Yuval Harari - The Challenges of The 21st Century

Prof. Yuval Harari is a historian, philosopher and best-selling author of 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind' and 'Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow'.
Recorded July, 2018

[MosesRabuka]

“In a world deluged by irrelevant information, CLARITY IS POWER” ~ Yuval Noah Harari

[vvvv]

Very Grateful About Prof. Harari ... InTo Speaking Up ...

[chfgbp]

The easiest people to manipulate are those who are overconfident about their own freewill, judgement, knowledge and ability. Amen.

[rangocharlie]

I choose(paradoxically) to say "Truth and only the truth shall set you free "... fantastic ideas and knowledge is presented here...

[timhud]

What a brilliant and simple thinker, harari ....

[yarvik]

Very coherent model of the world is offered, taking into account past and future trends.

[arcanuslosanara]

Harari is a genius of popular explanations of behavioral theory.

[Perserra]

Not everybody's emotions are equal either. Some people are more emotionally stable, and comprehend their own feelings better, than others.

One of the best speakers ever I saw. All of his topics are incredibly interesting.

[bonolv]

“Organisms are algorithms and algorithms can hack organisms”

[DavidMorley]

Videographer: Please display his slides while he's speaking. Thanks for the excellent content.

[galadhelne]

I loved homo sapiens and I now started reading homo deus. Excellent.

[eleanoravinor]

The questions about humanism is like a spear in my mind and heart, touches my inner core. Caused me to think and feel. Human beings are not the center of the universe.

[ROBERTBROWN]

From reading the comments its Interesting how many religious, free market wing nuts are being triggered by this lecture. Harari doesn't know what the future holds and he is certainly not advocating for a certain type of future society. He is simply describing reality and is highlighting some potential pitfalls based on current trends. If humanity is going to survive (I'm sorry fundamentalists) we need to have this conversation

[marilialevacov]

Brilliant, accurate and disturbing lecture, as all Harari’s ones. I would like to point out that the woman who asked the question is the epitome of something he has just described: She was chosen NOT because she would have the best question, but simply based on faulty “humanistic” criteria such as:
a) being a woman from Harvard (and what it symbolizes: humanist, liberal, democrat, intellectual, "feminist" - in the limited and unilateral manner with which Western feminism chooses or ignores issues), etc. .
b) having constraints that prioritize her above the others (hierarquical, geographic and temporal: she needed to be in person (in atoms) elsewhere because she would give the next lecture in a short time).
~~~
It was fun watch her use a subjective quote (which expressed her opinion in a “erudite/impressive” and harvard-like way from a “respected” source, Shakespeare no less.) by "googling" it WHILE he was speaking (googling because the whole text of the piece / of all plays by Shakespeare / all theatricals / etc does not fit in her human memory/data-base) and by having insisted in fumbling and trying to find it in her hand-held machine/cellphone in order to formulate her question (analogical communication inefficiency), etc….
~~~
And I would also like to applaud the elegant and diplomatic manner in which Yuval Harari chose to reply, instead of pointing out that she, herself, was the answer, with the choices that she made (her behavior and words to formulate the question). The point is that his chilling lecture threatens all she stands for, the organisation she represents, the “Humanistic thought”, because Humanistic ethics & symbolic values will not stand the scrutiny of logical/machine-like intelligences, such as AI.

[thomasshepherd]

I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that Homo Sapiens changed my life. I didn't agree with all of his assertions in the book but wasn't that the point? To get people thinking about the issues around us and then to make informed decisions about the part we want to play in the world. Today I feel like a born-again humanist.

[mihai-cristiangrigoriu]

Hello! Have we so easily given up free will? If the algorithms can produce infinite number of 'decision making patterns' how many more options do we need really? And just as a side-note, not only can we exercise free-will, we have also taken the liberty of shaping and molding our environments as a way of re-rewriting algorithms as you might put it.

[DaniABminus]

What brilliant insight. I prefer his stark but objective manner to the subtle or not so subtle manipulation tactics others use to get you to side with their point of view. There are a few layers I can’t see, but they’re not to serve the ego’s superficialities and I appreciate that. YT’s algorithms got it right by suggesting I listen to him. He is everything I find mentally stimulating. Great topic, excellent delivery.

[onwun]

Democracy beat dictatorship in the 20th century because democracy distributes the processing of information and goods while dictatorship centralizes them. In the 21st century the processing can be done by AI so can be efficient even when it's centralized, that leads to digital dictatorship.
And that is why I think to prevent dictatorship, blockchain should be in use in order to prevent all kinds of centralization of processing of information, production and goods

[bougatses]

About free will: Studies have shown that what you BELIEVE about free will change behaviour. But how is that possible if behaviour is deterministic (the "no free will model") Beliefs can't effect a predetermined brain, yet they do