The meaning of love and happiness in 30 years
I asked Yuval Noah Harari for new definitions concerning our future selves
Body and mind are being upgraded. With this we gain and we loose. In his book Homo Deus the writer Yuval Noah Harari describes how in our evolution from bald monkies into Gods, we are loosing parts of our humanity. The paradox is this: to live forever as humans, we have to become non-human. Writing on Homo Deus for Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland I was wondering how fast Love, Happiness, Violence, Democracy, Privacy, A Good Life and Human Nature are changing. Mr Harari was so kind as to provide me with his seven definitions of these concepts for 2050.
In 2050…
“Human nature is no longer the great constant of history, and our bodies, our desires, and our emotions are now designer products.”
“Happiness is as elusive as ever, because though we know how to manipulate human bodies and human brains, we are still far from understanding the human mind.”
“A good life depends on using technology to help fulfill your aims, instead of allowing technology to dictate these aims.”
“Privacy is in conflict with health, and most people prefer to give up privacy in order to enjoy much better healthcare.”
“Love is a biochemical phenomenon, and most people allow Google to choose their lovers and spouses, because Google knows them much better than they know themselves.”
“Violence is more rare than ever, but the fear of violence is greater than ever before.”
“Democracy is an outdated political system that worked quite well in the twentieth century, but which needs a serious revamp in order to deal with the conditions of the twenty-first century.”
Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus is available in many languages and bookstores across the world.
