21 - Afterword: The Animal that Became a God скачать в хорошем качестве

21 - Afterword: The Animal that Became a God

In this afterword, Harari reflects on humanity's remarkable transformation from an insignificant animal to the dominant force on Earth. At the beginning of the book, we were introduced to Homo sapiens as just one of several human species scratching out a living in East Africa. By the end, humans have become something unprecedented: a species capable of reshaping the entire planet. For most of history, humans faced three great existential threats: famine, plague, and war. These were the horsemen of the apocalypse that limited population growth, destroyed civilizations, and kept humanity in a constant state of insecurity. Throughout the ages, prayers, philosophies, and political systems were organized around confronting these enemies. But in the early 21st century, something extraordinary has happened: humanity has largely brought these ancient foes under control. Famine has virtually disappeared from most of the world. For the first time in history, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little. In 2010, malnutrition killed about one million people, but obesity killed three million. The average person is now more likely to die from McDonald's than from drought or locusts. When famines do occur today, they are almost always caused by politics rather than natural disasters—a testament to our agricultural abundance. Epidemics have been similarly conquered. Plague, which once wiped out entire populations, has become a rarity. In the Middle Ages, a third of Europe's population could be killed by the Black Death. Today, epidemics kill a tiny fraction of the population compared to past centuries. More people die from suicide than from all infectious diseases combined. Old age has replaced infectious disease as the main cause of death. Even war, that ancient scourge of humanity, has been dramatically reduced in its lethality. While the 20th century's world wars were catastrophic, the 21st century has seen war become less deadly than ever before in human history. In 2012, about 120,000 people died from war worldwide, while 500,000 died from violent crime and 800,000 from suicide. You are more likely to kill yourself than to be killed by a soldier, terrorist, or criminal combined. Having achieved these unprecedented victories, humanity now faces the question: what next? The new human agenda for the 21st century consists of three ambitious goals that would have seemed like pure fantasy to our ancestors: immortality, happiness, and divinity. Immortality: Having reduced premature death, humans are now working to overcome death itself. Scientists are increasingly treating death not as an inevitable fate but as a technical problem with a technical solution. Research into extending human lifespan indefinitely is becoming mainstream science rather than fringe speculation. Happiness: Having solved material scarcity for billions of people, the focus shifts to psychological well-being. If we have enough food, health, and security, why aren't we satisfied? The pursuit of happiness through biochemistry, meditation, and social engineering is becoming a central human project. Divinity: Through biotechnology, genetic engineering, and human-machine interfaces, humans are beginning to upgrade themselves. We are acquiring abilities that were once considered divine: the power to create and destroy life, to reshape organisms at will, to merge with machines. Homo sapiens may be on the verge of transforming into something beyond human—what Harari calls Homo deus. The book closes with a warning and a question. The same technologies that promise immortality, happiness, and divinity also pose existential risks. Our impact on the planet's ecology is already enormous and potentially catastrophic. More fundamentally, Harari asks: Do we know what we want? Having acquired godlike powers, what will we do with them? Our ancestors knew what they wanted—to escape famine, plague, and war. But what do we want now that we've largely achieved those goals? The final question is both philosophical and urgent: Given that we seem likely to remake ourselves through technology, what do we want to become? This is perhaps the most important question facing humanity in the 21st century.