Homo Deus

A Brief History of Tomorrow

by Yuval Noah Harari

Paperback, 528 pages

Published Oct. 30, 2017 by Signal.

ISBN:: 978-0-7710-3870-9

(50 reviews)

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up …

What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.

With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

3 editions

woollypigs reviewed Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Homo Deus' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Gives you things to think about

Stuart Woodward reviewed Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Homo Deus' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A thought provoking companion to Sapiens. It does seem however to be a very similar book, covering a lot of the same ideas and insights but written with a different structure. If you like one, you’ll like the other but you may not come away with many new ideas.

I think I also failed to grasp the overall message. I would like to read it again, maybe in a different format from audio so that I can retain more of it and take notes.

Retros_x reviewed Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Homo Deus' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Very inspiring book. Sure it is popular science, but Hararis explanations and conclusions are enthralling, especially as a computer scientist.

Siddhartha Golu reviewed Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Homo Deus' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This was the exact opposite of unputdownable. Boring and full of unfounded speculations. If you've read Sapiens and remember Harari's few personal opinions creeping in through the non-fictional wall, well, take that to its (il)logical extreme and you've got this book.

brunosan reviewed Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Homo Deus' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It's honestly quite good, but he never references any argument to where it comes from, in content or authorship, nor he tries to validate or falsify his assertions. He just plows through a line of arguments in the direction he wants to go, which is a very interesting one, tbh. If you disagree or don't get convinced at any point, it creates a rift that just grows with time as he builds upon it.

Taylor reviewed Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Homo Deus' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Notes for this have been sitting over a month. Like Sapiens, so much is covered. Unlike Sapiens, the author emphasizes that what’s discussed is speculation. But the outcomes proposed are at the very least near-future scenarios that we should prepare for.

The importance of history. Given our past record and our current values of modernity, humanity’s next targets are likely to be immortality, happiness, and divinity.

Religion cooperating with science, finding common ground in order and power. Religious texts as an authority. Fiction allowing societies to cooperate (some overlap from Sapiens here in capitalism and religion). Humanism as a new religion: Knowledge = experiences x sensitivity.

Embracing dataism. Give up meaning for power, knowing thyself through mass collections of biometric data and relinquishing our expectations of individuality. Basically, AI not only taking most common jobs, but also handling our personal lives with more accuracy and grace than we could manage ourselves. Humans as algorithms, accepting the illusion of free will.

Technology increasing inequality, which threatens liberalism. Three specific threats are discussed. The pace of knowledge, tech, political upheavals, and social changes are faster than traditional governments can handle.

Censorship through the flooding of needless information.

Growth is necessary. Economic growth depends on the freedom of information. The shift from a homo-centric to a data-centric worldview. Wasn’t discussed who controls the data.

What should we focus on? If we think in months, it’s one thing. If we think in decades, it’s another. "If we take the really grand view of life, all other problems and developments are overshadowed by three interlinked processes": basically AI, separating intelligence from consciousness, and science converging on all organisms becoming algorithms.

jlevesque reviewed Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Homo Deus' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I do not agree with all ideas brought forward by the book (esp. the bluntly exaggerated data religion), but there are some very pertinent questions raised in the last section. What shall we do when humans are made redundant by algorithms? What is going to happen when the best course to raise society's efficiency is no longer to increase the standard of living/education of humans, but becomes strictly related to computers and algorithms (i.e., you no longer have financial incentives to help humans improve themselves). Those are some bone chilling questions, but I guess it's time to start thinking about them. All in all, I would say definitely worth reading, even though the first 250 pages could be condensed quite a bit.