21 lessons for the 21st century

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind of Yuval Noah Harari is a serious academic survey on Homo sapiens from the evolution of archaic human species in the Stone Age up to the twenty-first century. In contrast, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow focus on the future. The latest book 21 lessons for the 21st century step back to look at the age we’re currently being.

For me, either look back or look forward, our goal is always live a better way for now. 

70 thousand years ago, homo sapiens stand themselves out of all species and become the only storyteller on this planet. However, in the 21st century, we are encountering an unprecedented species “Life 3.0” – Artificial Intelligence.  What are the possible ways we could live along with them and ourselves – homo sapiens?21 topics under five themes outlined deep concern as well as hope underneath the prosperous data-driven era. By presenting the structure of the book, I want you to have a taste of worldwide view and then I’ll elaborate on a few of the topics in this post.

Table of Contents

Part I The Technological Challenge
1 Disillusionment: The End of History Has Been Postponed
2 Work: When You Grow Up, You Might Not Have a Job
3 Liberty: Big Data Is Watching You
4 Equality: Those Who Own the Data Own the Future

Part II The Political Challenge
5 Community: Humans Have Bodies
6 Civilization: There Is Just One Civilization in the World
7 Nationalism: Global Problems Need Global Answers
8 Religion: God Now Serves the Nation
9 Immigration: Some Cultures Might Be Better than Others

Part III Despair And Hope
10 Terrorism: Don’t Panic
11 War: Never Underestimate Human Stupidity
12 Humility: You Are Not the Center of the World
13 God: Don’t Take the Name of God in Vain
14 Secularism: Acknowledge Your Shadow

Part IV Truth
15 Ignorance: You Know Less than You Think
16 Justice: Our Sense o Justice Might Be Out of Date
17 Post-Truth: Some Fake News Lasts Forever
18 Science Fiction: The Future Is Not What You See in the Movies

Part V Resilience
19 Education: Change Is the Only Constant
20 Meaning: Life Is Not a Story
21 Meditation: Just Observe

Algorithm becomes the Clients we need to feed.

The idea that today machine and algorithms are already beginning to function as clients in addition to be producers, has really mindblowing me. In the stock exchange, for instance, algorithms are becoming the most important bias of bonds shares and commodities. Similarly, in the advertising business, the most customer overall is an algorithm – The google search algorithm. When people design a webpage or write a book, they are educated to meet the Google search algorithms to be presented in the first place. Later we believe the top google results popped up is the truth. “so, what is the truth in our era? Could the algorithm be evil and biased? How could it become more equalism?”

Does hardwork work out anymore?

In the past cheap, unskilled labors served as a secure bridge across global economic decide and even if a country advances slowly if could expect to reach safely eventually, taking the right steps is more important than making speedy progress. Yet, the bridge is shaking and collapsed. What do you do when nobody needs your unskilled cheap labors and you don’t have the resources to build good education systems and teach them new skills.

Feelings are just calculation.

Scientific insights into the way our brains and bodies work suggest that our feeling are not human spirit and they don’t reflect any kind of human free will. Rather, feelings are the biochemical mechanism in order to quickly calculate the probabilities of survival and reproduction.

Bio+info evolotion.

Cancers or disease can be treated long before you notice or lead to any pain. People will enjoy the best health care in history, but for precisely this reason, they probably are sick all the time! There’s always something wrong in your body and something can be improved. You’re always on some medical condition and you can’t even refuse that, or your health insurance or your boss your family would say no. More times, you will be cured even before you noticed.

Biometric sensors

External data processing service and hack all your desires, decisions and opinions. they can know exactly who you are. It’s no longer we watch the television in the far, but with cameras on the TV, companies watch us from far. They might tell if you really enjoy or just fake laugh. Then who is watching?

Engineer will embody themselves into the AI machine

Would you buy Teslar altruism or Teslar egoism? In the future, the philosopher might add their personal idea into programming into the model, and what is your choice then? in front of the automatic world.

The mouth-watering food is heating up our planet?

At present, the meat industry not only inflects untold misery of beings but it also the chief cause on global warming. One of the customers of antibodies and poison, and one of the sources of pollute air land and water. It takes near 4000 gallons of fresh water to produce of little 2 pounds of beef, but of 75 gallons are needed to produce potatoes.

Technological disruption

Since the research and development is not the monopoly of any one country. Even if superpower can’t restrict them by itself. If the USA prevent scientist editing human embryo, it doesn’t prevent Chinese scientist from doing so. Particularly in a “Dog eats dog” world, if even a single country chooses to pursue a high-risk high gain technological path, other countries are forth to follow the same, because nobody can afford to remain behind. In order to avoid such a race at the bottom, Humankind might need some global identity and loyalty**. Moreover, whereas nuclear war and climate change threatened only the physical survival of humankind, disruptive technologies might change the very nature of humanity and therefore entangled with human deepest beliefs.**

Four terms on immigration policy to make us think about immigration

1. Debate 1: The host country allows immigrants in. But should this be understood as duty or favor? Is the host country obliged to open its gate to everybody? Or does it have the right to pick and choose and even halt immigration?
2. Debate 2: If they are allowed in, the immigrants have the obligation to simulate to the local culture, but how far should this simulation go?
3. Debate 3: If the immigrants indeed make a sincere effort to a simulated and particular adopt the value of tolerance, the host country is duty bound to treat them as first class citizens, but how much time need to pass before the immigrants became a formal citizen (20 years?), how about second generation immigrants?
4. Debate 4: whether the deal is actually working?

How terrorisim works

Terrorism kills very few people but manages to terrify billions of people, why? Terrorism spread fear rather than real damage. A beautiful metaphor: “A small coin in a big empty jar makes a lot of noise.” This is why the theater of terrorism so successful. The nation has provided a huge space empty of political violence which now as a sounding border amplifying the impact of the attack. Terrorism is like a bad hand in gambling, they have nothing to lose, but have the chance to win everything.

The meaning of life, who tell the story about the meaning

The meaning of life isn’t a ready-made product. There is no divine script, and nothing outside me can give the meaning of my life. It is I who Imbue everything into meaning through my free choices and feelings.

It is our own human fingers who wrote the Bible, and it is our mind to give these story power. They are all known as beautiful stories, but their beauty is strictly within the eyes of the beholder. In itself, the universe is only a meaningless huge hotpot of items. Nothing is inherently beautiful, sacred or sexy, human feelings make it so. Take away human feelings, you are left with a bunch of molecules.

We hope to find some meaning by fitting ourselves into some already made universe. But according to the liberaty vision of the world, the truth is exactly the opposite, the universe does not give me meaning, I give the meaning to the universe. The creation is on every moment and I’m the creator. What then is the aim of my life? To create meaning by feeling by thinking, by desiring and by inventing. Anything that limits the liberal ability to feel, invent and desiring limits the meaning of the universe. Therefore liberties to create such invention is the supreme idea.

However, to the best of our scientific understanding. There is no magic behind our choice. They’re the product of billions of neurons exchanging biochemical signals.

People might have different choices and opinions but they’re never simply because of free will. Just think about the next thought that pops out, did you freely to choose it? Of course not. The process of self-exploration begins with simple things and becomes progressively harder. At first, we realize that we can’t control the world outside us, I don’t decide when it rains. Then we realize we don’t control the world inside our body, that we can’t control the blood pressure. Next, we understand we don’t even govern our brain, I don’t tell the neurons when to fire. Ultimately we should realize that we do not control our desires, or even our reactions to these desires. Realize this can help us less obsessive with our opinions, feelings and desires

People usually place so much importance on their desires, and they try to control and shape the world according to these desires. The self is a fictious story that intricately made by our minds. There is a story teller in my mind that tells me who I am, where I come from. But our inner narrator repeatedly get things wrong, but rarely of ever gets it. And just like the government, builds a national methy with flags and icons, so my inner machine creates a meth. It’s rare to create the truth.

In the Facebook age, 99% of our experiences, never becomes part of the stories of ourself. It is particularly noteworthy that our fantasy self tends to be very visual, where our actual self tends to be corporeal. if you really want to understand yourself, you should never define yourself through a Facebook account or with the inner story of the self, instead, you should observe the flow of actual body and mind, you will see thoughts emotions desires appear and disappear without much reasons, and without any command from you. Just as the wind blows from this or that direction and mess up your hair. And just that you’re not control the winds. You experience all of them but you don’t control them you don’t own them and you are not them.

People asked, who am I and they expected to be told a story, but the first thing you need to know about yourself is that you’re not a story.

The only eternal topic is suffering, to tell whether a story is true is to see whether the main character is suffering.