An Israeli professor looks back in world history and tells possibilities of the future
What if one day we humans will become useless because supercomputers will take over the world? That’s a dystopian possibility that Professor Yuval Noah Harari presented in his book Homo Deus.
But hold your horses and don't panic. In this post, we shall not only review Harari’s book, but also contemplate on the possibilities that he had laid down in text.
According to Harari, humans will either be obsolete or they will evolve into Homo deus once the new religion—dataism—would take over. Homo deus is derived from two Latin words—"homo" meaning man or human and "deus" meaning God. In other words, Homo deus is the next evolutionary phase of Homo sapiens.
Dataism, on the other hand, is a belief that everyone is entitled to an open and free access of data. But in turn, it proposes that you connect everything to it—from your limbs, to your dog, up to the trees in the farthest jungles. It suggests that this process would free humans from their lifelong problems. Dataism also states that all these connected things will form a singular data system that will be connected to the Internet of All Things.
Long before dataism had been conceived, according to the Israeli history professor, humankind had believed in three perspectives: socialist humanism, evolutionary humanism and liberal humanism which had been prevalent in the past centuries. After its expansion in the last century, humanism now wants a sojourn to attain bliss, immortality and divinity. To do this, modern biotechnology should serve as a tool to make the Homo sapiens evolve into its second cognitive stage— to be a Homo deus.
Yet the same ideals of humanism— which is to sanctify the individual human— could possibly be destroyed because of its quest for these new ideals. Why? Better to read the book to find out the intricate paradoxes and connections.
The author of these three bestsellers writes in a succinct and creative manner that those who are not interested in these topics could actually start reading his books because of the narration and style he used.
While Harari did not say that his statements were prophecies, he told at the very end of the book that these were merely possibilities that humans should look out for in the next decades. We still do not know what the future holds, he wrote. He also raised a good humanist question every person surviving in this moment should reflect into: What is more valuable—intelligence or consciousness? The answer to this question is an important determinant of what the future holds for humankind.
Synthesis
On a personal level, I think human beings are still valuable in the face of this growing threat. Just because there are possibilities that some kind of artificial intelligence might be more effective than us in making decisions for the society doesn’t mean that humans will be invaluable, if ever such incident will happen.
Prof Harari nevertheless clarifies that humans will still be essential not as individuals, but as a collective. If this is the case, I think it might humble some nations who think individualism is always a good thing. The thought of this algorithm-based future made me more attune to my emotions more than ever. Given that humankind might have some changes in the future, it makes me want to value human relationships more.
As a theist, it is also quite uncomfortable to read that humankind launched a quest to immortality and divinity, yet I know that in some parts of developed nations this is actually coming true. There might be advantages associated with these new technologies, but I don’t think they will be absolute. Just like how other schools of thought co-existed with their contradicting counterparts, there will still be countless debates regarding this new idea.
However, I believe humans and their ways will never be obsolete nor will they be extinct as long as they know that their souls exist and their spiritualities are intact. Science might decrease humans to mere numbers and algorithms, but as long as we believe in intangible ideas of love, faith, hope, and other virtues, humans will always stay relevant.
Over-all, Homo Deus is a good read during this lockdown period. It will not only make you see the world’s history from a hindsight, but will also make you reflect what life truly is if we are reduced merely to numbers and data processes in a foreseeable future. What would you do if that happens?
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