Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

"Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus shows us where we're going." After recently having read The Skeptics Guide to The Future, I jumped on the tomorrow bandwagon, and the premise of Y. N. Harari's Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow clicked instantly with me.

Throughout the book, I felt engaged and emotionally invested. The narrative flows seamlessly from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. Y. N. Harari uses his historical expertise to connect the dots and form a cohesive story. Although the author spends the first 80 pages setting the stage, I was happy to be along for the journey.

While some might expect concrete predictions, Y. N. Harari takes a different approach, opting instead to expand our minds and stimulate our imaginations and fears. As the author puts it, "instead of narrowing our horizons by forecasting a single scenario, the book aims to broaden our horizons and make us aware of a much wider spectrum of options."

Can we envision a future in which we willingly surrender all our privacy? Decades ago, the notion of people recording every aspect of their lives and sharing it with millions of strangers would have seemed absurd. Will we need the counsel of friends, relatives, and spouses if Dataism suggests that a system knows us better than we know ourselves? Will our experiences eventually be valued as little as those of sheep?

If you want a more philosophical take on the future, Homo Deus can scratch that itch. By the end of the book, you will likely have collected a range of deep reflections and questions you haven't thought of before. I know I certainly did, and this is why it's easy for me to recommend this book.

Dévoré comme son prédécesseur, même s'il pêche par certains points en conjonctures. Reste que Homo Deus pose énormément de questions extrêmement importantes pour les défis qui s'annoncent pour l'humanité. Je l'ai trouvé par moments plus accessible que Sapiens, qu'il vient effectivement compléter à merveille. L'auteur propose plusieurs chemins possibles pour notre futur, certains posant d'énormes questionnements moraux qu'il serait bon de ne pas balayer d'un revers de main tout en restant assez critique sur certaines de nos décisions ou sur l'état de nos sociétés actuelles. Les défis qui s'annoncent seront extrêmement complexes et potentiellement mortifères pour une grande partie de l'humanité, ce livre est donc à prendre comme un message de prévention avant de s'engager dans un chemin que nous pourrions regretter.

“En ce début du XXie siècle, la politique est donc dépourvue de grandes visions. Le gouvernement est devenu une simple administration. Il gère le pays, il ne dirige plus. Il veille à ce que les enseignants soient payés à temps et que le tout-à-l'égout qui ne déborde pas, mais il n'a pas la moindre idée de la situation du pays dans vingt ans.”

I was expecting more from the book, I have no doubt the author is an excellent history lecturer but I do not agree at all on his philosophical points of view. Most of the book is speculation and what he thinks given his cultural context can happen in the future. About the reference to states and/or nations I think he fails to give a full panorama by not openly acknowledging Israel facts, it criticize some nations and “empires” a lot but barely mentions related facts in which Israel participated.

The historical knowledge is solid but I don't think is the best source to get to know latest trends about philosophy of mind or consciousness, the book can be misleading in this regard because quotes in a context end up being opinionated, and being the theme of the book mankind future I think this is a critical negative aspect.

I would not recommend to read it, if you or a friend happen to have it, it is ok, narrative is not bad at all and there are some interesting references to follow up in the bibliography.

P.S. I would actually use small sections of the book to foster discussion on young students, I think it would be very formative for considering some aspects of history not always address on school books.