Thoughts For The 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harari

21 Thoughts for the 21st Century is one of the latest books by Professor Yuval Noah Harari, the Israeli historian and author who gained fame for works such as Sapiens: A Short Story of Mankind and Homo deus: A Short Story of Tomorrow . His latest work has been translated into more than 40 languages ​​(Norwegian included!) And offers a new approach to today’s reality.

In 21 Thoughts for the 21st Century , Harari analyzes the modern world in a thought-provoking way. He mainly argues that it is a very harmful censorship in our society. Unlike in the past, there are no longer any restrictions on information and knowledge. However, we have flooded our own society with information, and this can hide problems of real importance.

Harari also tackles very important issues such as balance of power, the international role of empires, immigration and nationalism, among others. The book 21 Thoughts for the 21st Century is divided into five parts, and each part contains a set of lessons, or thoughts. Below we will take a closer look at them.

Thoughts for the 21st century, the technological challenge

The first part of 21 Thoughts for the 21st Century is dedicated to the technological challenges of society. In this part of the book, Harari includes four thoughts, related to the current crisis of liberal values ​​and the problems that come with new technology.

The 4 thoughts are:

• Disappointment. The liberal movement has triumphed over fascism and communism. The struggle for freedom, and freedom itself, has gradually lost its value. We are now experiencing more skepticism, and uncomplicated narratives are more common.
• Work. Artificial intelligence substitutes people, and in the future many professions and industries will disappear. A “useless class” will emerge. But in other words, a group of people who do not know how to continue to be productive in the context of the new world.

• Freedom. Macrodata keeps an eye on us constantly, and we have subconsciously given them the power to make decisions for us. The doors of a digital dictatorship are opening slowly but surely.
• Gender equality. Those who hold the data also hold the key to the future. The power lies in the hands of the big technology companies, which in the future will possibly be able to manage the world according to their own will.

The political challenge

The second block of topics in 21 thoughts for the 21st century addresses the political challenge we face. This section is divided into the following sections:

• Society. Although humans have real bodies, virtual societies are becoming more and more widespread.
• Civilization. Today, most of the world is a civilization. The differences are becoming more and more diluted.
• Nationalism. Most of today’s problems are global, not national.

• Religion. Religions still play an important role, spreading what many consider to be works of fiction.
• Immigration. Immigration is successful, as long as the immigrant leaves his or her original culture in his or her home country. It is a transition from racism, to “culturalism”.

Despair and hope

In this section, Harari points out that humanity can keep its head above water as long as we can remain calm and avoid irrational fear and panic. To achieve this , he believes that it is necessary to consolidate secular values ​​through their rational power.

The thoughts he presents here are:

• Terrorism. Terrorism is often shown in excessive proportions. We should not allow irrational fears to seize us.
• War. War incitement wins out, and human stupidity should never be underestimated.
• Humility. Every person and every culture must understand that they are not the center of the world.

• God. Being a believer is not synonymous with being ethical or moral.
• Secularism. Those who accept their ignorance are more reliable than those who claim to know the truth.

21st Century Thoughts on Truth

In this part of the book, Harari talks about the importance of fighting prejudice and finding reliable sources to shape our criteria. This section includes four thoughts:

• Ignorance. You know less than the constant flood of information leads you to believe.
• Justice. Justice does not include abstract values, but a reasonable assessment of the causes and effects of decisions and behavior.
• After-truth. Truth and power will only stand side by side for a period of time. Sooner or later, power will begin to create fiction.
• Science fiction. The book “Brave New World”, in Norwegian ” Wonderful New World “, is the most prophetic book ever written.

Resistance

The last part of the book 21 Thoughts for the 21st Century addresses the importance of recognizing that traditional stories can no longer be used to explain the world we live in. In addition, there have not been any new stories with enough capacity to provide good explanations.

On this topic, the author brings up three thoughts we should consider.

• Education. The goal of education is no longer to obtain information, but to develop the ability to understand and give meaning to the information we have.
• Meaning. Life is not a story, and it is important to learn to distinguish fiction from reality.

• Meditation. The possibility of election still exists, but is likely to be lost. Thus, we should observe.

21 thoughts for the 21st century provide, as we see, great reflections on several topics. They represent turning points for today’s world, and they are worth stopping to think about.