A Brief History of Tomorrow - Book Review of Homo Deus

If you want a book to play on your mind, long after you have completed reading it, may be Homo Deus : A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari will fit the brief perfectly. I had read Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind by the same author last year and had reviewed it here. 

Homo Deus is a follow-up book to Sapiens. But don't worry if you haven't read the earlier one, though I strongly recommend it. The author makes concrete efforts to provide all the key concepts of Sapiens in a succinct manner in the first few chapters of this book. And then also links those concepts with his hypothesis for this book. The book in itself is thrilling, exciting, scary and a fast read. While reading Sapiens, I was overwhelmed with the way the author made history, simple and fun. He interpreted history in a modern milieu that connected with me. But this time, while reading Homo Deus, I discovered the story-teller in him. I noticed his wit and dark humor. I was impressed by his knowledge on subjects so varied. I was overwhelmed by his fertile imagination, (which might be just a biological algorithm) and yet a rooted narrative and his ability to make far fetched things sound reasonable. As a reader, whether you agree with his theories or not; the examples, parables and anecdotes he puts forth in support of his theories can't be disagreed with. 

This book is not for the weak hearts. Sapiens made me feel good because it told us that in our human history we are placed much better than our ancestors. Homo Deus is scary because author's imagined future (high probability of being a reality) is a death knell for Homo Sapiens, especially the ones who don't have tons of money (62 people in the world have half the wealth of the world) or who don't have a talent which can't be converted into algorithms. Apparently, the art forms like music and paintings which we so strongly believe, reflect pinnacle of human glory, would be produced perfectly in near future by machines and Artificial Intelligence. 

In The Matrix, the science fiction film that released in 1999, the film-makers showed a dystopian  future where machines would lord over the humans. The only purpose of humans in that imagined future would be to provide energy to run those machines. Neo (the lead protagonist played by Keanu Reeves) is 'the One', who provides hope for the humanity.  

Yuval Noah Harari just stops short of stating the horrors shown in the film. But he clearly states that as humans were able to create imagined realities and mass cooperation networks, they emerged as superior beings to other animals. This enabled them to lord over animals. He is critical of how we treat the animals for our needs. Drawing a parallel to this, he imagines when data and algorithms would emerge as far superior entities than human beings, why those entities wouldn't treat us humans the same way, we treat animals!

I love the way author explains how our religions and Gods have changed throughout our history. The book looks at growth and spread of different religions (his definition of what is a religion needs to be agreed upon though) - animistic to theist to modern '-isms'  (like capitalism, liberalism, communism, socialism. humanism etc.) leading to dataism. I also particularly like the chapters, where he explains how science so far has been able to solve the problems of war, plague and famine. But the future agenda would be to provide humans with immortality, happiness and divinity. This might lead to emergence of super human beings (Homo Deus) who will not have much use for the useless Homo Sapiens.

There is a funny part titled, A Brief History of Lawns, in one of the earlier chapters, wherein he clearly indicates that we have a choice to make today. Our choices can change the course of tomorrow.  Clearly there is no 'Neo' who would be our savior. 

Facts & Videos - January Reads

Last year I read 21 books against a plan of 24. So this year again, I will try to reach that elusive number of 24. I am happy to report that the year has started on a bright note and I have completed two books in January, both of them non-fiction. Interestingly, both of them are also directly relevant to my line of work. But most importantly, each book has a unique perspective on things which are happening today, in front of us. 

First book that I read is interestingly titled, 'Factfulness' by Hans Rosling. The tagline in the book title reads, "Ten Reasons we're Wrong About the World - And Why Things are Better Than You Think." That is a great hook. Though this book is not as deep or as profound as Sapiens written by Yuval Noah Harari (read my views on the book Sapiens here); in a way the souls of both books are connected. Both books tell us how our world is in a better place than we imagine. Sapiens relies on historical / archaeological evidence to make its case, while Factfulness makes us question our basic human instincts and biases, that blind us towards any data or facts or trends, contrary to our dominant thinking. 

The author warns us about ten such human instincts and suggests methods to overcome those while making any assessment or forming any opinion. As certain instincts resemble each other, you might find book to be repetitive at times, especially in the first few chapters. 

Also while the book deals with the subject of numbers / data / facts, it is still an easy read for everyone because the book's narrative is in the form of a story and is replete with relevant examples and visual aids. So while it is a good read for people who work with numbers, it is great for those who don't.

The second book is interesting and flawed at the same time. Videocracy by Kevin Allocca (YouTube's Head of Culture and Trends) is an interesting book because it talks about videos on YouTube and builds a context around them by explaining what makes YouTube a big deal for everyone in this universe. It is a flawed book because at times it sounds like a propaganda and a hard-sell. The book conveniently ignores the aspects related to moderation, privacy, consent, intellectual property and negative content - especially hate videos. It almost justifies cyber-bullying by citing the larger good. The book pompously suggests that everyone in this universe will rely on video content to know about humanity and culture and thus there is no other way to assimilate knowledge or learn. Now let me focus on my takeaways and the good bits.

The author tries to establish three things in this book:

1. The power to make a piece of content or a video (art?) successful or viral has shifted towards users /  viewers / communities. They are the ones who are shaping the changes on YouTube and the role of  content itself. 

2. Celebrities - Fans equation is changing and is more of a relationship of equals now, due to diminishing distance between them through platforms like YouTube.

3. Most of the organically successful videos on YouTube are expression of self identity of the creator as well as of the viewers who made them successful. This concept is then linked to the rise of huge number of niche art forms and niche communities on YouTube. 

There are several other takeaways in the book, but these three resonated with me the most. 

Initial parts of the book were repetitive and exhausting as the subject matter isn't classified properly in chapters. Also most of the video references given to explain the points were US based and I either had to look them up or make some assumptions, which made it a slower reading experience. But the chapters on how marketing ads changed their nature due to YouTube or how YouTube changed lives,  due to its content related to learning (example 'How to' videos) and political discourse (example Arab Spring) appealed to me. 

The last part of the book warns us of the pitfalls of what we share, view or believe. But it is not enough!

Both books made me think and that is a win. Next on cards is Yuval Noah Harari's follow-up book to Sapiens - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Keep watching this space to know about it. Happy Reading!

Two Tough Books

Normally, I am able to read a book, the moment I get my hands on it. Also, if I start reading one, I would finish it start to end without reading any other book during that period. This period normally would be few hours to few days, depending on length and genre of the book and the time I have for reading. 

Few books were exceptions - I gave 6 months each to Ayn Rand's Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I was in my twenties then, and I was so overwhelmed by them, that I kept reading few paragraphs and pages again and again. These were the books, where more than what lies ahead, what I just read excited me. There was another book titled White Mughals by William Dalrymple which took me almost 6 months to complete. This one was really challenging. It was thick and it was history. History, the way I perceived it then was a boring school subject. And even after completing this book with great difficulty, my perception didn't change. Then there is this one book, which I haven't completed in last 15 years. It was Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. I left it incomplete after the third habit and have hated the self-help genre since then. I had mentioned about this in one of my earlier posts on books here.

In this post, I am going to talk about two books, which kept lying on my bookshelf for more than a year, before I could muster the courage to pick them up and read. And, I must say it has been a rewarding experience both the times.

The first one was Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and the second one was Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Shantaram was so thick, that I just got scared looking at it. Since I completed it in 2016, I have been less scared of thick books. And the word 'History' in the title of book Sapiens, sounded repulsive. Since I completed it, recently, I have a new found love for history.

Producing below, my views on both the books.

Shantaram  - An Epic Journey

(Reproduced from my LinkedIn article dated 25th March 2016)

First of all, it is a tough and difficult book to read. I started it first two years a

go but abandoned it after reading 100 odd pages. I picked it up again few weeks back with strong determination to finish it, come what may. And I must say it was a wise decision. I realised why it was a difficult book to read. Because it is like no other book I have read before. It is not just a thriller as it is known popularly. It is very profound and delves into philosophy. It uses very difficult words but not for pretence. So when I picked it up this time I started slow and took 4 weeks to read first 300 odd pages with great pains and difficulty. I wasn't sure where the book was heading to. But one will have to make that investment to reap the big rewards in the remaining 633 pages.

Secondly, this is not just a chronicle of underworld or mafia in Mumbai. Yes, it is that too. But it is actually a journey of a man in the quest of truth. And it is an epic journey because it spans years and continents. It introduces us to several hundred characters in blood and flesh. And that is the winning ability of the author. The author is able to keep the reader interested as several questions get answered as you progress. 

Many subplots if narrated without the context may sound incredulous. But as the author humanised these stories and subplots and peppered them with enough realism, he is able to make its readers believe in the credibility of the going ons. 

For me there were several nuggets in the book that will stay with me for long. I liked the way author talks about love in all its forms. I understood how forgiving someone gives freedom. I realised the difference between honour and virtue. And finally I understood that one man's evil can be other man's good.

Sapiens - Humanising History

History has always given me jitters. History has always meant the following for me:

a. Dates and years, which I couldn't remember. Especially irksome was the AD / BC con

fusion. Or was it AB / CD?

b. Names of the places, kings, kingdoms, battles etc. which get mixed up in my mind. But I am still not sure who were real freedom fighters? The revolutionaries or the Dandi March ones? Who brought us freedom? Was it real freedom? The school history books never told us this.

c. Learn it by rote. Can you really blame me for being scared of History?

I bought Sapiens because it came highly recommended, but I started reading it only after it spent a historical time on my bookshelf, gathering the dust of the year gone by. 

And, I must say, I loved the book. If you can only read 10 books in your life, this should make to that list. And, I am saying this without reading hundreds of other books which are highly recommended.

This book has lot of dates, events and names. I finished the book yesterday and I must confess, I still don't remember most of these. But it doesn't matter. That is the key paradigm shift. While reading I didn't feel compelled to even remember these things. Still, I feel my perspective on our history is far richer. It is a clear win for the author, because his narrative style is fluid and full of examples and anecdotes which you can visualise. 

I recall from school history books, lot of wars and battles. And, they were always won by good people. Because victors had a self image that they are the right ones and they wrote the history.

But Sapiens doesn't take sides. It tells you history based on evidence. It tells you history like the way it happened or way it could have happened. It clearly brings to fore the possibilities where evidence is weak. It lets you as a reader to make your own conclusions. But most importantly, it makes you question everything you knew so far about yourself and your beliefs. It makes you uncomfortable at times. It makes you feel insignificant. It blurs the distinction between good and evil. It articulates our evolution as a species in a three act structure. And it makes history, interesting.