Homo Deus

A Brief History of Tomorrow

By: Yuval Noah Harari

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically acclaimed New York Times best seller 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 1,000 times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda.

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 21st 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 best seller, Harari maps out our future.

©2017 Yuval Noah Harari (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Derek Perkins narrates the audiobook with an authentic excitement that engages listeners... Science enthusiasts will undoubtedly devour this audiobook, while others may wish Perkins had taught their high school science class." ( AudioFile)

Insightful but suffers from the times.

Well spoken and clear over audio book. The author recaps much of what was said and the insights given in his first book Sapiens. Only with an eye toward the future. He does not forecast what will happen only what will be pursued. Most are logical extensions of current trends as viewed from his philosophical position. Much of it is reasonable considering the assumptions and view point taken about religion, fiction, and science. It's insightful about our chasing of reduced risk, longer lives, and more information. He also tackles well the the collapse of meaning and the rise of nihilism. Possibly the most interesting and over zealous part of the book is the discussion on human consciousness. The author words point toward a growing idea that mankind has no free will. We, ourselves are a fiction. It's treated as a new idea, even a fore gone conclusion. Though this is a very old idea rooted in statements like, "all is as God wills it", or, "all is vanity, vanity of vanities", or still older the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The book takes a tangent here which is indicative of the times. Ferociously attacking concepts like souls and free will. Ultimately straddling the line between nihilism and absurdism while rejecting existentialism. Honestly stated the current world view has no room for such concepts. Though I guess it should be apparent from the book that the world view is also a set of beliefs not necessarily more than a fiction. And so the argument leaves you with polar choices when the answer, like most things, is likely somewhere in between. In my view the book falls on its face here and over emphasizes the "fictional" nature of free will.

A more apt analogy for his discussion of human mind and freewill is of a horse, cart, and its rider. In the past it was assumed that we stood upon the cart directing the horse. Sometimes the horse could slip its reins and get away from us. But with enough will power, discipline, we could get our bodies, ourselves to do anything. Now it's more clear that we are the horse and the computer like algorithms of our subconscious have the reigns. We have the ability to change our course. The machine at the reigns, however, has some tasty carrots and a savage whip at its disposal should we navigate too far from its reproductive goals. It's happy to let us wonder when you have honey in the larder and a honey in bed. But take one away... Well we know what mankind is willing to do from the horrors of the past. And it's in us all. You could almost call it Satan. And our benevolent side God. In his image... I mean religion is all a fiction, right?

Yuval is the greatest thinker of the modern era!

A must read for progressive thinkers. Allow plenty of time .. once you start it's impossible to stop.

Dense and Scary Information

This is an intelligent author, one of the most comprehensive thinkers I have encountered in my readings, who presents important information that is discouraging to me. The sections on algorithms and the future of humanity identifies and describes problems but solutions are not present. I found myself making lots of notes for the Audible copy, so I recommend a hard copy or a Kindle to accompany this book. Tread with caution if you are prone to depression. My internal motivation was negatively impacted by the content.

A thought-provoking look into our possible futures

Harari strikes again with an insightful projection of where today’s trends may take humanity. In his characteristically fearless way, the author examines possible paths for Homo Sapiens, once the latter have effectively overcome their long-time nemeses of war, disease and famine. Harari asks what kind of future our technology-assisted species might expect, laying out a convincingly plausible description of god-like humans freed from the constraints of aging and death, but also bereft of the traditional sources of meaning that have characterized the humanist world. This is a supremely provocative excursion into the possible future that has left me looking differently at the various constructs that guide our modern lives. It has my strongest possible recommendation.

THE STORY IS INTERESTING,

I WONT SAY THIS IS FUTURISTIC SINCE A LOT OF THIS IS ALREADY HAPPENING WANT IT OR NOT. IS CREEPY BUT IS REAL.

Mind blowing!

One of the most interesting books that I've listened to/read. Mind blowing insights into the past and the future of humankind.

I enjoyed it!

I am a TED enthusiast, and even I knew many of the anecdotes revealed in the book, I kept intrigued and fascinated throughout the entire narration, I enjoyed every minute. Excellent performance.

I do not agree with those saying that this book is worse than Sapiens. It is the perfect sequel for me.

Artificial Intelligence

This book gives a human like identity to computers and artificial intelligence in order to help us understand it better, but, I learned, we will never understand it better than it understands us! We are limited and bound by our emotions, time, physiological needs, lack of knowledge and experiences. Such complex ideas and concepts about AI are laid out here in in a simple to understand way. It just seems as if it was effortless for the author to weave these words, ideas, thoughts and analogies into a meaningful experience for the reader. I feel more enlightened about humans and computers at the same time - awesome!

Broadening the horizons

Some very important questions at the end of the book that you should contemplate over wholeheartedly

Absolutely great narrative. Must-read.

Amazing narrative. A must-read to lovers of science, AI, anthropology, and history. The author connects very smoothly past, present and future of human kind, its technologies and behaviors.