21 Lessons for the 21^st Century

By

Juval Noah Harrari

 

Juval Noah Harrari, celebrated author of Homo Sapiens:  A Brief History of Humankind has produced in the third book a sequel to that volume which is as momentous as the earlier one.  This volume focuses on the shape of future that awaits us in the near future.  He forecasts such a future primarily dwells on changes which would occur on various fronts such as Liberty, Equality, Community, Religion, Terrorism, War, Secularism, Justice and Education. 

The changes which Harrari explains are in the nature of axioms and not opinions and, therefore, hardly commented or criticized. We could only reproduce what has been stated by him under the headings listed.

Disillusionment:  “When it comes to free trade and international cooperation, Xi Jinping looks like Obama’s real successor. Having put Marxism-Leninism on the back burner, China seems rather happy with the liberal international order.”

“Whenever they become impatient or bored by the talk of artificial intelligence, Big Data algorithms or bioengineering, I just mention one magic word to snap them back to attention: Jobs.  The technological revolution will soon push billions of humans out of job market and create a massive new useless class, leading to social and political upheavals that no  existing ideology knows how to handle.”

Work:            “The better we understand the biochemical mechanisms that underpin human emotions, desires and choices, the better computers can become in analyzing human behavior, predicting human decisions and replacing human drivers, bankers and lawyers.”

“….. Vaunted human intuition is in reality ‘pattern recognitioon’.  Good drivers,  bankers and lawyers don’t have magical intuitions about traffic, investment and negotiation- rather by recognizing recurring patterns, they spot and try to avoid, careless pedestrians, inept borrowers and dishonest crooks.”

“Yet if art is defined by human emotions, what might happen once external algorithms are able to understand and manipulate human emotions better than Shakespeare, Frida Kahlo or Beyance.”

“The algorithm in charge of your sound system will immediately discern your inner emotion turnoil and based on what it knows about you personally and human psychology in general it will play songs tailred to resonate  with your gloom and echo with your distress.”

“Job market in 2050 will be characterized by Human-AI cooperation rather than competition.  After IBM’s chess program Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997, humans did not stop playing chess.  Rather, thanks to AI trainers human chess masters became better than ever, and at least for a while, human-AI teams known as ‘centaurs’ outperformed both humans and computers in chess.”

Liberty:  “In personal matters, liberalism encourages people to listen to themselves, be true to themselves and follow their hearts – as long as they do not infringe on the liberties of others.”

“ Democracy assumes that human feelings reflect a mysterious and profound ‘free will’ and this ‘free will’ is the ultimate source of authority  and that while some people are most intelligent than others, all humans are equally free.”

Artificial Intelligence and natural stupidity :  “AI revolves around the magical moment when a computer or a robot gains consciousness.”

“AI will have to analyse human feelings accurately in order to treat human illnesses, identify human terrorists, recommend human mates and navigate street full of human pedestrians.”

“We have hired docile cows that produce enormous amounts of milk, but are otherwise far inferior to their wild ancestors.  They are less agile, less curious and less resourceful.”

“For without a social safety net and a modicum of economic equality, liberty is meaningless.”

Equality: “Property is a prerequisite for long-term inequality.”

“The true business of data giants is not to sell advertisements at all.  Rather by capturing our attention they manager to accumulate immense amounts data about us, which is worth more than any advertisement revenue.  We aren’t their customers - we are their products.”