During the twentieth century, humankind has managed to do the impossible: we have brought famine, plague and war under control. Today, more people die from obesity than from starvation; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed in war. We are the only species in earth's long history that has single-handedly changed the entire planet, and we no longer expect any higher being to shape our destinies for us.
As Homo sapiens becomes Homo deus, what new destinies will we set for ourselves? As the self-made gods of planet earth, which projects should we undertake, and how will we protect this fragile planet and humankind itself from our own destructive powers? In this vivid, challenging new book, Yuval Noah Harari examines the implications of our newly acquired divine powers, from our desperate pursuit of happiness to our dogged quest for immortality. He explores how Homo sapiens conquered the world, our current predicament and our possible futures.
And, above all, he asks the fundamental questions: How do we avoid destruction, and what new world should we create? What do we want to become?
Dr. Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specialising in World History. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, published in 2014, has become an international phenomenon and is published in nearly 40 languages worldwide. It was in the Sunday Times bestseller list for over six months in paperback, and was a New York Times top ten bestseller.
"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