21 Lessons for the 21st Century: Yuval Noah Harari

This is another remarkable book from the author of Sapiens and Homo Deus. But the reader need not know either of them to appreciate these 21 Lessons. Harari takes a very long view of the history of mankind and the driving forces that shape the world as we know it. Given the pent-up forces for change (especially infotech and biotech) that make bewilderment a normal state of mind, he attempts to offer our children (and us) some ways of preparing for our collective futures. Recognizing and exploding many of the narratives that have allowed the human ape to dominate the planet, he suggests that our children’s education should be characterized by greater humility, respect for the “other” and for the biosphere that we are rapidly destroying. Skills will become obsolete in a decade and therefore in need of constant renewal. The ability to adapt to whatever the world needs will therefore become the vital learning required by the whole of humanity. But “what should we wish to become?” remains the unanswerable question. Identity and philosophy therefore become vital subjects. While the progress of science enables mankind to design and create modified forms of humans, our ethical and philosophical understanding has not kept up the pace of change offered by the sciences. Science fiction allows us to imagine plausible futures, but we should be wary of taking any of them literally, says Harari. But the reality is that any future we will face by 2050 or 2100 is likely to be a future that in 2018 seems like science fiction. This book should be mandatory reading for everybody involved in education and in preparing for the future. That means all of us! Harari’s grasp of historic reality and his wide fields of knowledge are here presented in a manner accessible to us all. As a primer to change management, there can be no better text book. I happen to agree with 99% of his views. But even when I am not convinced, I am driven to consider carefully why not. It is therefore a compulsive read!

The topics in the subject heading, a partial list, constitute chapters of the five parts comprising the book. The treatment is comprehensive and cohesive and illuminates the society we live in while contemplating its evolution in the near future. On the eve of the Second World War there were globally three main ideologies: liberal democracy, fascism, and communism. At the end of the war and the collapse of fascism there remained only two, liberal democracy and communism. And with the fall of communism in 1989 there remained only one, liberal democracy. By the early 1990s, thinkers and politicians alike hailed 'the end of History', confidently asserting that all the big political and economic questions of the past had been settled and that the refurbished liberal package of democracy, human rights, free markets, and government welfare services remained the only game in town. This package seemed destined to spread around the whole world, overcome all obstacles, erase all national borders, and turn humankind into one free global community. But suddenly with the financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing widespread skepticism on financial markets, globalization and liberal capitalism - the world is left without ideology. Liberalism is losing credibility as the twin revolutions of information technology and biotechnology might soon push billions of humans out of the job market and undermine both liberty and equality. Big Data algorithms might create digital dictatorships in which all power is concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite while most people suffer not from exploitation, but from something far worse - irrelevance. And as a result precipitating social, economic and political crises. The above is just one theme of the poly thematic book. Of the remaining, I found particularly interesting the chapters on education and meaning. In the light of the enormous speed of change, many pedagogical experts argue that schools should switch to teaching 'the four Cs' - critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. - Most important of all will be the ability to deal with change, to learn new things, and to preserve your mental balance in unfamiliar situations. When we look for the meaning of life, we want a story that will explain what reality is all about and what is my particular role in the cosmic drama. This role defines who I am, and gives meaning to all my experiences and choices. The stories that provide us with meaning and identity ( religion,nationality) are all fictional but humans need to believe in them. If you want to know the ultimate truth of life, rites and rituals are a huge obstacle. But if you are interested - e.g. Confucius - in social stability and harmony, truth is often a liability, whereas rites and rituals are among your best allies. What is then the aim of my life? To create meaning by feeling, by thinking, by desiring and by investing. Anything that limits the human liberty to feel, to think, to desire and to invest, limits the meaning of the universe. Hence liberty from such limitations is the supreme ideal.

Unlike Sapiens (about the past) and Homo Deus (the future), 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a series of commentaries, thoughts and meditations on the present. Some of the main themes are ones which readers of the earlier books will be familiar with – for example, how what separates man from our ape cousins is our ability to believe in and live by stories. We are able to believe in things (religion, democracy, money) which have no objective reality or independent existence, or be part of communities (nations, corporations, online) of people we don’t know. A historian, polymath, atheist and cynic, Harari is capable of insights of dazzling simplicity yet which are backed by deep reading and thought. Here are just a few, taken out of context but I promise it’s worth following up the context: The revolutions in biotech and infotech are made by engineers, entrepreneurs and scientists who are hardly aware of the political implications of their decisions… Donald Trump warned voters that the Mexicans and Chinese will take their jobs, and that they should therefore build a wall on the Mexican border. He never warned voters that algorithms will take their jobs, nor did he suggest building a firewall on the border with California. Humans have two abilities – physical and cognitive. The former have been partly supplemented by machines. Artificial Intelligence is challenging the latter…. Communism has no answer to automation, as the masses lose their economic value and become irrelevant. Artificial Intelligence and human stupidity – if we concentrate too much on AI and not enough on human consciousness, AI will end up merely empowering the stupidity of humans. Globalisation has resulted in growing inequality – the richest 100 own more than poorest 4 billion – and might in time lead to speciation. [People and species are opposite - species split, whereas people coalesce into larger groups, though mergers change.] Challenges are now supra-national – there are no national solutions to global warming. Nations have no answer to technological disruption. The nationalist wave [which he attributes in some measure to nostalgia] cannot turn the clock back to 1939 or 1914. Europe is a good example of supra-national solutions [he thinks Brexit is a bad idea]. Early humans faced problems which local tribes couldn’t handle (for example, Nile floods). Nowadays problems are supra-national. Most stories are held together by the weight of their roof rather than by the strength of their foundations. Consider the Christian story. It has the flimsiest of foundations…. Yet enormous global institutions have been built on top of that story, and their weight presses down with such overwhelming force that they keep the story in place. This is another intellectual tour de force from Harari, though as other reviewers have said it’s essential to have read the other two books first.

This is in many ways a brilliant survey of problems and issues facing the world in the present and future. There are a range of very brilliant insights throughout. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of claims and statements that are cliches, common sense, or puerile generalization. The writing is crisp for the most part and frequently provocative. A reader will learn many things not otherwise typical of a well-read person. The glib parts don't detract too much: after sketching a scenario that is less than happy, readers are told "Deal with it"--in other words, no solution, no lesson on that topics. On some topics (e.g., religion, god, nationalism) close-minded readers will likely be offended, but that's all the more reason they should read it and learn about the vulnerability of their own closed opinions. The author is extremely well read, and the citations and references represent a wide knowledge of many fields. It starts out, for me, very slowly with a lot of future-speculation, but then settles into some very interesting and provocative analyses of other of today's leading problems. Should be read, if only to open minds on a lot of topics. Low ratings are probably those of readers whose present views are dissected in the book.

Amazing book

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Reading this book made me feel super intelligent which is probably why I liked it so much. Harari's prose is easy and compelling to read although if you have a rosy view of how everything is going to turn out in the future you will need to understand he is a bit of a sceptic. I've not read his other books, but after reading this I will definitely read another :)

The book itself is excellent and offers exciting and frightening, perhaps simultaneously, insights about the challenges humankind faces.. I have some disappointment about the print quality of the book. Firstly, the content of some pages are not in alignment with the pages themselves. Secondly, some pages appear to be a carbon copy of the original pages, i.e. the black colour is faded and it is very noticeable. It looks this book is of secondary quality during the printing process.