You’ve probably seen the cover. That gold-leafed, slightly eerie eye staring back at you from a bookstore shelf or a "must-read" list curated by Silicon Valley billionaires. When Yuval Noah Harari released Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, it felt like a punch to the gut for anyone who believed humans were the center of the universe.
People call it a prediction book. They’re wrong.
Harari himself has said it over and over—history isn't a straight line. It's a series of "what-ifs." If you treat this book like a crystal ball, you’re missing the point. It’s actually a warning about how our own success might become our biggest trap.
The New Agenda: Why We’re Bored with Survival
For thousands of years, humans had a pretty simple to-do list: don't starve, don't catch the plague, and try not to get killed in a war. It was a brutal, full-time job.
But look at where we are now.
Honestly, in 2026, we’ve reached a weird milestone. More people die today from eating too much than from eating too little. More people die of old age than from infectious diseases. Even more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers or terrorists.
We’ve basically "solved" the old problems of the 20th century. So, what’s next? Harari argues that as Sapiens, we can't just sit still. We have an itch. We need a new project.
The new human agenda is terrifyingly ambitious:
- Immortality: Treating death like a technical glitch rather than a divine decree.
- Happiness: Not just feeling "okay," but using biochemistry to guarantee a constant state of bliss.
- Divinity: Upgrading ourselves into gods with the power to create and destroy life at will.
It sounds like sci-fi, but it's happening in labs right now. When companies like Calico (Google’s longevity arm) spend billions to "solve" death, they aren't joking. They’re following the Homo Deus blueprint.
The Algorithmic Nightmare Nobody Talks About
This is where things get uncomfortable. Basically, Harari’s big "Aha!" moment is that humans aren't special.
Wait. Let me rephrase that.
We’ve spent centuries believing in "humanism"—the idea that our feelings, our free will, and our individual experiences are the ultimate source of authority. We vote because we think the voter knows best. We buy things because we think the customer is always right.
📖 Related: Hi Anime App Download: What Most People Get Wrong
But science is whispering a different story.
Biologists are increasingly seeing organisms as just a collection of algorithms. Your "gut feeling"? That's just millions of neurons calculating probabilities based on past data. If you’re a set of algorithms, and Google or Meta has a better algorithm than you do, why should you be in charge?
Think about it. We already trust GPS more than our own sense of direction. We trust Spotify to know what we want to hear more than our own memories of "good music."
In Homo Deus, Harari suggests a "Great Decoupling." Intelligence is splitting away from consciousness. For millions of years, they went together. To be smart, you had to be conscious. Not anymore. A self-driving car doesn't "feel" the road, but it’s a better driver than you. An AI doesn't "feel" love, but it can write a poem that makes you cry.
The Rise of the "Useless Class"
This term gets people fired up. It’s harsh.
Harari isn't saying people are worthless in a moral sense. He’s saying they might become economically and politically irrelevant.
📖 Related: The Internet Is Starting To Look Really Weird: What’s Actually Happening to Your Feed
In the Industrial Revolution, the elite needed the masses. You needed soldiers for the army and workers for the factories. If the masses revolted, the elite were in trouble.
But in the age of AI and robotics, what happens when the elite don't need the masses anymore? If a drone can fight better than a soldier and an algorithm can diagnose cancer better than a doctor, the "average" person loses their bargaining chip.
We could see a split in the human species itself. On one side, a tiny group of "upgraded" superhumans (the actual Homo deus) who have the money to edit their genes and link their brains to the cloud. On the other side, everyone else.
It’s not just about jobs. It’s about meaning. If an AI can do everything better than you, what are you even here for? Harari suggests we might turn to "Dataism"—a new religion where the highest good is the flow of information.
Is Dataism the New Religion?
Kinda.
Dataism says the universe consists of data flows, and the value of any entity or phenomenon is determined by its contribution to data processing.
Remember when you used to go for a hike just to enjoy the view? Now, if you don't post a photo of the view, did it even happen? We are constantly "uploading" our lives to the great algorithm. We’ve stopped being the masters of the data; we’ve become the chips that power the system.
Harari isn't saying this is good. He’s saying this is the direction the wind is blowing.
What We Can Actually Do About It
So, is it game over? Not necessarily.
The whole point of writing a book like Homo Deus is to make us change our behavior so the "predictions" don't come true. History is a conversation, not a script.
If you want to stay relevant in a world that’s rapidly becoming "Deus-ified," here are some actual next steps based on Harari’s broader philosophy:
- Protect Your Attention: In a world of flooding information, clarity is power. If you can’t focus for 30 minutes without checking a notification, you’ve already surrendered your "free will" to an algorithm.
- Prioritize Mental Flexibility: Your degree from 2010 is a paperweight. Your ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn is the only asset that won't depreciate.
- Question the "Algorithm": Next time Netflix recommends a movie or Amazon suggests a book, intentionally choose something else. Remind yourself that you are more than a data point.
- Distinguish Between Intelligence and Consciousness: Spend time in "low-intelligence, high-consciousness" environments. Nature, meditation, deep conversation. Machines can't touch subjective experience—at least not yet.
Start by looking at your relationship with your phone today. Are you using it to achieve your goals, or is it using you to feed its data? The shift from Sapiens to Deus doesn't happen with a bang; it happens one "Accept All Cookies" click at a time.