My Review of the Book: Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow

My Review of the Book: Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow

My Review of the Book: Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow. As we are experiencing today, the world is changing very quickly due to the rapid progress of science and technology, so many people are no longer able to keep up with its developments.

Even some scientists expressed concern about the inability of humans to counter the future forces of artificial intelligence.

Through Homo Deus, Harari tries to see the direction humanity will go in the future, based on past history and current scientific developments.

The main point that the author wants to convey is, the goal of humans or homo sapiens in the future is to achieve immortality and perfection.

This can be done in three ways, namely organically, for example by modifying DNA so that it is very intelligent and always young; combining machines with the body, for example implants that improve vision, and the use of machines as an extension of body functions, for example performing remote surgery.

These, coupled with the use of robots and artificial intelligence displacing millions of workers, will widen the gulf between elites and masses more than ever, resulting in the emergence of superhumans and useless societies.

The changes brought about by this technology are a challenge for the flow of humanism which has been the basis for the achievement of increasing human welfare throughout the world.

My Review of the Book: Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow, With Summary

I summed it up into three highlights from the book Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari:

First part

The first part tries to answer the question of why homo sapiens (humans) can rule and change the world and whether it is because homo sapiens have the privilege of having a soul.

Historically, homo sapiens, when they were hunters, gatherers, viewed and treated animals almost the same, because their lives depended on the generosity of nature.

However, the advent of agriculture or the agricultural revolution changed this relationship, as Homo sapiens was able to control plant growth and domesticate animals for its own sake.

Along with that, animism was replaced by vertical religion: homo sapiens worshiped gods for abundant agricultural produce and religion was used to legalize the exploitation of animals for the benefit of homo sapiens.

But when scientific developments allowed Homo sapiens to produce agricultural and livestock products more efficiently, worship of the gods was no longer necessary. Homo sapiens became a god unto itself.

Why did homo sapiens rule and change the world? What makes it different from animals? What is the soul, as most people still believe? Science cannot prove the existence of a soul, writes Harari.

Homo sapiens is able to conquer the world because it has the ability to cooperate in large numbers flexibly, unlike ants whose cooperative abilities are limited by instinct.

The thing that underlies this collaboration is imagination or fiction that is believed together (inter-subjective level) as something real, namely religion, god, money, corporation, nation or state.

However, Hariri does not seem to distinguish between pure fiction and imaginary fiction or beliefs that must be based on certain facts. Religions or gods can be created or imagined according to the will of their followers without being based on any facts.

However, money, corporations, and the nation must be based on certain facts or facts to be trusted as a means of payment, business entities, and the nation, namely the wealth owned by the issuer of money, economic activities and capabilities, a group of people who have common interests. or purpose.

The second part

The second part describes the ideology that allowed homo sapiens to achieve the progress it is today.

According to Harari, fiction, namely religion, money, corporations and the state, has the ability to force the majority to submit, so that all activities can run efficiently. Efficiency is achieved through an algorithm, which is a certain set of steps that must be carried out for each activity.

In its development, a conflict arose between religion - which is concerned with maintaining social order through the regulation of morality - and science, which is related to power, namely the ability to improve the human condition and conquer nature.

The power of science brings modernity, which forces all homo sapiens to submit to the system if they want to live a decent life, including by following education, obeying the law, and so on.

Modernism is built by capitalism, which runs on invisible and uncaring hands. But pure capitalism demands continuous growth and tends to encourage greed, while the world needs cooperation, so Humanism emerged. The description of Humanism is quite deep.

Humanism is based on the principles of recognition of individualism, freedom of expression, the belief that humans have the ability to determine what is good for themselves and society without relying on divine or religious orders, and that human progress and well-being can be achieved through cooperation. knowledge, and active participation of all for the good.

The view of humanism underlies the draft human rights convention which was ratified by 130 UN member states in 1947.

The dominance of humanism, especially since the end of World War II, has made countries in the world improve the conditions of their people with agricultural, health, and educational programs, so that the standard of living is much improved.

Humanism is not always in line with religion that demands total submission, but the increasing radicalism and the number of adherents of that religion are not considered important by the authors, considering that they do not understand science and technology, are poor and backward, while the future world will be shaped and changed by some people. person. technology elite.

That may be true, but if a handful of militants of them could gain control of the high-tech system, then the damage would be far more dangerous.

As a liberal, Harari also does not take into account the dangers of increasing the number of immigrants or the population of radical sects in secular countries, which can turn the ideology of Humanism into a theocracy, whether technological advances can make them powerless, or vice versa. instead can control the country in which they live.

Third part

The third section describes the impact of such rapid technological advances on most homo sapiens.

The humanist revolution encouraged the emergence of the good qualities of homo sapiens, namely individual freedom, cooperation, attention to feelings.

Humanism encourages the state to organize mass education, vaccinations, health care, because the state needs workers and soldiers to advance the country.

This encourages the improvement of the welfare of the poor in this century. But this is not necessarily the case in the next century, because in the future robots and machines can do things much better and cheaper that humans have done.

For example, self-driving cars will eliminate the need for millions of transport workers, drones will reduce troop numbers significantly.

The loss of jobs will not be matched by the ability of workers to always learn new things, so there will be a group of workers who cannot be employed or people who are useless.

While the small elite controlled most of the means of production, power, and intelligence and better physique. This change can change the ideology of homo sapiens.

Humanism views all human beings as equal and values ​​life and the contribution that every citizen makes.

If artificial intelligence is so intelligent that human contribution is no longer needed because its quality is below AI, will humanism still be embraced?

Will the elites not be more concerned with improving the performance of their own people and no longer care about the poor or disadvantaged people because they are no longer needed by the state?

This is especially true for poor countries with hundreds of millions or billions of people who have to compete with developed countries, given the huge costs of education and health of hundreds of millions of people.

The consequences of the description of future technological developments for homo sapiens are reminiscent of the novel Brave New World.

Where humans are reproduced by machines, and the superior elite class plots the number and level of intelligence and physical condition for each class that will fill the required jobs.

Humans are once again controlled by a handful of elites who are now biologically engineered superhumans.

Another alternative

Another alternative is for humans to become engrossed in the Internet of All Things and lose meaning. Humanism that prioritizes feelings, freedom, privacy, and individualism, in the era of the internet and digitalization has turned into Dataism along with the abundance of data and information.

Since liberal economics emphasizes the importance of information and the free movement of goods for economic progress, Dataism argues that progress will be optimal if there is easy access to information.

The more data connected on the internet that can be accessed freely, the more useful it is for humans.

For example, the presence of vehicle information that is not used by someone at certain hours can increase efficiency because outside these hours the vehicle can be used by other people.

The increasing importance of data on the internet encourages people to participate by sharing personal information and experiences, so that in contrast to humanism which emphasizes privacy, dataists feel that there is no meaning if they do not share their information and experiences on the internet.

Purpose of Dataism

The purpose of Dataism is to combine all data and information in the world to be processed on the internet so that it can be utilized optimally.

My Review of the Book: Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow

Currently the system still requires data from humans. However, it is possible that one day the system will become so sophisticated that it no longer requires human data and runs on its own.

At that time, humans will only be chips or insignificant components of the Internet of All Things. This conclusion was obtained by Harari after seeing how information systems work on the internet.

Google's algorithmic system is created by a large team that each does its own part. After that the system runs independently, but each team does not know the exact relationship or the final result because the system in the end is very complex.

The sophistication of the system in producing information can also be seen from the completeness of information owned by financial technology companies that combine all data (data of suppliers, buyers, sales, etc.), which is able to produce very detailed information to the highest level. sales hours, most sales area, etc. automatically.

Closing

There have been many books that have tried to explain the possibilities that could happen in the future based on current technological developments.

Michio Kaku has written several books based on interviews with dozens of research scientists. In The Future of the Mind, he tells that scientists are conducting research to record dreams, transfer thoughts to computers, communicate through a kind of telepathy, and so on.

Homo Deus goes further, trying to imagine the changes in ideology or the structure of society that will occur in the future in line with technological changes.

My Review of the Book: Homo Deus, A Brief History of Tomorrow

There are those who argue that every time there is a technological revolution, people are always worried about the loss of many jobs and increasing unemployment, but these worries never come true, because there are always new jobs.

Are the changes that are happening now not the same so there is no need to worry? But there are many examples in this book that show that AI can perform far better than humans in many areas, so that ultimately the only advantage humans have is feelings.

We can also see things that are happening today: bank branch closures and employee reductions due to digitization, cashierless shops, driverless cars, more accurate AI diagnostics from experienced doctors, drones that are successful against terrorists.

More Cool Stuff: Why is the world moving and changing so fast?

If predictions of technological progress seem exaggerated, the past may be worth remembering. Twenty-five years ago, cell phones were the size of a handy talky and one-fifth the price of an expensive sedan, while their ability was only to make calls.

Currently a gardener also has a pocket phone that can be used for internet, photos, videos, and others. Who can predict the future?

To conclude what he wants to convey, the reader must read carefully, because the way the discussion is broad so that the subject to be conveyed is not written explicitly.

Overall, this book can increase the reader's awareness that change is accelerating, so we can't just ignore it if we don't want to become victims of change.

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