Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (Book Reiew)
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (Book Reiew)
Following the end of the
prequel, Harari goes on to say that we are heading towards making our species
extinct, just like we did to the other human species, while also paving the way
for a new advanced species that could be termed as Homo Deus. At the time when
there were many species, we managed to organize ourselves despite having smaller
brains and thus we were able to overpower the other species which in truth were
much stronger than us. With the dawn of each revolution it seemed like we were
heading towards our doom, but we survived all the three major revolutions
because we were able to find a solution at the last gasp. As we grew in
intelligence, we worked on improving our lives further. This went on till the
genesis of the digital era. Once we entered it, development progressed at
accelerating speed that we even began to develop intelligences of our own. We
began to look at ourselves as the creators and masters of the universe thus
disregarding God and looking down upon the other animals that co-exist with us.
Our attitude towards the farm animals and wild animals changed which resulted
in us ill-treating them. The focus shifted from the farm to the virtual
reality. Our progress in the digital world is so rapid that if it continues in
such a manner we would eventually develop an intelligence that could make us
slaves and the latter as masters.
Moreover, once we began with
this Digital Revolution, the modern scientific theories became our new myths
and religions. People began believing in them because they were things that
could be seen in reality rather than the traditional religions that seem to be
outdated and old-fashioned. This is what formed the “odd couple”. With the rise
of humanistic theories, religion was almost disregarded. God became a myth that
people believed in and the human person became the center of focus. Once the
humans were treated like gods, liberalism emerged which further removed the
notion of God from the world. However, as the world continued to develop and
the human person continued to be examined many startling theories began to
emerge. This showed that even free will could have been an illusion that we
think is real. Thus began the hacking of the consciousness through gadgets that
could read people’s mind. All that one needed to do was to give the machine
his/her personal data and to let the machine take charge of his/her life. This
is how the FitBit trackers and various other gadgets very subtly were
introduced into the global market. The Internet has become the source of
information and the storage of almost everyone’s personal data, including the
daily work routines. The Internet aided in introducing dataism which if fed may
take control of all our lives.
This article is not your
regular book review but is more of an overview. As I read this book I was
startled by the various facts of the world that show that we are heading to be
mere puppets of a system that we ourselves created. This book is really an
eye-opener to those who are ignorant of how our world has developed and is
developing. It is book worth reading though one needs to read it with a bit of
caution as it also challenges the reader’s belief systems and family
traditions. Nevertheless, the end of the book does leave the reader with some
questions to ponder on as we look back on the world. These are the questions
that I would like to leave:
·
Are
organisms really just algorithms and is life really just data processing?
·
What’s
more valuable – intelligence or consciousness?
·
What
will happen to society, politics and daily life when non-conscious but highly
intelligent algorithms know us better than we know ourselves?
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