"If I don’t update my body’s anti-virus program regularly, I will wake up one day to discover that the millions of nano-robots coursing through my veins are now controlled by a North Korean hacker." [5]
No edifying prospects, if you imagine so. The Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari describes in his book "Homo Deus - A brief history of tomorrow" how he imagines the future of man - as a dark version of the technological age. I must admit, some of his theses are very exaggerated and reading them can make you queasy when you think about the future. But nevertheless, his ideas of the future Homo Deus, the superhuman who is to develop from the Homo Sapiens, forced by the progressive artificial intelligence, clearly stimulate reflection. [2]
What will our future really look like?
Will artificial intelligence gain the upper hand?
Put an end to death
Basically, our future is more open and shapeable than ever before. Artificial intelligence, automation, revolutionary technologies in various areas are developing better and more tangible. We are able to control and limit wars, hunger and natural disasters. What if we reduce all this to the minimum in the future? When we can control everything? If we can even overcome death? What will be our new goal then?
Harari is of the opinion that through growing self-empowerment, man becomes Homo Deus and the new belief system of dataism replaces values such as individualism, soul and free will. The next step, he says, is to reach for immortality. Thanks to advances in biotechnology and artificial intelligence, this could soon be possible for him. [1] [5]
Loss of control
Due to the rapid development of technology, man threatens to become obsolete. In contrast to Elon Musk, who is convinced that humans have to upgrade to cyborgs in the long term, because otherwise they will be flooded and superfluous by the AI, Harari does not see technology as a way out, but rather as the reason why humans find themselves in this situation. [1] [5]
”Like when you download some software and are asked to sign an accompanying contract that consists of dozens of pages of legalese you take one look at it, immediately scroll down to the last page, tick ‘I agree’ and forget about it.“ [5]
In the age of automation, people are increasingly losing control and we find ourselves repeatedly making decisions about algorithms. Who hasn't been stuck when the navigation system didn't work? Whether we google terms, trade in futures on the stock exchange or in the drone-war - we use algorithms everywhere.
Borders are blurred
In his book he begins at the beginning of human history in order to trace certain developments. Of course, religion also plays an important role here, which he believes will change fundamentally in the 21st century. [2]
”In the twenty-first century we will create more powerful fictions and more totalitarian religions than in any previous era. With the help of biotechnology and computer algorithms these religions will not only control our minute-by-minute existence, but will be able to shape our bodies, brains and minds, and to create entire virtual worlds complete with hells and heavens."[5]
First of all, it's frightening to imagine such a thing and at first you think that something like this might not happen so quickly. Even if it is perhaps a little exaggerated, does this gloomy statement not have a plausible reason?
Many cities that are developing towards cyborg cities are drifting towards dissolving the boundaries between people, cities and technology. Have you ever consciously walked through the city and observed people passing by? One thing comes to mind quite often. Most of them stare mechanically into their cell phones and are fascinated by them. Few concentrate on their environment. These "Smombies" are already walking through our streets like remote-controlled. [1]
From humanism to dataism
Organisms he describes as algorithms - everything in our nature is based on an algorithm. Basically, everything is based on a certain process that is carried out in order to achieve a certain result. He does not see man as an individual, but as dividual. This raises the question whether an algorithm doesn't actually know more about me than I do. [5]
”Liberal habits such as democratic elections will become obsolete, because Google will be able to represent even my own political opinions better than I can." [5]
"No one will ever be better able to control my personal political convictions than I am!", now everyone will think for themselves.
But is such a point not already reached? A legitimate question: After the UK referendum on leaving the EU, Google registered a 250% increase in searches for "What is the EU?". Googling before the election would probably have been better than after. So should elections be left to an algorithmic voting in order not to get a distorted image? But our political decision-making would then be superfluous, because the elections would then follow a machine-based determinism. According to Harari, the rule "Listen to the algorithms. They know how you feel." does not apply in dataism for nothing. [5][4]
30, single, male looking for...
But also in the even more private area, namely in the choice of a partner, we are increasingly giving up our control. In the age of Parship, Tinder and Co. we believe we have more certainty and less risk. Harari is of the opinion that at this moment of the search query the user believes to give the command and to be the master. However, it executes only the Page-Rank-Algorithm and acquires therefore actually only a kind of second hand knowledge. [1]
An alarm call
In general, Harari's description of the future is already very pessimistic, and it is therefore understandable that some critics do not approve of the exaggerated statements. But you should at least hear a wake-up call in not allowing the machines to do everything.
The question now is whether there will be an agreement between man and machine in our future or whether it is already too late for all of us and we have already submitted. Nowadays, participation in the computer network becomes a necessity and it is impossible to imagine our lives without it. Maybe at some point the point could be reached where it is impossible to disconnect from the network and we are actually only dependent on technology and thus useless.
DOES MAN BECOME A HOMO DEUS?
This question remains unanswered.
How do you see it? Will the border between man and technology blur faster than expected? Or are we going to defend ourselves in some way and if so, by what means?
AND: Would you want to be immortal if there was a chance?
Sources:
[1] https://www.zeit.de/kultur/literatur/2017-04/homo-deus-yuval-noah-harari-buchkritik
[2] https://www.spektrum.de/rezension/buchkritik-zu-homo-deus/1451773
[3] http://www.ynharari.com/de/book/homo-deus/
[4]https://www.macleans.ca/politics/worldpolitics/what-were-googles-most-frequent-searches-after-brexit/
[5] Harari, Y.N. (2018). Homo Deus: A story of tomorrow. (A. Wirthensohn, translated) (14th ed.). Munich: C.H.Beck.
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