Harari’s new book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, is fascinating. It lays out a simple and chilling core idea: human nature will change in the 21st century due to the separation of intelligence and consciousness. In the near future, we probably won’t build machines with emotions like humans: to have emotions means to be conscious. Robots don't fall in love with each other (but that doesn't mean humans can't fall in love with robots). But we have already used big data-processing networks and other means to create machines that understand human emotions better than ourselves: understanding emotions means intelligence.

For example, the Google search engine (not the company) does not have its own beliefs or desires. It doesn't care what we search for and won't be harmed by our actions. But by analyzing our behavior, it knows our desires faster than we do. This fact shows that artificial intelligence does have the potential to change the nature of humanity.

Yuval Harari's previous work, the global bestseller "A Brief History of Humankind", reminds us that we are not unique and inevitable existences by counting the past 75,000 years of human history. We are just the unexpected result of a series of coincidences. Homo sapiens is but one possible form of human development, an accidental product of evolution like every other species on our planet. The book ends with the idea that the history of Homo sapiens is coming to an end. We may be in the golden age of Homo sapiens, but we may also have reached the limits of our abilities. A Brief History of the Future elaborates on this idea: Our unparalleled control over the world around us is shaping us into something new.

The power of individuals becomes increasingly smaller in the face of the information flood sweeping the world

The evidence of our extraordinary abilities is everywhere: we have not only conquered nature, we have gradually conquered humanity's own worst enemies. The smoke of war is gradually fading, the shadow of famine has been lifted, and disease is retreating across the globe. To achieve these great things, we have created ever larger and more complex networks, treating individual humans as units of information. Evolutionary science tells us that, to some extent, humans are nothing more than information-processing machines: we are simply rules for computing information. By playing with this data, we can control our own destiny. But the algorithms we create are far better at this than we are. This is what Harari calls the separation of “intelligence” and “consciousness”.

Most modern topics are based on this view: the human individual is both a source of power and a giver of meaning. We are expected to be the decision-makers about what happens to us: voters vote, shoppers make purchases, lovers choose. But this idea is no longer true. We give power to the Internet: the Internet uses our will and thoughts to determine our destiny.

Three feet of ice does not freeze in one day. The modern state that emerged 400 years ago was actually nothing more than a machine for processing data. As early as 1651, the philosopher Hobbes called it an "automaton" (or in today's terms: a robot). The rigidity and ruthlessness of the state machine are the source of its power. It is precisely because it has no consciousness that it is possible to commit the most horrific acts. Unlike in the past, modern machines are much more efficient at processing data than states: as

A huge change driven by data is quietly taking place. We are at the beginning of this change, but according to Harari, there is nothing we can do about it. The book "Transcendence: A Brief History of the Future" is about the "end of history", but Harari is not pessimistic about the end of things. On the contrary, he believes that things are developing at an alarming speed, making it difficult to predict what the future will look like. People in 1800 could probably guess what the world would be like in 1900 and how we would survive in it. This is history: a series of human-directed events. But the world in 2100 is unimaginable to us now. We have no idea where we will end up in the future. Perhaps there is no place for ourselves in the future world we build.

Since there are alarm bells ahead and the future has not yet arrived, why don’t we do everything we can to prevent it from happening? Harari believes that the modern belief that "individuals can control their own destiny" is tantamount to a desperate attempt. The real power has always belonged to the network. Individuals alone are ultimately powerless creatures, unable to defeat bears and lions. What enabled humans to ultimately dominate the earth was the power of countless individuals forming groups. These groups—such as businesses, religions, and nations—are now integrated into the interconnected flow of information in the network. Today, the power of individuals becomes increasingly smaller in the face of the flood of information sweeping the world, and it becomes increasingly difficult to resist this trend.

Data God

Some people have given up resistance. For them, the cornerstone creeds of modern society—freedom, democracy, and autonomy—have gradually given way to emerging beliefs—the religion of data. Its congregants—mostly from Silicon Valley—believe in the power of information and encourage us to see it as the only source of value. We exist because of how much we contribute to information processingfew. Perhaps embracing the data god will pay off in a big way: as the information that empowers us becomes more readily available, it will become increasingly easier for us to get what we want. Our preferences and experiences become one. Lifespan will also be greatly extended: the Data Cult believes that in the next step they will transcend the limitations of death and become immortal. But the shortcomings are also obvious: What will our identity be then? It’s just a pile of countless information points. The dystopianism of the 20th century worked hard to imprint state power on every individual. But this attempt will appear redundant over the next century. As Harari said: "The human individual will not be destroyed by Big Brother; it will be destroyed from within."

Enterprises and governments will still respect our individuality and needs, but in order to serve themselves, they will "degrade us into biochemical systems." Both enterprises and governments have long been controlled by powerful algorithms. There is also a dystopian aspect to this idea: early believers—those who are the first to join the Cult of Data—will become a powerful minority among humanity, a position that cannot be challenged. It is difficult for ordinary people to join this emerging elite. Their requirements for educational background are extremely demanding, and you must not hesitate to combine your identity with intelligent machinery. Then you have the opportunity to become one of the emerging "gods". There is a cruel prophecy that only a small group of people can become the priestly class and enjoy the right to the ultimate wisdom, while the remaining humans are just tools to serve their plans. The future may look like a digitally upgraded ancient era, such as ancient Egypt ruled by FaceBook.

If intelligence and consciousness eventually part ways, most of humanity will be enslaved by a few possessors of advanced knowledge

Harari has always been cautious about whether these bizarre predictions can eventually come true. After all, the future is still unknown. However, he has extremely strong views on what these prophecies mean for human-animal relationships in today's society. If intelligence and consciousness eventually went their separate ways, it would put most of humanity in the same position as animals: enslaved by a few possessors of superior knowledge. Harari seems unfazed by predictions that robots will treat us as coldly and violently as we treat flies. Instead, he wants us to reflect on how animals are treated in today’s vast industrial farm system. Pigs are clearly suffering from being raised alone in a small space from an early age. If we think that pigs do not have advanced intelligence and do not regard these as suffering, we will incur physical suffering for ourselves. Because soon these things will happen to us. What will our suffering be worth in return?

This is a very wise book, full of sharp insights and modern wisdom. But Harari himself would probably be the first to admit that the wisdom of this book is limited by human standards. To the wisest of machines, this book appears vague and unsubstantiated. The power of data sets has limits. The real power comes from the unique sense of consciousness behind it.

This is also a strange and cold book. Its central idea isI want to be as cold as ice. Harari is concerned about the fate of animals in human society, but he nonchalantly uses a condescending perspective to describe the experience of homo sapiens in a data-driven society. I have to admit that I'm attracted to this, but maybe that's because of who I am (I'm a human being at the end of the day). However, not everyone can read this book with a positive attitude. It's hard to imagine anyone reading this book who wouldn't feel creeped out.

Nietzsche once wrote: Humanity is like setting sail in the endless sea, and now we seem to have finally left Christian morality behind. "A Brief History of the Future" makes us feel that after a long and arduous journey, mankind is standing on the edge of a dangerous cliff. The journey behind me no longer seems important. We are about to miss the mark and fall into the abyss.

(Translation: Li Xue)