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Yuval Noah Harari

Summary of Homo Deus

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, authored by Yuval Noah Harari, was published in 2015. The book delves deeply into the past, present and future of the world and humans in light of religion, science and technology. It takes both the past and present into account to forecast the future and highlights the risks caused by artificial intelligence and other technological progress that humans may encounter.
26 printed pages
Copyright owner
Bookwire
Original publication
2018
Publication year
2018
Publisher
Gatsby
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
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Impressions

  • 洪一萍shared an impression4 years ago
    🎯Worthwhile

    Previously the main sources of wealth were material assets such as gold mines, wheat fields and oil wells. Today the main source of wealth is knowledge. And whereas you can conquer oil fields through war, you cannot acquire knowledge that way.

    Fertilise several eggs, and choose the one with the best combination. Once stem-cell research enables us to create an unlimited supply of human embryos on the cheap, you can select your optimal baby from among hundreds of candidates, all carrying your DNA, all perfectly natural, and none requiring any futuristic genetic engineering. Iterate this procedure for a few generations, and you could easily end up with superhumans (or a creepy dystopia).

    In contrast, ‘anger’ isn’t an abstract term we have decided to use as a shorthand for billions of electric brain signals. Anger is an extremely concrete experience which people were familiar with long before they knew anything about electricity. When I say, ‘I am angry!’ I am pointing to a very tangible feeling. If you describe how a chemical reaction in a neuron results in an electric signal, and how billions of similar reactions result in billions of additional signals, it is still worthwhile to ask, ‘But how do these billions of events come together to create my concrete feeling of anger?’

    if some multinational corporation wants to know whether it lives up to its ‘Don’t be evil’ motto, it need only take a look at its bottom line. If it makes loads of money, it means that millions of people like its products, which implies that it is a force for good.

    the experiencing self is often strong enough to sabotage the best-laid plans of the narrating self. I might, for instance, make a New Year’s resolution to start a diet and go to the gym every day. Such grand decisions are the monopoly of the narrating self. But the following week when it’s gym time, the experiencing self takes over. I don’t feel like going to the gym, and instead I order pizza, sit on the sofa and turn on the TV.

    intelligence is mandatory but consciousness is optional.

    The most important question in twenty-first-century economics may well be what to do with all the superfluous people. What will conscious humans do, once we have highly intelligent non-conscious algorithms that can do almost everything better?

  • Анна Асаеваshared an impression5 years ago
    👍Worth reading

  • Lev Volkshared an impressionlast year
    👍Worth reading

Quotes

  • Lev Volkhas quotedlast year
    These processes spawn three core questions. The first asks whether organisms are just algorithms and whether life is just data processing in actuality. The second queries which of consciousness and intelligence has more value. The third inquires what will become of day-to-day existence, politics and society when non-conscious but extremely intelligent algorithms have more knowledge of us than we have of ourselves.
  • Lev Volkhas quotedlast year
    However, even though liberalism has tasted victory in the humanist religion wars, its success may lead to its downfall as well. When the world is able to see the complete potential of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, free markets, liberalism and democracy may become outdated. In the current century, humans will attempt to acquire a divine, blissful and immortal state. However, this will shake the foundations of liberal humanism.
  • Lev Volkhas quotedlast year
    The cure to a life without meaning and law has been offered by humanism, a dogma that has revolutionized and taken control of the planet in the course of the past centuries. As far as this humanist religion is concerned, it is devoted to the cause of humanity and requires humanity to replace the role of God.

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