Sapiens and Homo Deus, 2 books by Yuval Noah Harari

I picked up my copy of Sapiens a few months ago. A 512-page book, which I read in record time because I couldn’t put it down. It’s incredibly fascinating, as is the story of Homo Sapiens. Seventy thousand years ago, we emerged as a species and decided to subjugate all others and nature itself in its evolutionary and destructive journey, which forever changed planet Earth.

The author, Yuval Noah Harari, professor at the University of Jerusalem, shows us how, through the creation of myths – in the broadest sense of the word – we collaborated by the thousands and then by the millions to build this epic journey. We formed small teams, which later grew into villages, cities, megacities, and later empires and countries. The myths in question go not only through religion, but through the creation of political and economic systems, which only exist because most Sapiens believe in them – and civilization goes on its way. A path forged in collaboration when we believe in the same myths: democracy, financial market, banks, Google, etc.

Products of human creativity and imagination, the myths that unite us have a very fragile balance. Religion, a myth that has united us since time immemorial, has always been the victim of attacks and questions, of disputes within it, and of divisions – for example, a pope in Rome and another in Avignon – until the 18th century philosophers and much later Nietszche, who decided to kill religion first, then God himself.

While Sapiens deals with our past, Homo Deus deals with a probable future. As the author himself suggests, these are not prophecies, but the imagination of scenarios and possibilities. The myths that helped us create our past will probably not hold up in the future, so it will be time to get creative again and invent new religions, new forms of exchange, new technologies and new forms of organization.

Homo deus caused me some discomfort in certain passages, not out of puritanism or accommodation to our reality, but because of certain experiences described. Yuval explains how, for example, genetic manipulation through gene editing can increase our inequalities and potentiate certain problems. If today’s domestic and international politics are not going well, we can imagine what will happen if both scenarios deteriorate.

Technology constitutes a dichotomy when we think of its result, of what it can bring us good and bad. Yuval explores not just two possibilities, but many possibilities for future realities. Not surprisingly, we see the future with our contemporary eyes. The author pushes the exercise even further when he tries to make us see with other eyes things that are still being built in our 21st century.

Many concepts covered more deeply in Sapiens are taken up more lightly in Homo Deus. The two books are two complementary and fascinating readings that allow us to understand where we come from and where we can end up.