Book Review: Homo Deus

Homo Deus – A brief history of tomorrow shows us where mankind is headed in an absolutely clear-sighted and accessible manner. The book starts with “The Human Agenda” where humanity is personified as a human being waking up in the third millennium from a long sleep and observing today’s agenda. Here, Yuval Noah Harari starts the story of Human civilization, the problems it used to face, and future promises.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part is “Homo Sapiens Conquers the World”. Here he questions Human superiority over all species of animals. He questions certain human beliefs and explains their logic. He also proves that there is no such thing as Emotion. In fact, there are all algorithms that help us in making a decision.

Even Nobel Laureates in economics make only a tiny fraction of their decisions using pen, paper, and calculator; 99 percent of our decisions- including the most important life choices concerning spouses, careers, and habitats – are made by the highly refined algorithms we call sensations, emotions, and desires.

The second part is “Homo Sapiens Gives Meaning to the World “. Here he argues how Humans have given meaning to this world through their self-created stories. Stories that made them believe in gods or Kings in the past and various Brands in present. The influence of these stories is so much so that they have given meanings to our reality, our struggles, and even our existence. The invention of writing revolutionized the entire Human society by preserving the stories, saving records (and manipulating) and most significantly, the Holy Scriptures that proclaim to contain “the answers to all our questions”

The third and the last part, “Homo sapiens loses control. Here he questions the directions of technology and where will it lead us? Technology is continuously giving meaning to our lives. But the question arises, is this meaning beneficial or harmful? We are stepping into a society where electronic gadgets know us better than our own parents. So, maybe these gadgets will one day surpass us and take hold of the world. This evolution will be the same as that of vehicles where we replaced horses with engines. Similarly, soon there will be a time when machines will replace humans.

The book ends with thought-provoking advice. Harari says, “Today having power means knowing what to ignore.” Today, when we are facing the problems of the pandemic, power imbalance, terrorism, disharmony, inequality, and many more issues, the need of the hour is to focus on the “immediate problems.”

This book is a must-read in these days where times are changing fast and we are stepping into an age of digital revolution. The world is becoming more and more digital. Harari provides significant insights into the way technology works and how the world is changing.