from consciousness, Harari postulates that sooner rather than later non-conscious but exceedingly smart algorithms will know humans better than they know themselves. Based on this, Harari presents the ‘possibility’ (as a prediction, not prophecy, he emphasizes) of ‘upgraded superhumans’ – superior algorithms – that will lead to irrelevance of lowly Homo sapiens, thus leading to obliteration of humanity as we’ve known it so far. 

5.    There seems to be a move away from a homo-centric worldview to a data-centric one. So, the most sobering, and unnerving for me, concept that emerges from Harari’s lengthy, albeit enlightening, discourse is of dataism – a religion of sorts in which data is god and thus worthy of worship. Take Google (or Dr. Google) for instance. Nowadays it is like an all-knowing deity. You have a question, why stress your brain: simply ask Google. It’s such omniscient data processing algorithms that get you answers you seek in mere minutes. Harari states that dataism threatens to do to humanity what it has done to all other animals (domesticated or wild) – exploitation and/or ruthless endangerment/extinction. When and if that were to happen perhaps the realization will dawn upon humanity that it was not at the center of creation after all. And that it was as dispensable fodder for natural selection as its animal (and plant) relatives.    

Based on my reading of the book, here are a few practical suggestions that the author doesn’t necessarily overtly articulate but one may glean from reading between the lines:

1.    Reinvent thyself – possibly several times in your lifetime. This may become the modus operandi for those who are adaptable enough to a fast-changing landscape.  

2.    Go forth and create / innovate. Creativity and innovation, however you choose to define them, shalt be more than mere buzzwords.

3.    Allow thyself to be multi-talented by wearing several hats at once. Some might consider this to be akin to multi-tasking or being trans-disciplinary. This will likely become a game changer for those who are able to do so.  

Finally, some words of caution. Be thick-skinned and open-minded while reading this book. Keeping your ego, pride, bias and prejudice at bay is the recommended approach to take during this reading journey. At certain points you will find the book irksome; at some points you will be angered, while at others you will be confounded because just a moment back wasn’t Harari saying quite the opposite…? Take all those emotions and sentiments in stride, because most of the time you will likely be elated. The fact that Homo Deus can take you and your feelings on a rollercoaster ride is simply a testament to the writer.   

As a conclusive statement, I would like to mention that in this blog I have tried to distill or filter out the more objective aspects (biomedical / healthcare-related, for instance) from the rest of Harari’s discourse (political and religious, primarily) as I felt more competent to do so. That does not take away from the wealth of insight you can gain from the non-scientific topics that he has demonstrated equal mastery in covering (through citation of ample references).  

Everything said and done, I believe the mark of a great storyteller is in his or her ability to get under the reader’s skin to make them think. Harari’s Homo Deus epitomizes that.    

from Rambling of an Itinerant]

Acknowledgment: First published by the Express Tribune. 

Book Details
Homo Deus - A Brief History of Tomorrow

Author: Yuval Noah Harari

Publisher: Penguin Random House

ISBN: 9781784703936

Pages: 513

Price: Rs.1420 / £9.99

DISCLAIMER: Copyright belongs to the author. This blog cannot be held responsible for events bearing overt resemblance to any actual occurrences.