Homo Deus

Yuval Noah Harari, 2015

Having tamed famine, plague and war, humanity may now chase immortality, bliss and divinity, while algorithms that know us better than we do could undermine faith in human feelings.

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8 parts, about 28 minutes to read.

Why read it

Argues that having tamed famine, plague and war, humanity will next chase immortality, happiness and godlike powers
Shows how money, nations and gods are shared stories that let strangers cooperate, and why that matters for the future
Explains how algorithms that know us better than we know ourselves could erode liberal ideas of free will and the individual

Who it is for

Readers wondering how artificial intelligence will reshape work and politics
People curious about history, religion and what makes humans powerful
Readers who question free will and the idea of a unique self

What the summary covers

From an old agenda to a new one5 min
Humans as gods to the animals3 min
What really makes Sapiens powerful3 min
When stories run the world3 min
The modern deal and the humanist revolution4 min
The self the sciences cannot find2 min
The great decoupling4 min
Techno humanism, Dataism and three questions4 min

Recommended by

Daniel KahnemanAuthor of Thinking, Fast and Slow
Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. Above all, it will make you think in ways you had not thought before.
Kazuo IshiguroNovelist
Even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens
Matt HaigNovelist
Yuval Noah Harari is the most entertaining and thought-provoking writer of non-fiction at the moment. As with Sapiens, you finish the book feeling much wiser
Jarvis CockerMusician
Shows us where mankind is headed in an absolutely clear-sighted and accessible manner

About the author

Yuval Noah HarariProfessor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Born in Israel in 1976; PhD from the University of Oxford in 2002
- Studied at the Hebrew University 1993 to 1998 (BA, medieval and military history); Oxford DPhil at Jesus College
- Won the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in 2009 and 2012
- Cofounded the social impact company Sapienship in 2019
- His books have sold 55 million copies in 65 languages (all books, not Sapiens alone)

Read it alongside

Goes deeperThe Denial of Death
Yuval Noah Harari forecasts that humanity will probably pursue immortality and divinity, with the fear of death giving the effort momentum; Ernest Becker argues that humans are half animal and half symbolic, and build hero systems to hope their works outlive death.