Homo Deus Synopsis

Homo Deus is part of political, sociology, and environmentalist theory. 

The author Yuval Noah Harari draws on the evolutionary heritage of humans to explain human nature, our values, and our future. 

He argues that a new epoch of civilization is beginning, in which humans will be able to shape their world in unprecedented ways through our powers of reason.

This is an ambitious work with chapters on topics as diverse as artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, the evolution of human intelligence, the evolution of the human mind, the history of freedom, the evolution of morality, and challenges to humanity’s future.

In the following lines, we offer a brief synopsis of the book and highlight the key concepts expressed by the author.

The idea of human primacy

There is little doubt that humans are the most influential beings on Earth. But what does the future hold for us? 

If we are to know our future, we must be familiar with our past. What is the source of our power?

12,000 years ago, a transition started happening – our ancestors were shifting from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Mankind was now domesticating other animals, thus putting humans higher in the hierarchy of beings.

This dynamic has persisted up until this very day and has drastically grown in proportion – more than 90 percent of the large animals on Earth nowadays are livestock. It’s odd how many animals suffering we are willing to accept in return for cheap meat, dairy, eggs, and leather, amongst other goods. 

The conditions in which many of these animals are raised are defined by confinement, overmedication, artificial insemination, and, eventually, slaughter.

The concept of the human spirit

What gives us the right to treat animals like this? 

In the major components of our being, we are not as far apart from other species as we like to think.  

We uphold the concept of the human spirit as something which excuses our enslaving behaviors towards other beings, drawing the boundary between us and them. And yet, there is no solid proof that the human soul exists despite millennia of monotheism.

It is an often encountered assumption that the intelligence and self-awareness of other animals are more primitive than that of humans. 

Yet after so many years of scientific research, we still don’t have a working theory as to what consciousness is, let alone if some creatures possess more complicated versions of it than others.

The human conquest of the world

There must be other ways of explaining the human conquest of the world. A line of thought to consider is that no other species can interact with our versatility on a global scale. 

For instance, over the last decades, most countries have held political elections. This is a grand effort of coordinating resources, time, and information which no other animal would be capable of.

We can work with each other in collectives across time and space which gives us an edge over other animals. 

Our systems of coordination, like religion, provide us with stories to live by. But they also pose us in front of moral challenges – what is the correct reading of a story, and how is it best applied to daily life? 

Coordination might have contributed to our supremacy over other beings, but how did these principles of collectivism arise in the first place? 

Our communication brings forth stories. They are carriers of our agreements with each other, the virtues we uphold. These narratives are the foundation of a shared moral code. 

A classical historical example of this dynamic would be the Christian Crusades to reconquer Jerusalem from the Muslims. This effort united people across the entirety of Europe, even people from nations that had previously been at war with each other. 

What brought them together was their shared belief in Catholic Christianity, with the shared responsibilities and promised rewards they shared as believers.

The influence of religions

Religions are still influential, but we must consider how their narratives have changed over time. Try convincing someone to join you on a military venture to conquer a foreign country because the Pope ordered it. It’s unlikely you’ll be successful. 

To explain why religion is so powerful, we need to inquire about what it is and what it does. Essentially, it is the shared belief in a system of judgment independent from the actions of persons engaged with it. It is a set of laws and principles according to which we can organize our societies. 

There are other stories that we live by. Political affiliations, though they are not seen as God-given, also carry the claim of access to knowledge of what is right or wrong. And so do science, medicine, and law. 

We can’t replace religion with any of these other fields. They are all necessary to us as human beings. Science enables us to manipulate physical reality better, but it does not respond to our moral questions. Religion is not antiquated.

As an illustration, think of a great road-building project. In connecting two major cities, you would have to build overground which is now settled by a few hundred people. 

Would it be fair to displace these families in the name of infrastructural improvement? 

One can use science to devise a plan for the road and the regulation of its quality, but whether the project should be carried out in the first place is not a scientific question. 
Resolving such dilemmas still requires us to use a system that can act as a moral compass. Hence, religion has not lost its utility. 

Focus and Actionable Tips:

1. What heights we scale! Humanity’s ambitions change by the day.
2. Humans claimed superiority over animals and proved it through cooperation.
3. Religion has given us narratives and these encapsulate moral dilemmas.
4. Modernity means we can shape our lives. But has meaning been lost?
5. Liberal societies derive meaning from human experience, not God.
6. Modern science threatens liberalism at its heart.
7. Algorithms and technologies will one day rule our lives.
8. As algorithms get even more powerful, we face a choice. Fight back or let them prevail?

The author: Yuval Noah Harari

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian and a professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of the popular science bestsellers Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

Harari obtained his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 2002, under the supervision of Steven J. Gunn.

He specializes in World History, medieval history, and military history; he is particularly renowned for his theories on free will in history. Harari also teaches at Oxford University, where he is a visiting professor.

In 2011 he published his first book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. The book was translated into 40 languages and became an international bestseller. In 2014 he published his second book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. It was also a best seller and has been translated into over 30 languages.

His third book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century was published on August 28, 2018, and focuses on contemporary issues such as fake news, terrorism, and nuclear war as well as existential threats posed by artificial intelligence and climate change.

Extended Homo Deus Synopsis

You can find an extended synopsis of Home Deus, along with summaries – also in audio format – of hundreds of books on spirituality, philosophy, and personal development, on apps like Blinkist.