It is an ambitious, provocative and fascinating book. In fact, I have not only read Yuval Noah Harari's book but I have seen many of his exciting videos and interviews on this matter. It is an accessible book even though the author provides a quite detailed description of the history of Homo sapiens in the first chapters, and a potential “new species” Homo deus, an upgrade version of the Homo sapiens, in the last chapter. A previous knowledge of some of the concepts that one can find along the book might be required for a deeper comprehension of the subject under discussion, including the concept of algorithms, humanism, free will, determinism, though not a necessity. The history of Homo sapiens is divided in three main periods, such as the cognitive revolution, the agriculture revolution and the scientific revolution. But Harari predicts or imagines another revolution between 50 and 100 years from now, the emergence of the Homo deus, the first species not being the result of natural selection or God’s hand if you will, but the result of Homo sapiens design and power. There is another division of the Homo sapiens history according to what Harari calls fictional stories, an interesting concept that supports the idea that one critical distinction of the Homo sapiens is his/her capacity to cooperate for common goals in large numbers, when compared to other species. But cooperation at high scale demands Homo sapiens to believe in fictional stories. The fictional stories include the monotheistic religions, a God-centered world view, that in case of Catholicism lasted, the way it was, until about the enlightenment period, and then slowly dissipated. God occupying the center of the world was shifted by Humanism, the human-centered world view. Furthermore, Harari envisions another coming up revolution, namely Data-ism, a kind of universal Data-processing system, to which we will worship. This Data-centered world view will shift Humanism. Data-ism, a non-limit artificial intelligent (AI), will be more efficient and intelligent than the humankind. An interesting narrative describes the author prediction of AI doing the job of medical doctors, pharmacists, teachers, taxi drivers, etc. As it will operate in almost all aspects of our life, it is not hard to figure out that AI will bring serious consequences to people’s life, among other things people will lose their job and thus become useless.
If I well understood, Harari reveals his fondness for Determinism, the school of thought which states that all events including human action has a cause and that cause is the result of the laws of nature. Determinism denies the existence of free will; nominally a rational agent has free will if the agent has the capacity to choose his or her course of action from among numerous alternatives. Philosophers have given an account of free will. For instance, Thomas Hobbes thought that freedom consists of an agent not having external impediments to do what he wants to do. David Hume thought that “liberty”, to use his term, is merely the “power of acting or of not acting, according to the determination of the will. René Descartes recognizes the faculty of will with freedom of choice, “the ability to do or not do something”, and states such a radical position as that “the will is by its nature so free that it can never be constrained”. The famous French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre said that man is condemned to be free. I should say that the existence of free will is still an open debate. One of the points brought by Harari is the fact that the Data-ism will not only handle all the huge information available but it will be kept updated in real time, as no human can do. Allowing the Data-ism or any form of AI, to know us, our preferences, goals, personality, and so on, will make it (AI) to know ourselves better than we do. The point I’d like to bring is that if Harari is right that a Data-ism will take such a huge control on virtually everything including our own life and decisions, we will lose free will, won't we? Who's going to trust on oneself when one can count on a super intelligent Data-processing system? It is predictable that we will stop engaging in discussions regarding the existence of free will, because even if we assume we have it, it will be obsolete. This is pleasantly described in Harari’s book on the case of Paul and John courting the same woman, and her being in trouble to decide by herself which candidate is the best for her to marry. She finally seems to have given up to the universal big Data, as it turns out to be more knowledgeable than her. The book is also an invitation to come up with alternative views of the future of the Homo sapiens, the so far dominant species in this world. Harari came up with three statements that embrace the future of humankind. And he formulates three questions with the hope that we will think about them even after finishing the reading of his book. But in order to understand these statements and the questions that arise from them, we need to get deeper knowledge of what consciousness is, and how our relationship with an AI, or intelligent algorithms, presumably deprived of consciousness, will be.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Image Unavailable
Image not available for
Colour:
Colour:
-
-
-
- To view this video, download
Follow the author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
麻豆区
' +
'' + decodeURIComponent(encodedIframeContent) + ''+'');
doc.close();
}
}
this.iframeload = function () {
var iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId);
iframe.style.display = '';
setTimeout(function () {
setIframeHeight(initialResizeCallback);
}, 20);
}
function getDocHeight(doc) {
var contentDiv = doc.getElementById("iframeContent");
var docHeight = 0;
if(contentDiv){
docHeight = Math.max(
contentDiv.scrollHeight,
contentDiv.offsetHeight,
contentDiv.clientHeight
);
}
return docHeight;
}
function setIframeHeight(resizeCallback) {
var iframeDoc, iframe = document.getElementById(iframeId);
iframeDoc = ((iframe.contentWindow && iframe.contentWindow.document) || iframe.contentDocument);
if (iframeDoc) {
var h = getDocHeight(iframeDoc);
if (h && h != 0) {
iframe.style.height = parseInt(h) + 'px';
if(typeof resizeCallback == "function") {
resizeCallback(iframeId);
}
} else if (nTries < MAX_TRIES) {
nTries++;
setTimeout(function () {
setIframeHeight(resizeCallback);
}, 50);
}
}
}
this.resizeIframe = function(resizeCallback) {
nTries = 0;
setIframeHeight(resizeCallback);
}
}
return DynamicIframe;
});
Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app:
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
Frequently bought together
This item: Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
$25.00
In Stock
+
+
$45.00
Get it by Sunday, Jul 27
In Stock
Total price:?$00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start again
About the author
Book with debris
My book came with an extra bit of debris, looks to be a furniture floor pad stuck to the front page. When I tried to remove it, it ripped the page. Otherwise, good.
Top reviews from Canada
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2017Verified Purchase
- Reviewed in Canada on December 18, 2024Verified Purchase
- Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2017Verified Purchase
- Reviewed in Canada on January 9, 2024Verified Purchase
- Reviewed in Canada on December 27, 2024Verified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
- Ahmet niyazi ge?erReviewed in Turkey on September 4, 2024
Great book. My bestie.
Verified Purchase - JulianReviewed in Australia on May 24, 2025
For anyone who likes to challenge their thinking
Verified Purchase - ?ukasz GumińskiReviewed in the Netherlands on May 22, 2017
Must-read
Verified Purchase -
ネムReviewed in Japan on January 2, 2019
内容が素晴らしい上に英语学习に最适
Verified Purchase - YousifReviewed in the United Arab Emirates on October 30, 2023
Dilemma that we have made
Verified Purchase
