Yuval Noah Harari: 'We are becoming gods, but also slaves'

Historian Yuval Noah Harari wrote the book Sapiens. This book is about the history of mankind. According to Harari, faith and human thoughts played a major role in the development of the past. He told more about this in VPRO Tegenlicht. He told us that we can play god in the future. We are now so advanced that we can clone animals and develop our own realities (Like Virtual Reality). We can create our own world. But these developments can also take over us, allowing us to be manipulated by algorithms. It is “create or be created” according to Harari.

We are domesticated animals according to Harari. We are as domesticated as pets, maybe even worse. We can no longer live without technology, without technology we cannot survive.

In the past, you had to do a lot to survive, such as fighting, hunting, farming, etc. Now humans are specialized in only one small task. A stock filler specializes in stocking and a preacher in sermons. As a stocker, you don't need to be able to preach to survive and as a preacher, you don't need to be able to stock up.

Humanity is therefore a kind of organism. We are like a group of ants. We live in a colony and have one small simple task that we perform in order to survive. Humans are becoming more and more domesticated. In the future, technology and AI will play an even greater role in our lives. Chances are, it will even make daily choices for us.

So in 50 years, we will probably all be connected in a network. Even our body is then part of a network. Our organs cannot work if we are not connected to that network. We die on disconnection.

According to Harari, the future will be the era of Datäism.

If you have enough computing power and enough biometric data about a person, you can understand that person better than they understand themselves. If you understand this person better than they do, you can begin to manipulate and control this person. You can then make choices for them.

Like Harari, you might think the following:

"I know myself better than anyone else. Nobody can control me. Nobody knows exactly how I feel."

This thought used to be true. Even if someone secretly stuck a microphone on you and could overhear every conversation you had, they still couldn't know enough to control you and understand your feelings. This is because there was not yet strong enough computational power. There was also too little knowledge about the biology of an individual.

However, we now have this computing power and this biometric knowledge. In 10 to 20 years, authorities such as Meta (Facebook), Google, and the Chinese government will have enough data about a person, enough knowledge of biology, and computing power. This allows them to understand our feelings, read our thoughts and influence our actions.

According to Harari, everything in our lives has to do with choices. When I wake up, I choose to get up or to keep resting in my bed.

The ideology that people previously thought very important is the individualistic liberal ideology.

An important rule in this ideology is “listen to your heart". Who do you want to marry? Follow your heart, follow your feelings. What do I want to study? What kind of work do I want to do afterward? Following the heart is important, our freedom is central.

In 20 years we will no longer listen to our hearts, says Harari. We then listen to authorities such as Google. Google will know us better than we know ourselves. This makes Google able to make decisions for us. In 20 years, we'll take the job Google recommends, study at the university that's presented to us, and we'll marry the person Google thinks are the right fit for us.

People used to follow the bible. We followed the rules in it. We saw the Bible as an authority. If the bible said that you should not fall for the same sex, people saw that as the truth.

The highest form of authority is human feelings. This authority is more important than the Bible. In the future, the big algorithm will become the source of authority. We will listen to this algorithm.

Technological progress allows us to make ourselves gods. We can create and rule. Through this development, we also create other gods. The big data algorithm, for example. This algorithm can rule us by manipulating us. The question of which of these gods ultimately predominates can only be answered by seeing it with one's own eyes.

Because of these developments, we lose our freedom. The choices we make are not really our choices, but the choices of an algorithm. If this algorithm falls into the wrong hands, humans will be exploited and abused.

If we are ever in a network that our organs are a part of, can the algorithm also disconnect us from the network? If so, then the algorithm can let anyone die at any time. We think that's a scary idea. If Harari's theory is correct, we create our own simulation. A simulation in which our own thoughts can be found in a database and where the choices we make are decided by an algorithm.

If we live in a simulation we are not free, but slaves to the algorithm.

Thank you for reading! If you want to support me, feel free to leave a like or give me a tip. You can also become a Vocal+ member using my link to help me create more content. Be sure to leave a comment if you have any questions and/or want to share your opinion!