Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

WHAT poses the chief threat to mankind in the 21st century: financial meltdown, nuclear war or ecological disaster? 

The answer, according to Yuval Noah Harari, is none of the above. Instead our greatest existential challenge will come from the ‘techno-religion’ known as Dataism. Not convinced? Read on.

Harari, an Israeli professor of history, first came to the world’s attention with his bestselling Sapiens, the 6,000-year story of how humans used consciousness and collective myths (such as gods and money) to conquer the world. 

Now, in Homo Deus, he explores what might happen when these old myths are combined with new ‘godlike’ technologies such as artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. 

The possibilities are – to put it mildly – terrifying.

By Yuval Noah Harari