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Q&A – The Future of Humanity – with Yuval Noah Harari



The Royal Institution

Can machines ever have consciousness? Is there an economic value in it? Does organic life any life over inorganic, artificial life? Dr Yuval Noah Harari answers questions from the audience following his talk.
Watch his talk here: https://youtu.be/XOmQqBX6Dn4
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Buy Yuval Noah Harari’s “Homo Deus” – https://geni.us/mdi6e

Throughout history there were many revolutions: in technology, in economics, in society, in politics. But one thing always remained constant: humanity itself. We still have the same bodies, the same brains, and the same minds as our ancestors in ancient China or in the Stone Age. Our tools and institutions are very different from those of Confucius’s time, but the deep structures of the human body and mind remain the same.

However, the next big revolution of history will change that. In the twenty-first century, there will again be many revolutions in technology, in economics, in politics. But for the first time in history, humanity itself will also undergo a radical revolution. Not only our society and economy, but our bodies and minds will be transformed by new technologies such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology and brain-computer interfaces.

Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. Above all, it will make you think in ways you had not thought before – Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow

Dr Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specialising in World History. ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’, published in 2014, was on the Sunday Times bestseller list for over six months in paperback, was a New York Times top ten bestseller and has been published in nearly 40 languages worldwide.

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31 thoughts on “Q&A – The Future of Humanity – with Yuval Noah Harari
  1. As others have said, he is brilliant. Yet, in my opinion, he is wrong in regard to consciousness. He buys into the hypothesis that consciousness does not derive from brain. Perhaps he should have sat with me when treating people for brain death. I can guarantee you that their consciousness went away also.

    Humans have long preferred the hypothesis of a spirit or soul that exists beyond our physical selves. Okay, I get the attraction. However, that doesn't make it so. If we hypothesize that consciousness derives from something other than brain (as one member of the audience clearly believed) then there must be some form of process ("mechanics") whereby that consciousness operates. Even more, there must be some way for that consciousness to interact with the physical brain so that real-world effects (such as thought) may derive from that external consciousness. The problem is, there is no evidence for either of these things – an external mechanics, nor a bridge between those hypothesized mechanics and the real brain.

    Here's an alternative. Consciousness is really not all that difficult. Nervous systems developed in evolution as ways to orchestrate organism response to environmental circumstance. As organisms became more physiologically complex a method for orchestrating the whole organism to consistent response was required. We now call those emotions – unifying physiological states aimed at response to varied environmental circumstances. Early versions were fear and aggression (later "fight or flight" via Cannon and Selye). Then, organisms needed to move beyond stimulus-response to "possible stimulus – possible responses". This founded imagination, creative responses and later creativity in its own right. Then, all of this became personalized via another set of neurons devoted to evolving socialization and the tension between self-other dilemmas. Eventually this set of neurons has come to be the basis of what we now call "consciousness", issues of "self", and the realms of imagination/creativity. It is not all that difficult; and, it is all explainable neuronally. There is proof for a brain and for loss of behavior when the brain is dead. There is no proof for the imagined extensions (rather, there are only libraries full of evidence that we do create fictions).

    Cheers

  2. The Toyota Altruist vs. The Toyota Egoist! 😂😂😂😂😂
    Suggesting a car company would build two options into its cars for the owner to have the car's AI kill others to save themselves vs the opposite is freaking awesome!
    I love this guy now! That ending was epic!

  3. Maybe the solution (if anyone is looking for one) is to live in the present and forget the anxiety about the future? Teach that to children.

    Maybe the oceans will rise by the end of 30 years and cause more problems by wiping out a portion of the population! And we will have jobs to repair our earth!

    Another solution would be giving up consumer mindset and inculcate a producer mindset- in other words get back to farming your own food. Because everything we do is for food.

    But the real question is, are we humans capable of giving up tech and get back to being producers (earth will surely appreciate if we go backward and become early man again)

  4. Why are no one mentioning communism? All the problems in this debate will inherently lead to communism.
    When all jobs or most jobs will be taken over by automatization and AI, UBI won't be the answer, as it will leave an expendable class, as he mentions. The rich will only get richer from this consumer/UBI class, while the UBI class will remain at their level, and will be dependant on corporate taxes to keep them alive.

    The only thing that can solve this is by taking over the means of production, and use it for the betterment of humanity as a whole. UBI is already basically a mild form of communism, where everyone is being given certain products to stay alive.

    Check out what a resource-based economy is, and how its obviously the future for humanity.

  5. If consciousness is the management unit that balances between the 15 primal feelings. Simple animals manage with balancing two feelings at once (fear/want_that).

  6. Not only that we do not have much time to explore new socio-political models, but also that we are a malignant (not a benign) civilization. If our history is anything to by, we will end up with models of the worst kind that will server only the Trumps, Putins, Clintons, Bushes of the world and leave out the vast billions out of the equation.

    I think, it is more important to be worried about the alpha-male genes in us than the AI, which may well turn out to be more benign than us. After all, AI will be rational and logical (like Leela that is a super chess player) and, hence, knows that harming another AI cannot be a logical goal or outcome. We may see Data's of the world (from Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek) create a world more benign than we humans are even capable of – unless the Chomsky's of the world can take over governance.

  7. Human civilization is at a cusp of history where we can decide to build a benigh and magnificent civilization OR decide to end up a DOOMED one.

    With AIs doing all the work, we can either liberate humans from the drudgery of monotonous work and place every human in positions of fundamental entitlements to health, education and political rights. OR, go down the lane of complete DOOM where we see the emergence of a 21st century version of slavery, which is kept in place by powerful AIs and CCTVs for monitoring.

    I suspect, our civilization's malignant tendencies is likely take us down various versions of the DOOMED future. Biological and social evolution has given us two of worst toxic combinations – alpha genes that seeks power for the sake of power and irrational minds that can scheme the worst schemes of destruction (like the Hitlers, the Stalins, the Bushes, the Reagans, the Blairs, the Putins, et. al.) and that continues to believe in the non-existent.

    Yes the political and religious human is a toxic combination that social and biological evolutions have gifted us with. Such a human uses the power of intelligence to seek domination and also submit to theistic behavior (including brown-nosing bosses) for ulterior motives.

  8. Our politics and ethics have been outpaced by technological advancements. Hence, we continue to manage ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads in the same way we used to when we were stone and spear throwing tribes!

  9. Our archaic religious morality continues to preach nonsense that we know are no longer valid and irrelevant for the 21st century civilization. But we are mired in those millennia old nonsense.

  10. Hence, our archaic morality and ethics goads us into misusing and abusing the technological prowess that is now at our finger tips.

    HOW I WISH THE NOAM CHOMSKY'S, THE ROBERT OWEN'S, THE HAMDI ULUKAYA'S (OF CHOBANI YOGURT FAME), THE GENE RODDENBERRY'S, THE EDWIN HUBBLES', THE CARL SAGAN'S, THE NELSON MANDELA'S OF THE WORLD COULD HELP US TRANSITION INTO BENIGNITY!

  11. If you limit the consumer you loose the system – AI will remove 80% of jobs even the elite will loose their value and status – the remaining 20 % will not last long . TOTAL CAL APSE !

  12. Possibly consciousness is the consequence of layers of sensations and perceptions and the ability of the brain to function as a database that can provide multiple levels of experiences through association. Artificial intelligence may eventually reach this level of forming a facsimile of human consciousness. Super intelligence is likely to be the result of the speed and power of artificial intelligence. Think about how much progress or advancement will be forthcoming over the next couple of decades or further into the future. Mankind will need to integrate with this technology to remain on a communicative level of where artificial intelligence is heading.

  13. I don't know why people are afraid of the idea of super intelligence with no consciousness behind it. As humans have proven over and over throughout history, having consciousness does not guarantee benevolence, compassion, or even empathy. I would feel much safer with a super intelligence that is not conscious, because consciousness has lead repeatedly to feelings such as fear, hatred and jealousy. These emotions cause so much pain and suffering in the world. Even more scary than the idea of a super intelligence going rogue and turning on humans, is the idea of a human consciousness with all these flawed emotions controlling a super intelligent AI for its own benefit. That very scenario could lead to things such as the Holocaust on a world wide scale.

  14. With 2020 fast tracking to 2050 dictatorship global society , thanks to Covid 19 … who’s still thinking of bringing kids in the brave new world ? Those with children under the age of 5yrs old, all those so fucked now 🤦‍♂️

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