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charmingminx's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
gelle3's review against another edition
2.0
It is my second attempt to read it and this time I managed to finish it.
Most of the book is about the past till the recent years.
The most exciting -although it's a short part - was exploring on what's on human agenda for coming decades.
Most of the book is about the past till the recent years.
The most exciting -although it's a short part - was exploring on what's on human agenda for coming decades.
leonard_gaya's review against another edition
3.0
Harari wrote Homo Deus following the success of [b:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind|23692271|Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind|Yuval Noah Harari|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1420585954l/23692271._SY75_.jpg|18962767] a couple of years earlier. And while the first book’s ambition is to tell the saga of humanity’s past, this one is offered as a sort of sequel, showing what our future might hold. In truth, Sapiens was mostly glossing over the complexities of humankind’s history. And most of the first half of Homo Deus commits to rehashing the same arguments, only to thin them down with a slightly different set of examples and anecdotes. For example, Harari spends quite a few pages discussing once again the notion that human societies are shaped by arbitrary conventions or “intersubjective fictional entities” (economy, ethics, laws, ideologies, religions). He also devotes a significant part of the book to his pet cause: the callousness of industrial livestock farming. Most of the book is written in a journalistic style, with anecdotes aplenty, which makes for both engaging and easy reading, but at the same time, renders the book a bit sketchy, patchy, dated and peripheral.
Nevertheless, Homo Deus starts to introduce new notions about halfway through. The core of the book is an examination of modernity, in the wake of what [a:Nietzsche|1938|Friedrich Nietzsche|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1455294131p2/1938.jpg] had coined the “Death of God”. The ideology that is currently replacing the moribund religions of the past is humanism, in its either liberal or socialist version. Harari briefly examines the question of consciousness and free-will, which are the founding (albeit debatable) principles of humanism. He also outlines the distinctive features of this modern ideology: the belief in perpetual technological and economic growth; the belief in individualism, “inner-awareness” and “self-determination” and, thus, in democracy and happiness. Even though, in the end, modern humanism does very little to provide meaning to human existence.
Towards the end of the book, however, as Harari considers what might come next, it becomes clear that the blessings of humanism might ultimately be bestowed on a very limited elite. Harari examines how the humanist obsession with technological progress might well become the downfall of our humanist civilisation and the inception of a “dataist” dystopia. A few precursory elements include novel techniques of body and brain “hacking”, the systematic replacement of the human workforce by increasingly intelligent machines (and the social inequalities this will imply), and last but not least, the flourishing belief that the Self and even the whole of society is but a bunch of pre-determined data-processing systems. In other words, we are algorithms.
Homo Deus’ closing chapters paint, with broad brush strokes, a grim picture of our possible future. The dawn of this new era is probably upon us already, and individuals are increasingly treated, through an ever encircling net of technology, as data-bags, suitable only for corporations’ meaningless profits — just as animals are treated as meat-bags, suited only to humans’ boundless consumption. Nietzsche (again) prophetically called this the age of the “Last Man”. That was more than a century ago, however, so there is nothing groundbreaking in Homo Deus today. In any event, this places Harari right next to a couple of other slightly gloomy transhumanists, such as [a:Nick Bostrom|608087|Nick Bostrom|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1408029377p2/608087.jpg].
Nevertheless, Homo Deus starts to introduce new notions about halfway through. The core of the book is an examination of modernity, in the wake of what [a:Nietzsche|1938|Friedrich Nietzsche|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1455294131p2/1938.jpg] had coined the “Death of God”. The ideology that is currently replacing the moribund religions of the past is humanism, in its either liberal or socialist version. Harari briefly examines the question of consciousness and free-will, which are the founding (albeit debatable) principles of humanism. He also outlines the distinctive features of this modern ideology: the belief in perpetual technological and economic growth; the belief in individualism, “inner-awareness” and “self-determination” and, thus, in democracy and happiness. Even though, in the end, modern humanism does very little to provide meaning to human existence.
Towards the end of the book, however, as Harari considers what might come next, it becomes clear that the blessings of humanism might ultimately be bestowed on a very limited elite. Harari examines how the humanist obsession with technological progress might well become the downfall of our humanist civilisation and the inception of a “dataist” dystopia. A few precursory elements include novel techniques of body and brain “hacking”, the systematic replacement of the human workforce by increasingly intelligent machines (and the social inequalities this will imply), and last but not least, the flourishing belief that the Self and even the whole of society is but a bunch of pre-determined data-processing systems. In other words, we are algorithms.
Homo Deus’ closing chapters paint, with broad brush strokes, a grim picture of our possible future. The dawn of this new era is probably upon us already, and individuals are increasingly treated, through an ever encircling net of technology, as data-bags, suitable only for corporations’ meaningless profits — just as animals are treated as meat-bags, suited only to humans’ boundless consumption. Nietzsche (again) prophetically called this the age of the “Last Man”. That was more than a century ago, however, so there is nothing groundbreaking in Homo Deus today. In any event, this places Harari right next to a couple of other slightly gloomy transhumanists, such as [a:Nick Bostrom|608087|Nick Bostrom|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1408029377p2/608087.jpg].
retros_x's review against another edition
5.0
Very inspiring book. Sure it is popular science, but Hararis explanations and conclusions are enthralling, especially as a computer scientist.
linhdapanda's review against another edition
5.0
Now this is how I like to read philosophy - relevant, well-researched, well thought out, and so very insightful.
Homo Deus is Yuval Noah Harari's research into the history of humankind, and his educated conjectures on how we will develop in the future as a collective species. How will the human genes be different or enhanced? How will major technological changes and big data shape the way we think, act, work, and love? How will AI and robotics impact our lives? (And so many more thought-provoking topics)
This book needs to be read slowly, intentionally, and deeply. It changed the way I think about people in general, and my outlook of the future. The best nonfiction book I've read in years. Highly recommended!
Homo Deus is Yuval Noah Harari's research into the history of humankind, and his educated conjectures on how we will develop in the future as a collective species. How will the human genes be different or enhanced? How will major technological changes and big data shape the way we think, act, work, and love? How will AI and robotics impact our lives? (And so many more thought-provoking topics)
This book needs to be read slowly, intentionally, and deeply. It changed the way I think about people in general, and my outlook of the future. The best nonfiction book I've read in years. Highly recommended!
robertwhelan's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting, thought provoking, and relevant with the recent large language models AI availability.