Homo Deus – a brief history of tomorrow with Y.N. Harari

Professor Yuval Harari is a historian and best-selling author who has demonstrated the ability to ask big questions and contextualize them in a daunting manner. He argues that humanity's imagination and ability to believe in fictions, such as religion, corporations, and nations, give us our remarkable capacity, and that the power of humanity is in its capacity to tell and believe in great stories.

The speaker believes that Homo sapiens may not have a future and that humans are likely to disappear in a century or two. He focuses on the shift of authority from humans to other entities, particularly algorithms. He discusses the last few centuries and how humans have moved from believing in authority from the gods to humanism, which emphasizes the importance of the feelings and free choices of individuals.

The author discusses the concept of humanism and how it applies to politics, economics, art, and ethics. In a humanist world, human feelings are considered the highest authority, and in politics and economics, decisions are often made based on the feelings and opinions of individual humans. Humanist aesthetics believes that beauty is subjective and in the eye of the beholder, while in the ethical field, humanist ethics suggests that moral values and principles should be based on human experiences and emotions rather than on divine or objective sources.

Harari discusses the shift in ethical authority from divine commandments to human feelings. In the past, people relied on religious figures or texts to determine what was good or evil. However, in the era of humanist ethics, the highest authority in ethics is the authority of human feelings. If something makes people feel good and doesn't harm anyone, then it is good. He provides an example of how even religious fundamentalists have learned to use the language of human feelings in their arguments rather than relying on divine commandments. If you ask me, the most interesting idea in the text is the shift in ethical authority from divine commandments to human feelings and the implications of this shift for society.

Furthermore, Harari discusses the concept of humanist education, which emphasizes the importance of teaching individuals to think for themselves. The author argues that this worldview is facing a threat from emerging technology in Silicon Valley that challenges the belief in free will and human feelings as the highest authority. In my opinion, the most interesting idea presented in his speech is the suggestion that algorithms may soon have a better understanding of human feelings than humans themselves. This raises questions about the shift in authority from humans to algorithms and the potential consequences of this shift.

Harari is discussing the concept of freedom and its relation to the physical and biological perspectives of the world. It argues that freedom has no meaning from this perspective and is just a myth invented by humans. He then goes on to explain the idea that organisms, including humans, are algorithms shaped by millions of years of natural selection to make good decisions when faced with problems of survival and reproduction. The example of a baboon facing the decision of whether to risk its life for bananas is given to illustrate how the body and brain calculate probabilities to make decisions and how the outcome appears as feelings or emotions. The very interesting idea is that as algorithms become better at understanding human feelings, authority may shift from humans to algorithms.

The author discusses the idea that emotions and feelings are actually biochemical algorithms that calculate probabilities, and until the early 21st century, this theory had little practical impact because the technology and computing power necessary to collect and analyze data were not available. However, the merging of developments in biotech and infotech is changing this, and corporations such as Google and Facebook are becoming increasingly biotech. He argues that these companies will soon have the necessary data, biological knowledge, and computing power to understand human emotions and decision-making better than humans themselves. The author predicts that, in the future, algorithms will increasingly be making the most important decisions about our health and bodies based on what they know about us and what we don't know about ourselves.

The speaker in the following excerpt is discussing the rise of a new ideology called dataism, which asserts that authority ultimately comes from data. The speaker describes how, in the past, authority was derived from religious sources, such as the Bible, and later shifted to an emphasis on human feelings and autonomy. The speaker then goes on to provide concrete examples of how dataism is changing the way we make decisions, using the example of how algorithms on Amazon are now recommending books to us based on our past behavior and preferences. The speaker also discusses the potential for biometric data to be used in the future to further personalize these recommendations, with devices like the Kindle tracking our emotional responses to what we read.

To be honest, the point being made is that as AI becomes better at making recommendations and decisions than humans, we may begin to rely on them more and more for guidance in our lives. The speaker argues that this is already happening to some extent as people increasingly delegate decisions to applications like Google Maps or Waze when navigating their way around town. However, the speaker notes two important caveats: first, that we still have much to learn about the human brain and mind, and second, that technology is never deterministic and we can still choose how we use it to shape our society.

In my opinion, as AI systems become more advanced, they may have the ability to make decisions that affect human lives, such as in healthcare or criminal justice. It is important to consider the potential biases and limitations of these systems, as well as the potential consequences of delegating ethical decision-making to machines. Another related topic is the responsibility of companies and governments to ensure that these systems are designed and used in a way that is transparent, accountable, and respectful of human rights. This raises questions about who should be responsible for regulating and overseeing these technologies and how we can ensure that they are used in a way that serves the public interest.

One important point to mention is the potential consequences of relying on algorithms and data to make important decisions in our lives. While algorithms may be better at predicting our behavior and preferences, they may also reinforce biases and limit our exposure to new ideas and perspectives. Additionally, there are concerns about the ethical implications of relying on algorithms to make decisions about our health and well-being. It is important to carefully consider these potential consequences as we navigate the growing role of technology in our lives.

Harari's ideas are very thought-provoking and challenge conventional thinking. For me, it was a very interesting lecture, and although I used to be against technology, I am now making more and more room for it in my life. I've realized that technology is the future, and if I don't use it, it will be my loss.
Ultimately, whether or not you agree or disagree with Harari's ideas, it is important to engage with them and consider their impact on our society and our future.