Homo Deus by Yuval Harari – book review

This is going to be a running series till I finish the book. I am just into the 30th page and the book is already making me go wow!!! I was actually confused between the words “Deus” and “Deux” having thought that this book was part 2 (deux) of the Homo sapien blockbuster. Even though it is a spiritual sequel to that book, the title as it is refers to a whole new concept that is getting discussed on the initial chapters. Having conquered the known common causes of distress – war, famine, hunger and major diseases, the next focus on humans is towards achieving god status and hence the title – Home Deus. At least from the initial few pages, this is the impression on where the book could be heading to. The author makes an amazing statement and clears himself quite immediately when he states that, average life expectancy of humans have almost doubled to 70 from mid 30’s of the world war eras. Only to correct himself that for all we know, if not for the diseases and lack of basic hygiene, the average life expectancy could’ve well been the same all throughout. The target of doubling it to over 100 by the turn of this century, only sounds fantastical at the moment. But even during this ongoing pandemic, there are 115 year old’s who are actually resisting the virus. With more and more technological advances in the field of medicines, rejuvenating the human body and increasing the agility of body parts and their functions, quite possibly the advent of old age and the twilight years can really do get extended. Eternal youth is no longer a myth and with more and more people opting to get their looks botox-ified, pretty soon, it could be an essential item and not just relegated to movie stars. With the focus more on middle aged people resisting the invasion of time and old age people trying to reverse the impact of time, it makes an all interesting scenario of a world full of old people, who has to be fed, engaged and entertained. With more and more people getting a longer lease of life, will we’ve enough earthly resources to take care of them? Who will provide jobs to all of them? When will people actually retire, if at all that is an option? Who will engage the emerging youth and adolescent population brimming with actual energy? How this setup will impact existing social institutions of marriage and other relationships as we get to see them and understand at present? Will there be a turn towards increasing the gestation period of humans, to delay the birth of children, to delay them into becoming adults sooner, increasing the years of study before they can be on their own? At present, if one assumes 70 as the expiration year for average human being, nearly 30% of the time is spent on education another 30% on working years. With the baseline being moved to 100 possibly we may have people studying till 30-35 years before they are deemed employable? Hope the book continues to answer and raise more questions progressively. More posts to follow.