Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the world, humans have started thinking of the future and how can we save humanity or how the life would be like in ten years. Will we have more viruses and catastrophes or will we find the solution against all the calamites? If we contain the virus what would be the guarantee we will not be exposed to other viruses? If not viruses, then what about increasing global warming? All researchers, scientists in all fields whether technology, biology, physics or doctors all are working in their respective fields to identify issues beforehand and reach sustainable solutions.
Recently, I downloaded a book recommended by the big beasts of industry like politics and science Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. It was a book called “A Brief History of Tomorrow” by Yuval Noah Harari where the author turns to the past to predict the future.
For many of this generation, the pandemic was new and perhaps may never be heard because how we scale human progress in going to the mars, finding black holes and even trying to create the Big Bang on earth. While humans are relying too much on technology, bio nuclear weapons and virus outbreaks are still a big phenomenon that we ignored. The book detailed the history of past outbreaks and how it spread even though there were no technological advancements or fastest mobility.
In 1342 AD, a plague called Black Death broke out in some parts of West Asia and spread to other parts of Europe. This terrible plague affected half of Europe, killed thousands of people in cities and villages, made farm and urban workers scarce, and severely affected business life. European countries were far behind in the age of technological discovery, but man has never backed down from his struggle for survival.
In 1568, a dangerous virus broke out in Mexico and Central America, which the people of the time called Cochlear Disease. The disease has devastated the region for three consecutive years. The death toll from the epidemic was estimated at more than 1.5 million. In 1664 a great plague broke out in London. The reason is said to be that people from European areas were migrating to London in search of employment. The epidemic spread across the UK, killing an estimated 1.5 million people, including 16,000 Londoners. This was the time when the East India Company was trying to establish itself in India.
In 1918 the influenza virus spread in Spain. At first no one paid much attention to it, but the flu spread very fast. At that time, there was no specific medicine for it. It was the time of the First World War and there was chaos everywhere. The epidemic did not spread from Spain but entered from some parts of Europe, although Spain was not involved in the war and was neutral.
Newspapers there were independent and published news of the flu, while newspapers in the rest of Europe were banned due to the war, so the flu was interpreted as the Spanish flu. The epidemic spread to many European countries. About 40 percent of the US Navy’s troops became infected with the flu, which spread to the United States. Hospitals were full of wounded due to the war. Doctors and nurses were working day and night. On the other hand, the flu epidemic was weakening thousands of people. Governments began a series of lockdowns, banning gatherings. Schools, theaters, clubs, markets were all closed. Funerals were difficult due to the high death toll. The epidemic killed 15,000 people in the United States alone.
In the three years to 1919, the epidemic killed more than 30 million people. This is the largest death toll from an epidemic. A 2008 study found that the Spanish flu was so deadly that in fact, three genes combined to attack the patient’s throat and then the germs in the lungs to make room for other germs, and the infection would kill the patient instantly. The flu vaccine was developed in late 1919. Various flu and viruses have been spreading since 1919, but they have not been so deadly until Covid-19 hit the world.
These are all some pandemic histories that the book has explained in a quite descriptive way and how humans came out of it. Since then scientific advancements and technological success didn’t not stop the viruses but may have contributed to damaging our natural ecosystem.
The book not only gives you historical information of present times but gives some predictions for tomorrow which I personally found quite dark, dystopian and disturbing. The author is already famous for his earlier bestseller, Homo Sapiens, meaning Wise Human. The book’s title Homo Deus, means God Humans, suggests that humans with God-like mastery have the ability to create and destroy life.
With problems like pandemics, famine and violence solved, humans will focus on the god-like pursuits of chasing immortality. Google’s Calico project already working on human aging and how to stop that. The author used a term called Techno-Humanism. In their pursuit of immortality and happiness, humans will turn to technology to upgrade themselves through biological (genetic) engineering.
Just as artificial intelligence understands humans through sets of algorithms to predict and explain behaviour, humans will follow suit. We already saw the Netflix series ‘The One’, where a dating app is trying to match you with your partner through DNA.
DATA would be a new religion, as it celebrates life as data processing, individuals and organizations as algorithms, human value life day to day activities to transform experience into data. We will work on numbers, cryptos, check reviews, and ratings for daily restaurants and service providers. It will be induced much more into our lives.
Homo Deus is a book in my opinion a little bit speculative but thought-provoking. The maker of all the technology and algorithms would still be humans but changing scenarios will challenge our faiths, our human values and experiences.
We humans are not just algorithms, and indeed life is not processing data all the time. Our consciousness, sensations, emotions and thoughts are highly intelligent feelings that we carry and can never be replaced by machines.
In a recent article, Noam Chomsky wrote that the world should understand that the most serious issue after the eradication of the coronavirus is nuclear war and global warming. These are open questions that will be decided as a matter of fact, rather than as a matter of opinion.
