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Homo Deus Audiobook Summary

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style–thorough, yet riveting–famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda.

What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century–from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.

With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

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Homo Deus Audiobook Narrator

Derek Perkins is the narrator of Homo Deus audiobook that was written by Yuval Noah Harari

Prof. Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of HumankindHomo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow21 Lessons for the 21st Century, and Sapiens: A Graphic History. His books have sold over 35 million copies in 65 languages, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today. The Guardian has credited Sapiens with revolutionizing the non-fiction market and popularizing “brainy books”.

In 2020 Harari joined forces with renowned comics artists David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave, to create Sapiens: A Graphic History: a radical adaptation of the original Sapiens into a graphic novel series. This illustrated collection casts Yuval Noah Harari in the role of guide, who takes the reader through the entire history of the human species, accompanied by a range of fictional characters and traveling through time, space and popular culture references.

Born in Haifa, Israel, in 1976, Harari received his PhD from the University of Oxford in 2002, and is currently a lecturer at the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He originally specialized in world history, medieval history and military history, and his current research focuses on macro-historical questions such as: What is the relationship between history and biology? What is the essential difference between Homo sapiens and other animals? Is there justice in history? Does history have a direction? Did people become happier as history unfolded? What ethical questions do science and technology raise in the 21st century?

About the Author(s) of Homo Deus

Yuval Noah Harari is the author of Homo Deus

Homo Deus Full Details

Narrator Derek Perkins
Length 14 hours 54 minutes
Author Yuval Noah Harari
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date February 21, 2017
ISBN 9780062657299

Subjects

The publisher of the Homo Deus is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Future Studies, Social Science

Additional info

The publisher of the Homo Deus is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062657299.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Riku

June 26, 2018

Homo ObsoletusThe audacious first act, Sapiens, ended with a wild and apocalyptic prophesy - that the Sapiens were cooking up the next epochal revolution that will overshadow the previous three: the cognitive, agricultural and scientific/industrial revolutions. Home Deus, the second act, is the full exploration of that prophesy. Both Sapiens and Homo Deus are compulsory reading in my book, even though the macro-history presented is plenty vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. But then, it might be better to think of these as works of philosophy and not of history. Just like Sapiens is not a History, Home Deus is not a prophesy, both are explorations. This line can be taken as the transition line that links the first book with the second one:“Having raised humanity above the beastly level of survival struggles, we will now aim to upgrade humans into gods, and turn Homo sapiens into Homo deus.”The old enemies of mankind— plague, famine and war—are now under control. Except for the potentially restrictive energy constraint, Sapiens has very little standing in our way now. The result is that the Sapiens are becoming more and more God-like, Harari says, and one is forced to pause and reflect: by any previous standards of our history, are we not already Gods? Have we not already exceeded most wild power fantasies? Well yes, but even more God-like attributes are coming: cheating death and creating new life being primary.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. The tomorrow is already upon us, and so forth.However, just like the previous three revolutions that infused the Sapiens with power, this revolution too will come at a price, the price of a ratcheting up of inequality. The new Gods will be the techno-super-rich. BTW, reading Harari is good motivation to work on getting rich faster: he hints at a possibility that anyone who is rich enough to afford it, some 50 years into the future, should be able to buy proxy-immortality. And it will probably be a window that closes quickly, since the super-rich would soon take over the monopoly on immortality. So if you are rich enough at the right point in time, then you can be part of Olympus too. That might not be a deal many would want to miss out on… There is one more catch: as technology takes over most of the functions, even the godlike sapiens will find themselves stuck in a universe devoid of real meaning. Bulk of humanity will have no economic, social or cultural purpose since anything we can do our new creations would be able to do even better. “Organisms are algorithms,” and the new algorithms will be so much better than the imperfect ones we are made of. As Bill Gates asked in his article about the book, “What If People Run Out of Things to Do?” We will be stuck in an immortal meaninglessness, our own creations clearly our betters. We will need a new religion to make sense of all this, since the powerful combo of Humanism+Science will not work in world where the sanctity of being Human has lost meaning. Harari feels that “Dataism” will be the religion that will fill the avoid left by Humanism. The whole of Humanity, the Earth, and maybe the entire Universe will become servants to data - a huge data-processing system, the eternal all-knowing Atman. And serving this goal will be the only meaningful pursuit left for us. Immortal, All-powerful, Obsolete: this is the future of the Sapiens.

Sean Barrs

November 14, 2020

Homo Deus is not quite as factual and cohesive as Sapiens. It falls into the realm of speculation rather than trying to organise and make sense of the world. 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 discussed where we came from and where we are now. 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. And here Harari’s opinion comes across very strongly. He examines our current practices regarding technology and animals. We advance scientifically, but not emotionally or spiritually. We continue to make the same mistakes as we destroy the natural world and ruin our planet. Like me, Harari is a vegan and he is disgusted with current practice. He does not offer an idealistic view of the future (one a vegan would wish for) but instead discusses what will happen if we continue with our erroneous ways. And for me, this took the book to an entirely new level. It became thoughtful, critical and totally necessary. “This is the best reason to learn history: not in order to predict the future, but to free yourself of the past and imagine alternative destinies. Of course this is not total freedom – we cannot avoid being shaped by the past. But some freedom is better than none.” He looks at animals, about what we truly know about them. They are not so different from us, and the way we treat them is deplorable. I could write essays on this subject; I am beyond bitter about it. I’m angry. I’m frustrated. And above all I am so deeply sad. My heart is broken every day because humanity is so terribly unjust to those it deems beneath them. And here Harari adds another element, he considers what would happen if we became a “lesser” lifeform. With the progress in technology and genetic engineering, it is not to far to suggest that computers could replace us or some form of superhuman. So, in a way, we should not act all high and mighty because one day we may be in a very different situation. I don’t find it too hard to believe.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. They’re not to be missed. _________________________________You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree.__________________________________

Dr. Appu

August 04, 2022

This is a book focusing on the future of humanity. Harari focuses on many exciting topics like whether human beings will be able to overcome death. He also discusses the future of medical science and how AI will alter medical science. He touches the future of almost all spheres of life in this book. What I learned from this book 1) Why poor are following Marie-Antoinette's advice today? 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. "Rich residents of Beverly Hills are eating lettuce, salad, and steamed tofu with quinoa, in the slums and ghettos the poor gorge on twinkie cakes, Cheetos, hamburgers, and pizzas." 2) What is more dangerous than terrorism? The author tells us that it is not terrorism that is the biggest threat to humankind in the 21st century. He tells us that it is the overreaction to terrorism a much more serious threat. "Terrorists stage a terrifying spectacle of violence that captures our imagination and makes us feel as if we are sliding back into medieval chaos. Consequently states often feel obliged to react to the theatre of terrorism with a show of security, orchestrating immense displays of force, such as the persecution of entire populations or the invasion of foreign countries. In most cases, this overreaction to terrorism poses a far greater threat to our security than the terrorists themselves." 3) Censorship in the 21st century Censorship will have a different approach in the 21st century, according to the author. "In the past, censorship worked by blocking the flow of information. In the 21st century, censorship works by flooding people with irrelevant information. People just don't know what to pay attention to, and they often spend their time investigating and debating side issues" 4) What is the greatest scientific discovery ever? Harari talks about the importance of knowing our limitations and how little we know in this part. “The greatest scientific discovery was the discovery of ignorance. Once humans realized how little they knew about the world, they suddenly had a very good reason to seek new knowledge, which opened up the scientific road to progress." 5) The future of ebooks Harari tells us how the books will change in the future. Along with that, he tells how the incorporation of AI and biometrics will help to understand every human beings reaction when he is reading an ebook "If Kindle is upgraded with face recognition and biometric sensors, it can know what made you laugh, what made you sad and what made you angry. Soon, books will read you while you are reading them." My favourite three lines from this book “ Humans are in danger of losing their economic value because intelligence is decoupling from consciousness.” “If an epidemic nevertheless gets out of control it is due to human competence rather than divine anger..” "Religion cannot be equated with superstition, because most people are unlikely to call their cherished beliefs' superstitions'. We always believe in 'the truth'. It’s only other people who believe in superstitions” What could have been better? I'm afraid I have to disagree with the author's opinion that it is ok to enjoy an extramarital affair. Rating 5/5 This book has the right mixture of science and philosophy to keep it engaging and informative. If you loved the author's earlier book, Sapiens, this would be a good choice to pick.

Darwin8u

April 03, 2017

“Every day millions of people decide to grant their smartphone a bit more control over their lives or try a new and more effective antidepressant drug. In pursuit of health, happiness and power, humans will gradually change first one of their features and then another, and another, until they will no longer be human.” ― Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of TomorrowHarari takes us, with this continuation to his blockbuster book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, from the past to the future. This book shares a lot of the same limitations of the previous book. But because "speculation" is inherent in writing about the future, Harari's jumps are easier to forgive when talking about tomorrow than when talking about today. I'm a diabetic and have an insulin pump and I've thought of myself, only partially in jest, as a early, unsophisticated, cyborg the last ten years. I walk around with my iphone plugged into my ears, my artificial pancreas plugged into my thigh, my sensor for my pump plugged into my stomach. It isn't very neat. We have miles to go before all of this technology becomes aesthetically amazing, and loses all the wires and clunky functionality, but it still gives me pause about the future. My friend's Tesla drives by itself, big data seems able to predict what I will buy next, my smart phone really is smart. Perhaps we are all surfing towards some Omega Point. I have a friend who is a Transhumanist and it has been interesting to hear him discuss the values and virtues of Transhumanism. I'm a little more hesitant. I'm no Luddite, but I DO worry about these big technological/cultural/commercial shifts. Will technology make Homo Sapiens the next Homo Neanderthalensis? Will these gains through AI, technology, genetic modification, etc., be well-thought-out? Harari hedges by saying he doesn't know what the future brings (If he did, perhaps we should just join his church), but is only using this discussion to suggest the type of ethical and moral and even survival discussions we SHOULD probably be having. As we incrementally crawl towards some form of technological singularity, perhaps we need to give pause to not just the benefits, but costs of self-driving cars and sex robots.

David

June 25, 2017

This is a powerful book by a truly insightful author. I recently read Harari's previous great book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and I enjoyed this one just as much. There is so much packed into Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, that it is hard to do justice to the book in a review. Yuval Harari has such a unique insight into how the world turns. He is sometimes very blunt, but he "tells it like he sees it." The first two-thirds of the book is devoted to a description of how the humanist philosophy developed, while the last third is about how humanism may very well fall to the wayside in the not-too-distant future.In the beginning of the book, Harari describes two new human agendas. The first is how humans attempt to extend their lifetimes, and the second is to increase happiness. The goal is to upgrade homo sapiens into homo deus. That is, the desire to re-engineer our bodies and minds, escape old age, death and misery. Basically, to attain divinity. Harari gives numerous examples of how were technologies developed to aid ill or handicapped people, and then were borrowed to help "normal" healthy people; prosthetics, bionics, Viagra, memory aid drugs, plastic surgery, and genetic engineering. (In 2000, a baby girl was born with genetic inheritance from three parents; nuclear genes from mother and father, and mitochondrial DNA from another woman! A year later, the U.S. government banned this special treatment, but the U.K. has since approved it.)Harari contends that historians study the past, not in order to repeat it, or to foretell the future, but to be liberated from it. He gives a marvelous example of the history of the grass lawn. He writes that the best reason to study history is not to predict the future, but to "free yourself of the past and imagine alternative destinies."Harari has some interesting insights into the founding of modern religions. He writes that they were founded when humans switched from hunting/foraging to agriculture. A central point of the religions was to give humans dominion over all animals, in order to justify their domestication and superiority, and to justify the terrible suffering humans cause for animals. The agricultural revolution was both an economic and a religious revolution, used to justify brutal exploitation of animals. Agricultural societies also started treating some classes of people as property. I wonder, though, didn't pre-agricultural societies practice slavery? When I try to do some simple online research in this subject, it seems like Harari might be correct; slavery was established to mimic the domestication of animals. And, the agricultural revolution was bad for humans in other ways, as well. A peasant in 1850 in China or Britain had a worse life than an archaic hunter-gatherer, from the point of view of diet and hygiene.Harari has some unique insights into the dichotomy between religion and science. He describes science as a new "religion" that replaced theist religions with humanist religions, replacing gods with humans. The hatred of monotheists for the theory of evolution is inspired by the lack of scientific evidence for a human soul. A soul has no parts, and evolution operates through incremental changes to various parts of a whole. But, both religion and science, in theory at least, are both devoted to the truth. But since their truths are different they seem doomed to clash. However, since neither religion nor science really care much about truth, they can coexist. Religion is mostly interested in social order and structure, while science is mostly interested in power. That is, the power to cure disease, fight war and produce food. So, since religion and science prefer order and power over truth, they "make good bedfellows."Modernity is a simple deal based on a contract: Humans agree to give up meaning in exchange for power. Plagues, droughts and wars have no cosmic meaning to modern humanism, but we have the power to eradicate them. Paradise does not await us after death, but we have the power, in principle, to create paradise here on Earth. Modernity is based on the belief that growth is essential. Growth is the supreme value. Because avarice and greed help to fuel growth, they are encouraged. Traditional religions offer no alternative to liberalism because they are reactive instead of creative. This wasn't always true. During the Middle Ages, Christian monasteries were among the most advanced centers for innovations--Harari lists a number of their innovations. But today religions look to scriptures for answer. But scriptures are no longer a source of creativity, as they say nothing about modern technologies such as genetic engineering or artificial intelligence. Harari describes three different possible futures for humanism. In one of these, liberalism may die out as technology displaces humans. The masses will lose their economic and military importance. Harari suggests that "Dataism" may appear as a new religion. Dataism advances the first truly new value in nearly 200 years; the value of freedom of information. Dataism is firmly entrenched in its two mother disciplines, computer science and biology. Organisms are seen by scientists as data-processing systems. The stock market is the most powerful of all data processing systems, and centralized government is one of the worst. Capitalism defeated Communism during the Cold War, not because it is more ethical or because individual liberties are sacred, but because in times of rapid technological change, distributed processing systems work better than centralized systems.Humanists rely on feelings to make important decisions, and these feelings evolved over millions of years. But often our feelings are just irrational and wrong. Computer algorithms can surpass feelings in making good decisions. So, the humanist recommendation to "get in touch with your feelings" may not he given in the future. Perhaps, meaning in life will not lie in our experiences, until they are shared with others, through social media. And, these social media will analyze our experiences, and be able to give expert advice on important decisions. Harari gives some pretty good evidence that this trend may come to pass.I do want to quibble with some numbers that Harari proposes. He writes that the one billion cars owned around the world could be reduced to 50 million, if they were jointly owned and operated autonomously. People could share rides. 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. But this is perhaps a minor point in Harari's argument. Many people will pooh-pooh much of what Harari has to say. But, it is all extremely thought-provoking. I have just scratched the surface of this book. I highly recommend it to all open-minded people who are not afraid to think a bit differently about the meaning of life, about our political structures, and the future.

Emily May

December 13, 2018

Excellent again. Harari is fast becoming one of my favourite writers.I didn't love Homo Deus quite as much as Sapiens, but I think that's because the history Harari takes us through in the latter really does read like a very compelling novel. This book explores different themes and theories about the future of humanity - relating to aging, technological advancements, etc. - which makes it not as cohesive. Still, though, very interesting. He really knows how to break down complex concepts so everyone can understand them.

Valeriu

February 05, 2022

Dacă ne încredem în cifrele oferite de edituri și librării, Homo Deus este bestseller-ul ultimilor trei ani în materie de non-fiction. Care a fost și este, la urma urmelor, secretul autorului?Aș răspunde precum urmează:1. Harari are o evidentă abilitate narativă. Poate povesti chestiuni abstracte și complicate mai curgător, mai puțin împiedicat decît oamenii de știință și filosofii. Știe să explice mai bine decît Galen Strawson, să zicem, și, oricum, mai bine decît neurologii, de ce noțiunea de „responsabilitate” a devenit caducă, de ce liberul arbitru al omului este o venerabilă iluzie etc. Harari a preluat ideile, le-a rescris în felul lui, le-a „vulgarizat” un pic și a vîndut milioane de exemplare. În schimb, cărțile filosofilor zac în rafturile librăriilor. Așadar, abilitate narativă.2. Harari are fler și îndrăzneală. Chestiunile discutate de el nu sînt noi. Homo Deus nu e prima carte despre moarte, fericire, sensul vieții, libertate, hazard și ceea ce trebuie să facă omul pentru a fi mulțumit de el însuși și de cei din jur. Anual se tipăresc zeci de cărți despre sens, fericire, plăcere și moarte (a omului, a lui Dumnezeu, a universului). Flerul lui Harari se vădește în faptul că alege din suma răspunsurilor la o problemă (pentru că libertatea, sensul, moartea sînt și probleme, măcar în mintea înțelepților) ipoteza cea mai radicală. Harari alege, așadar, scandalosul: fericirea înseamnă plăcere și plăcerea e un flux de senzații. Senzațiile pot fi dirijate chimic. În consecință, fericirea se poate obține luînd cîte o pilulă de Zoloft la fiecare 3 ore. Fericirea nu e în ceruri: depinde, prin urmare, de progresul farmacologiei.Postulatul tacit care stă la baza cărții lui Yuval Noah Harari este, desigur, următorul: „Știința va rezolva totul. Omul (dacă există om, nu uitați, căci omul e numai o sumă de algoritmi biochimici) mai are o șansă. Trebuie să sperăm...”. Cititorul se cade a termina de citit cartea într-o dispoziție optimistă.În încheiere, voi oferi doar 3 citate:- „Cuvîntul sacru 'libertate' se dovedeşte a fi, exact la fel ca 'sufletul', un termen găunos, lipsit de orice înţeles decelabil. Liberul arbitru există doar în poveştile imaginare pe care le-am inventat noi, oamenii” (p.252).- „Cine sînt eu? Ştiinţa subminează nu numai credinţa liberală în liberul arbitru, ci şi credinţa în individualism” (p.256).- Și chestia cea mai tare: „Un studiu recent cerut de Facebook, rivalul companiei Google, a arătat că astăzi algoritmul Facebook judecă deja mai bine personalităţile şi dispoziţiile oamenilor decît prietenii, părinţii şi chiar partenerii lor de viaţă” (p.297).

Atila

July 18, 2016

Que livro amigos, que livro. Não lembro do que li que me fez pensar tanto e mudar a forma como vejo o mundo. Uma ótima análise rápida sobre como chegamos aqui, que se conecta muito bem com o Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, e uma análise mais extensa sobre para onde podemos ir. A análise em terceira pessoa sobre humanismo, capitalismo e tendências futuras é excelente. E a reflexão que ele traz sobre os valores que damos para o valor individual, consciência e autonomia só deve ganhar importância nos próximos anos. E tudo isso em uma linguagem acessível e ao alcance de qualquer audiência. Com certeza algo que vou reler muito ainda.p.s. O livro sai em alguns meses ainda, tive a oportunidade de fazer a revisão técnica da versão em português.

Mark

November 09, 2021

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. To be honest it isn’t pretty – not to me anyway.Professor Harari explains how Homo Sapiens have conquered the world and everything in it – including the atrocious way we arrogantly treat animals and the way we believe we are inherently more valued and important than other beings such as pigs, cows, fish, lizards, bugs and all.What makes the life of domesticated farm animals particularly miserable is not the way they die. But the way they live.This humble (but quite opinionated and annoying) reader believes he is no more important in the grand scheme of things than my Pup, a Pig, a Sparrow, a Fly, a Kettle or a Coffee Table – we are all part of the intricate exchange of atoms and matter that started 14 Billion years ago (perhaps). To be honest, believing this gives me great comfort and peace. That is, my carbon-based body, which may end up expired at some time sooner rather than later, will exchange atoms, molecules, and various other sub-atomic particles with Mother Earth. I love that. The author states the ‘fact’ we have eternal Souls - apparently this means we take precedence over beings such as a pig, who don’t have souls.. This seems to give Homo Sapiens, more sway in the way things are managed, and imagined. As an aside, there is Zero evidence Humans have souls as there is zero evidence Pigs have souls. I really like the way Harari describes concepts such as Objective Reality, like gravity (which is indisputably real) and Inter-Subjective Reality (which are human constructs), such as religion and money. I can’t argue with the power of the latter regarding its contribution in the way we have totally dominated this planet.The author repeatedly quotes statistics and numbers, and as this is an audiobook, I did find it difficult to re-read, stop, and check references if I needed to. However, one classic is – only 14% of Americans believe humans evolved without any divine intervention at all. What? Really? Apparently, being college/university educated makes no difference to these numbers. It’s funny (not) how the Theory of Evolution attracts far more criticism and controversy than the Theory of Relativity, which seems to go unnoticed. People don’t really give a toss about space/time and if they’re interrelated, but don’t talk about evolution.The author discusses so many topics here such as Humanism, Liberalism, Climate Change, Poverty – the difference between poor and rich. Harari spends a great deal of time discussing Humanism. This is a non-theist philosophy which affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfilment. In other words, we can give shape to our own lives, using free-will, learning from our experiences and so forth. He then goes onto discuss ‘free-will’ – and the fact we may not be as free as we think. For example, we already have many automated algorithms collecting data on each of us to influence what we buy, want, need. In fact, I finished this section believing ‘the system’ knows me better than I know myself!What will happen if we realise customers and voters never make free choices?The confrontation-o-meter really starts to crank up when the author writes about us being replaced by A.I. Algorithms. A future of machines with no-consciousness making decisions using vast amounts of data, thus making us superfluous. It seems we are on the verge of massive changes in this area – if we all think about it, the rate of change in the last decade has already been massive, as we know rates of technological change seem to increase exponentially . It’s very frightening.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. Taking The Family Doctor for example, an A.I. GP would always be up to date with the latest journals, papers, diagnoses, medications – for every disease imaginable, in real-time. How can a human compete with that? This is just one very simple example.In closing, this whole read was fascinating. I loved it, in an itchy sort of way. But you know, there is one major thing missing from this whole automated algorithmic data-driven world. What about love – how can a machine ever do that? Grief also? Desires? 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.5 Stars

Bianca

February 08, 2019

Mind-blowing! What an interesting, compelling, thought-provoking and, yeah, kind of scary book. After finishing it, I'm both elated and anxious.Homo Deus (what a perfect title) was complex and it covered a lot of things, but it is especially trying to decipher where the humanity is going.Consciousness, the individual, intelligence, and the very important ability to organise are thoroughly analysed.I was very surprised to have my native country mentioned and analysed briefly but comprehensively. More importantly, Harari answered a question I've been asking myself for many years. In retrospect, the explanation is logical but it never occurred to me and nobody else was able to enlighten me either. Algorithms - a modern word, but very important, as we all are biological algorithms.What's more important - intelligence or consciousness?I also enjoyed the recap/rundown of some historical events in history. Harari also addresses our cruel treatment of farm animals. I'm an omnivore who feels guilty. What else? There's a lot to take in, but Harari unpacks it for us in an eloquent, easy to understand manner (well, I understood it). I'll probably buy the paperback so I go over certain chapters again.This audiobook was splendidly narrated by Derek Perkins.Highly recommended

Simon

July 01, 2019

I was a HUGE fan of Harari's previous smash hit Sapiens, and as such I came into this book with high expectations. Those expectations were met in some areas, and not in others: overall the book is engaging but a shadow of its predecessor.First, the good stuff. Harari's prose is as readable and clear as ever in Homo Deus, and he paces himself excellently. Too often in popular science books I find that either the author drags their feet getting to the interesting stuff or rockets over important sections, leaving some fatal misunderstandings. As in Sapiens Harari is economical with his words, saying just enough to convey the point exactly without overstaying his welcome. Additionally, similar to Sapiens the broad-brush overview of history is extremely compelling (provided you don't expect academically rigorous sources). 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.This speculative section of the book is what drew me to Homo Deus, as I'm sure was the case for many readers. Unfortunately I think many will likewise come away disappointed. For such a long buildup, Harari spends very little time actually discussing the potential future, or how society might look with, for example, a caste of technologically-enhanced humans lording it over us mere biological peasants. 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 (perhaps understandably) he shirks away from providing many predictions.This said, in the few years since the book has been published many of its predictions have come true. For example, the rise of not only ride-sharing but car-sharing apps is directly predicted. The very day that I read that section of the book I saw an advert for car-sharing app ZipCar on the tube. The rising discontent with politics (as hinted at during the writing of the book with the election campaigns of Brexit and Donald Trump) have absolutely come to pass. This certainly lends some validity to the broad vision Harari presents, and I have no doubt that his vision of how technology and society will interact in the 21st century will come to pass. Between the lack of details however, as well as an uncharacteristically patchy discussion of modern religions, and his perennial problem of writing for a popular audience and so skimping on references, this just doesn't hold up to comparison to Sapiens. Still, a recommended read for those who enjoyed the previous book.

Bharath

October 01, 2017

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. And yes - there are brilliant new themes in Homo Deus as well - our delusion of free will and the Sapiens in a future world ruled by algorithms, and it continues excellently from where Sapiens left off. If Sapiens was about how the most powerful species consolidated it's power, Homo Deus is about what is in store for Sapiens. The theme of the power of stories - to bind and also delude is continued in Homo Deus. Stories - good or bad enables large scale co-operation among Sapiens - even if the story is not entirely logical or fair to other species. This has led to Humanism as a religion, where Sapiens have declared themselves as the centre and primary purpose of the universe. So everything else revolves around Sapiens - and all other life forms are for it's use. This has led to us being extremely cruel with other life forms and farm animals lead miserable lives from birth till death. The story which binds humans regards this as the norm and generation after generation sees nothing wrong in it. How would humans feels if a more advanced species (spawned off by artificial intelligence) should make judgements and kill undesirable humans?There are fairly long discussions around political systems and the growth of liberalism. I found this to be a little too long, and it could well have been crisper. Humans have acquired a combination of intellect and consciousness which was regarded as necessary for being advanced life forms at the top of the pyramid. Consciousness especially would be difficult to acquire. However, it is clear now that intelligence which is superior is adequate to ascend the pyramid. Already artificial intelligence is winning over humans in several fields regarded as earlier insurmountable such as chess and even the arts. Humans will depend more and more on algorithms and at some point algorithms will be all powerful. One big surprise which the book springs is around our free will. Do we really have free will? - or do we make forced choices based on experience and conditioning? I found this to be the most interesting discussion in the book.While I do not think the future will play out entirely as outlined, it might still be close. The reasoning and discussions are excellent, provoking us to think & reflect - and isn't that what is most important in a good book?Yuval Noah Hariri closes the book being thankful to the practice of Vipassana meditation as taught by S N Goenka for allowing him to look beyond conditioning and see things as they are. A sign that there is wisdom which is eternal and will endure, isn't it?

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