On one side, the great issues of this century – such as, for example, climate change and nuclear weapons – require a global community on the other, immigration and nationalism form the basis of the defense mechanism of those threatened by globalization. However, the current state of affairs unravels the dualistic existence of the modern world. The very existence of such cross-cultural creations such as the European Union is evidence enough that this thesis is misleading. “These incompatible world views make conflicts between civilizations inevitable… and only the fittest have survived to tell the tale.” In other words, the Western liberals and the Eastern Muslims are as different from each other as wolves and bears. To understand Harari’s analyses and opinions from this very important section of the book, you must first go back to Samuel Huntington and his “clash of civilizations” thesis, according to which, humankind “has always been divided into diverse civilizations whose members view the world in irreconcilable ways.” Some cultures might be better than others There is just one civilization in the world The subtitles of the five essays which comprise this chapter say a lot by themselves. But nationalism, religion and culture divide humankind into hostile camps and make it very difficult to cooperate on a global level. Any solution to the technological challenge has to involve global cooperation. The merger of infotech and biotech threatens the core modern values of liberty and equality. The second part of Harari’s book deals with the political climate of the 21 st century, exploring the nature of present-day communities, civilizations, nationalism, religion, and immigration. In fact, now computers are teaching humans to play chess. Nowadays, no chess player is capable of beating a computer. Just remember that back in the 1990s, nobody believed that computers will ever beat a human at chess. In that world, human intuition will have no value whatsoever, and all important decisions will be made by AI. Exceptionally complex, but machines nevertheless.Īnd if that is the case, not much time will pass before we build a God-Brain, a supercomputer which will know much more than us. Modern neuroscience has all but confirmed what we’ve feared for quite some time – namely, that even our brains maybe just machines. However, we’re at a stage when automating cognitive processes is not anymore just a possibility, but also an inevitable part of the future. His main point is that up to recently, we used computers and robots to automatize some mechanical processes. Harari is interested here into how and to what extent computer technology is disrupting almost every single sphere of our existence. When you grow up, you might not have a job Humankind is losing faith in the liberal story that dominated global politics in recent decades, exactly when the merger of biotech and infotech confronts us with the biggest challenges humankind has ever encountered. The gist of it is stated in the subtitle of the main chapter: The first part of Harari’s book consists of four chapters, covering the topics of disillusionment, work, liberty, and equality. Harari has chosen to group these into five parts, each of which includes a few (three, four or five) essays on different topics.
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“21 Lessons for the 21st Century PDF Summary”Ģ1 Lessons for the 21st Century is, as suggested by its very title and described in a Guardian review, “a loose collection of themed essays, many of which build on articles for the New York Times, Bloomberg and elsewhere.” Influenced by Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, and published in 2014, Harari’s fourth book, Sapiens, a sketch of the history of humankind, made him an international intellectual superstar Homo Deus was written as a sequel to Sapiens, and 21 Lessons for the 21 st Century revisits some of the ideas analyzed in these two books.įind out more at. Harari’s first three books were published in relative obscurity though received acclaim among war historians: Renaissance Military Memoirs: War, History and Identity, 1450–1600, Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry, 1100–1550, and The Ultimate Experience: Battlefield Revelations and the Making of Modern War Culture, 1450–2000. Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian, specializing in macro-historical processes and the history of war he is a professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the author of three bestsellers. Whether it’s history, politics, technology or biology – Harari knows just enough to paint the larger picture, “smashing together unexpected ideas into dazzling observations.”Ī great gift for big-picture thinkers. You know that he is capable of offering new perspectives and fresh insights into familiar topics, and this book proves this yet again. If you like Harari’s previous two books, Sapiens and Homo Deus, there’s no reason not to like this one too. Who Should Read “21 Lessons for the 21st Century”? And Why?
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