The 2 Most Important Skills For the Rest Of Your Life | Yuval Noah Harari on Impact Theory
Summary
TLDRIn this impactful discussion, Yuval Noah Harari, author of 'Sapiens' and '21 Lessons for the 21st Century', explores the profound implications of living in an era where technology enables the 'hacking' of human beings. He delves into the potential for AI to predict and manipulate desires, the ethical challenges of personal data usage, and the necessity for emotional intelligence and adaptability in a rapidly changing job market. Harari emphasizes the importance of clear public discourse on critical global issues, urging a focus on nuclear war, climate change, and technological disruption.
Takeaways
- 🧠 The 21st century is characterized by the ability to 'hack' humans through technology, which allows for the deciphering of thoughts, predictions of choices, and manipulation of desires in unprecedented ways.
- 📚 Yuval Noah Harari, a renowned historian, emphasizes the importance of understanding history and current technological trends to navigate the future effectively.
- 🏆 Harari's work has been recognized with numerous awards and has been influential in shaping discussions on the future of humanity, as evidenced by his appearances at prestigious events like the World Economic Forum.
- 🤖 The convergence of biotech and infotech enables the creation of algorithms that can understand individuals better than they understand themselves, potentially leading to manipulation at a personal level.
- 🛠️ While the ability to hack humans poses significant risks, it also offers tremendous potential benefits, such as advancements in healthcare that could democratize access to medical knowledge.
- 🏥 The potential for personalized healthcare through technology could revolutionize the medical field, offering even the poorest individuals access to better healthcare than what is currently available to the wealthiest.
- 🌐 The script raises ethical questions about privacy versus healthcare, highlighting the tension between the benefits of data-driven medicine and the risks of data misuse.
- 🎨 Harari discusses the role of stories in shaping human identity and the modern tendency to outsource the construction of personal narratives to social media platforms.
- 💡 The idea that self-discovery can be aided or even outsourced to algorithms poses philosophical questions about what it means to be human and how we understand ourselves.
- 📈 The rapid pace of technological change means that the need for continuous learning and reinvention is not a one-time event but a continuous process throughout one's life.
- 📚 Harari advocates for an education system that fosters emotional intelligence and mental flexibility to prepare individuals for a future where job stability is uncertain.
Q & A
What is the main concern about technological advancements in the 21st century as discussed by Yuval Noah Harari?
-The main concern is that humans are becoming 'hackable animals' with technology being capable of deciphering thoughts, predicting choices, and manipulating desires in unprecedented ways.
What are the two key components required to 'hack' a human being according to the transcript?
-To hack a human being, you need a lot of data, especially biometric data, and a significant amount of computing power to make sense of that data.
What is the potential positive consequence of being able to 'hack' humans, as mentioned by Harari?
-The potential positive consequence is the provision of the best healthcare in history, possibly allowing even the poorest person to receive better healthcare through their smartphone than the richest person does from the best hospitals today.
How does the merging of biotech and infotech contribute to the ability to 'hack' humans?
-The merging of biotech and infotech allows for the creation of algorithms that understand individuals better than they understand themselves, enabling prediction and manipulation of their choices and desires.
What is the potential danger of AI and computers replacing humans in the job market?
-The potential danger is the creation of a 'useless class' of people who are pushed out of the job market due to automation, leading to significant economic and social consequences.
What is the philosophical implication of discovering personal traits such as sexual orientation from an algorithm before self-realization?
-The philosophical implication is the outsourcing of self-discovery to big data algorithms, which raises questions about human identity, self-awareness, and the authenticity of self-knowledge.
How can algorithms potentially be used to help individuals cope with emotional states such as heartbreak?
-Algorithms can select music or other stimuli that best fit the individual's current mental state, potentially helping them navigate through emotional stages more effectively than a human DJ or counselor.
What is the potential benefit of using biometric data for healthcare purposes?
-Biometric data can allow algorithms to monitor health continuously and detect issues like cancer at very early stages, making treatment easier, cheaper, and less invasive.
What is the challenge of maintaining privacy when leveraging biometric data for healthcare?
-The challenge is balancing the benefits of early disease detection and treatment with the potential misuse of personal health data for non-medical purposes without the individual's consent.
How does the concept of 'story' relate to human identity and the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves?
-Human identity is a story that we constantly construct and embellish. The stories we tell ourselves, often influenced by social media and other external factors, may not always reflect our authentic selves or realities.
What is the importance of facing the realities about ourselves, even if it is difficult or painful?
-Facing the realities about ourselves is important for personal growth and authenticity. While it can be challenging, avoiding self-awareness can lead to delusions that have negative impacts on individuals and society at large.
What is the role of science fiction in shaping public understanding of AI and biotechnology?
-Science fiction plays a crucial role in educating the public about AI and biotechnology, as it explores potential scenarios and outcomes in an accessible way, complementing or even surpassing the information provided by the scientific and political communities.
What are the three big challenges to humankind in the 21st century, as identified by Yuval Noah Harari?
-The three big challenges are nuclear war, climate change, and technological disruption, which should be the primary focus of the political agenda of every country.
What is the mission Yuval Noah Harari has for his work and public discussions?
-Harari's mission is to bring more clarity to public discussions, focusing on the most important questions and helping people understand the significant issues affecting the world, even if they don't agree on the solutions.
Outlines
🌐 The Age of Hackable Humans
In the first paragraph, the speaker introduces the concept of humans becoming 'hackable animals' in the 21st century due to advancements in technology that can decipher thoughts, predict choices, and manipulate desires. The guest, Yuval Noah Harari, renowned author and thinker, is welcomed to discuss the profound implications of this technological revolution on human autonomy and the potential for corporations and governments to exert control over individuals through data and computing power.
🤖 The Merger of Infotech and Biotech
The second paragraph delves into the merger of infotech and biotech, which has led to the creation of algorithms capable of understanding individuals better than they understand themselves. This has significant implications for personal privacy and manipulation, as well as the potential for unprecedented healthcare advancements. The discussion highlights the dual-edged nature of this technology, which can be used to predict and manipulate consumer choices, as well as to provide highly personalized healthcare solutions.
🏳️🌈 Self-Discovery in the Algorithmic Age
The third paragraph explores the philosophical and personal implications of self-discovery through algorithms, such as a controversial Stanford study that claimed to predict sexual orientation from facial features. The conversation touches on the potential for algorithms to reveal deeply personal aspects of identity before individuals are consciously aware of them, raising questions about identity, privacy, and the role of technology in self-understanding.
🎵 The Algorithmic Personal DJ
In this paragraph, the discussion turns to the role of algorithms in shaping our emotional experiences, particularly through music. The potential for algorithms to understand and manipulate our biochemical responses to art and music is examined, along with the ethical considerations of using such technology to influence our emotional states for commercial or personal gain.
🛑 The Future of Privacy and Health
The focus of the fifth paragraph is the tension between privacy and health in the era of advanced biometric data collection. The potential benefits of constant health monitoring through algorithms are weighed against the risks of personal data misuse. The speaker advocates for a balance that allows for improved healthcare without compromising privacy.
📖 The Storytelling Machine
The sixth paragraph examines the concept of identity as a narrative constructed by the human mind, and how technology platforms like Facebook have become external tools for crafting and sharing these stories. The discussion highlights the discrepancy between the curated online persona and the reality of an individual's life, and the potential consequences of becoming too attached to a fictionalized version of oneself.
🧘♂️ The Pursuit of Authenticity and Happiness
In this paragraph, the conversation centers on the challenge of achieving happiness through self-awareness and authenticity. The speaker argues that while self-delusion can provide temporary happiness, it comes at a high cost, leading to conflict and misunderstanding. The importance of facing one's true self, despite the difficulty and discomfort, is emphasized as a path to long-term well-being.
🔄 The Constant Need for Reinvention
The seventh paragraph addresses the necessity for individuals to continually reinvent themselves in a rapidly changing job market due to AI and automation. The psychological and emotional challenges of adapting to new careers and skills are discussed, along with the potential societal implications of a workforce needing to evolve at an unprecedented pace.
🎓 Education for an Uncertain Future
In the final paragraph, the focus is on the dilemma of choosing the right education path in an unpredictable job market. The speaker suggests that investing in emotional intelligence and mental flexibility may be more valuable than specific skill sets, as these attributes will enable continuous learning and adaptation throughout one's life.
🌟 The Role of Science Fiction in Shaping Our Future
The last paragraph emphasizes the critical role of science fiction in educating the public about the potential impacts of emerging technologies like AI and biotech. The speaker argues that science fiction has a responsibility to explore and clarify these possibilities, helping to shape a more informed and thoughtful public discourse.
🌍 Clarifying the Global Conversation
In the concluding remarks, the speaker outlines his mission to bring clarity to public discussions about the significant challenges facing humanity, such as nuclear war, climate change, and technological disruption. He stresses the importance of focusing on the right questions and fostering a global conversation that can lead to meaningful solutions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡hackable animals
💡biometric data
💡infotech
💡algorithms
💡re-engineering
💡surveillance capitalism
💡self-discovery
💡biochemical system
💡emotional intelligence
💡reinvention
💡science fiction
Highlights
In the 21st century, we are now 'hackable animals' with technology capable of deciphering our thoughts, predicting choices, and manipulating desires.
To hack a human, two things are needed: extensive biometric data and significant computing power to analyze it.
Historically, organizations like the KGB lacked the data and computing power necessary to hack humans effectively.
Modern corporations and governments are beginning to achieve the ability to hack humans due to advancements in biotech and infotech.
Algorithms may soon understand individuals better than they understand themselves, predicting and manipulating their choices and desires.
The potential to hack humans also brings positive consequences, such as significant improvements in healthcare.
In the future, technology could provide superior healthcare through smartphones, even to the poorest individuals.
The concept of 'hacking' oneself positively involves leveraging biometric data to understand and clarify deeply ingrained desires and traits.
An algorithm developed by Stanford can predict sexual orientation with high accuracy from facial images, raising questions about self-discovery and privacy.
The philosophical implications of outsourcing self-discovery to algorithms challenge traditional notions of self-exploration and identity.
Algorithms can be used to enhance emotional experiences, such as selecting music that matches an individual's current state of mind.
The role of art and music in inspiring emotions can be replicated by algorithms that understand the human biochemical system.
People may willingly trade privacy for improved healthcare, but the balance between the two is a significant political and ethical question.
The importance of stories in shaping our lives, and how technology like social media has shifted the construction of personal narratives.
The challenge of maintaining a coherent and true narrative of oneself in the face of constant editing and outsourcing to platforms like Facebook.
The potential for algorithms to predict and manipulate not just personal traits but also larger societal and political narratives.
The necessity for individuals to develop emotional intelligence and mental flexibility to adapt to the rapidly changing job market and technological landscape.
The role of science fiction in educating the public about AI and biotechnology, and its responsibility to explore potential futures accurately.
Yuval Noah Harari's mission to bring clarity to public discussions, focusing on the most important questions facing humanity in the 21st century.
Transcripts
well i think this is maybe the most
important thing to know about living
right now in the 21st century that we
are now hackable animals that we have
the technology to decipher what you
think what you want to predict human
choices to manipulate human desires in
ways which were never possible before
hey everybody welcome to impact theory
our goal with the show and company is to
introduce you to the people and ideas
that will help you actually execute on
your dreams
alright today's guest is one of the most
profound thinkers of our time a two-time
winner of the polanski prize for
creativity and originality his books
have sold over 12 million copies and
been translated into more than 45
languages
sapiens his seminal book on the history
of mankind spent six months on the
sunday times bestseller list and also
made him a number one new york times
best-selling author his work has been
recommended by countless luminaries
including bill gates richard branson
mark zuckerberg and barack obama he's
won a litany of awards including the
society for military history's mankato
award for outstanding articles on
military history and the 2017
handelsblatt's german economic book
award for the most thoughtful and
influential economic book of the year
additionally he's one of the most sought
after and influential speakers in the
world he's given multiple ted talks on
hot button issues relating to the human
race and in 2018 he was invited to give
the main stage keynote speech on the
future of humanity at the world economic
forum annual meeting in davos he has a
phd from oxford is a tenured history
professor at the hebrew university of
jerusalem and in addition to his many
books he's also written for such
prestigious global outlets as the
financial times the new york times the
wall street journal and the guardian so
please help me in welcoming the man who
does a yearly 60-day silent vipassana
meditation retreat the best-selling
author of 21 lessons for the 21st
century yuval noah harari
good to have you on the show thank you
it's good to be here dude very excited
so i've been obsessively reading your
books since sapiens came out uh and just
really really blown away and behind the
scenes there's a guy here named chase
somewhere who you will have to meet
today who has just been an absolute
champion for your books internally
because of the way that you really frame
the historical and where we're going in
a way that becomes very accessible for
today and who we are and that i think is
the cool nexus of um 21 lessons is that
you're really attacking how does this
all make sense how is the passing form
where we are and how does where we are
today inform where we're actually going
to go
and as a company that's making
fiction content and dealing in sci-fi
and things like that these ideas are
really really important to us for
creating guides on how to be essentially
and the idea that i wanted to start with
is your notion of
some of the things that are happening
technologically become a little bit
dangerous because you can hack a human
and if you could explain what you mean
by hacking a human and then
how do we end up hacking ourselves in a
positive way
well i think this is maybe the most
important thing to know about living
right now in the 21st century that we
are now hackable animals we have the
technology to decipher how humans or
what you think what you want to predict
human choices to manipulate human
desires in ways which were never
possible before
basically to hack a human being you need
two things
you need a lot of data
especially biometric data not just about
where you go and what you buy but what
is happening inside your body and inside
your brain and secondly you need a lot
of computing power to make sense of all
that data now previously in history this
was never possible
nobody had
enough data and enough computing power
to hack human beings even if the kgb of
the gestapo followed you around 24 hours
a day eavesdropping on every
conversation you had watching everybody
you meet
still they did not have the biological
knowledge
to really understand what's happening
inside you and they certainly didn't
have the computing power necessary to
make sense even of the data they were
able to collect
so the kgb could not really understand
you could not really predict all your
choices or manipulate all your desires
and so forth
and but now it's changing
what the kgb
couldn't do
corporations and governments today are
beginning to be able to do
and this is because of the merger of the
revolution in biotech we are
getting better in understanding what's
happening inside us in the body in the
brain and at the same time the
revolution in infotec which gives us the
computing power necessary when you put
the two together when infotech merges
with biotech what you get is the ability
to
create algorithms that understand me
better than i understand myself
and then these algorithms cannot just
predict my choices but also manipulate
my desires and basically sell me
anything whether it's a product or a
politician
and that so that's what you're calling
hacking that you're hitting me with the
right emotional message at exactly the
right time based on my biometric data
yeah this is one of the things you can
do then you can predict you can
manipulate you can eventually also
re-engineer or replace if you really
hack a system you really understand how
it functions then usually you can also
re-engineer it or you can completely
replace it
and
again one of the dangers that we are
facing today in the 21st century is that
computers and ai would be able to
replace humans in more and more tasks
and maybe push millions of humans out of
the job market as a result all right so
i i fully understand the dangers and we
will talk about some of what we were
talking about off camera which is we've
got this whole story called neon future
where we're exploring that notion of
what happens to what you've called the
useless class
when they're pushed out of the job
market and what does that do
economically but going just staying with
the the notion of the hackability for a
second so
it's funny as you were describing it and
i know you bring this sense of like uh
there's some like real significant
problems we need to take a very serious
look at and i get almost giddy with
excitement because i have
potentially delusional levels of
optimism i'm very open to that no i
agree i mean the thing about this
ability to hack humans is that it has
also potentially tremendous positive
consequences and this is why it's so
tempting if it was only bad
then it was it would have been like an
easy deal to say okay we don't want that
and let's stop researching or going in
that direction but it is extremely
tempting because it can provide us for
example with the best healthcare in
history something which goes far beyond
anything we've seen so far this can mean
that maybe in 30 years
the poorest person on the planet can get
a better health care from her or his
smartphone then the richest person today
gets from the best hospitals and the
best doctors the kind of things you can
just know about what's happening in your
body
um is nothing like we've seen so far
yeah now that that's really
extraordinary and if you had to take the
positive look and say okay we have this
ability let's just say it's already
there we've got all this biometric data
it's kicking off
how would you
encourage people to leverage that to
empower themselves and i'll use an
example that i found profoundly
interesting from your book so you said
that growing up that it was unclear to
you that you were gay but that now
stanford has developed an algorithm that
essentially can look at three or four
photos of somebody's face
and predict with 91 accuracy whether or
not they're gay which seems impossible
but if that's true the level of data
that we could give ourselves about our
like deepest
most hardwired desires
there would be a level of clarity there
that seems useful
how would you encourage people to use
that well it's a very good example i
mean the stanford algorithm actually
there is a lot of problems with that
research and let's put it aside but
first key message from from that is how
little people actually know about
themselves
and um one of the most important things
in my life and also in i think in my
scientific career
was the realization of how little i know
about myself
and humans in general there was so many
important ideas and important facts we
don't realize about ourselves i was 21
when i finally realized that i was gay
which is you know when you think about
it it's it's absolutely amazing i mean
it should have been obvious at age you
know 16 15
and an algorithm would have realized it
very quickly and you can build
algorithms like that today or in a few
years
you just need to to follow your eye
movements
like you you go on on the beach or you
look at the computer screen and you see
an attractive guy an attractive girl and
just follow the focus of the eyes where
do the eyes go and whom do they focus on
should be very easy
and uh such an algorithm could have told
when i was 15 that i was gay
and the implications are really
mind-boggling when an algorithm knows
such an important thing about you before
you know it about yourself now it can go
in all kinds of directions it really
depends on where you live and what you
do with it in some countries you can be
in trouble now with the police and the
government uh you might be sent to some
re-education facility
in some countries like with you know
surveillance capitalism so maybe i don't
know about myself that i'm gay
but coca-cola knows that i'm gay because
they have these algorithms and they want
to know that because they need to know
which commercials to show me let's say
coca-cola knows that i'm gay and i even
noted about myself that they know it and
pepsi doesn't
coca-cola will show me a commercial with
a shirtless guy drinking coca-cola but
pepsi will make the mistake of showing a
girl in the bikini and next day without
my realizing why when i go to the
supermarket when i go to the uh to the
restaurant i will order coca-cola not
pepsi
i don't know why but they know so they
might not even share this kind of
information with me
now if the algorithm does share the
information with me again it a lot
depends on context
one scenario
is that you're 15 years old you go to a
birthday party of somebody from your
class and somebody just heard
that there is this cool new algorithm
which tells your sexual orientation
and everybody agrees it will be a lot of
fun to just have this game that
everybody takes turn with the algorithm
and and everybody else looking and then
and seeing the results would you like to
discover about yourself in such a
scenario
this this can be quite
quite a shocking experience okay but
even if it's done in like complete
privacy you know it's it's it's a very
deep philosophical question
what does it mean to discover something
like that about yourself
from an algorithm
what what does it mean about human life
about human identity
we have very little experience with
these kinds of things
you know from very ancient times
all the philosophers and saints and
sages tell people to get to know
yourself better it's one of the maybe
the most important thing in life is to
get to know yourself better
but
for all of history this was a process of
self-exploration
which you did through things like
meditation and maybe sports and maybe
art and contemplation and all these
things
what does it mean
when the process of self self
exploration is being outsourced to a big
data algorithm and the philosophical
implications are quite mind-boggling
it's interesting so let's talk about
that so the implications you're
outsourcing the self-discovery process
to me that sounds so profoundly useful
because all day the people that write in
to me they're asking basically one
essential question how do i find the
thing that i love because i tell people
you need to develop a passion in your
life i don't think you find it i think
you develop it but they need to start
from an area of real interest it needs
to be actually something that at a
hardwiring level they're just they get
that response so
then their next question is like how
right how do i get into that how do i
discover the thing that triggers me like
that and if i discover it then how do i
develop it into a passion if you had an
algorithm
something that were able to
[Music]
use the more manipulative techniques
that you were talking about that
coca-cola is doing or whatever but give
it to you in a way that can move you in
a desired direction so i'll give you a
specific example that you give in the
book so talking about how let's say
there was an algorithm that knew you'd
just broken up with somebody knew that
you were in the grips of heartache
because they're they're reading your
biometrics they're watching your heart
in fact give it to us that that example
that you you put so the biometrics
they're reading you the it's the song it
knows what songs to pick yeah i mean
something is as simple as choosing music
so you you were just dumped by a
boyfriend or girlfriend and the the
algorithm that controls uh the music
that you listen to chooses the songs
that are the best fit
for your current mental state
and of course this brings up the
question of what is the matrix what do
you actually want
from the music do you want the music to
uplift you or do you want the music to
kind of connect you to the deepest level
of sadness and depression
and ultimately we can say that the
algorithm can follow different kinds of
instructions
if you know
what kind of emotional state you want to
be in you can just tell the algorithm
what what you want and it will do it if
you are not sure you can tell the
algorithm
follow the recommendation of the
best psychologist today so let's say you
have the five stages of grief
so okay walk me with music through this
five stages of grief
and the algorithm can do that better
than than any human dj and what we
really need to understand in this regard
is that what music and most of art plays
on in the end is the human biochemical
system at least according to the
dominant view of art in the modern
western world we had different views in
different cultures but in the modern
western world the idea of art is that
art is above all about inspiring human
emotions
it doesn't necessarily have to be joy
great art can inspire also sadness can
can inspire
anger can inspire fear it can be a whole
palate of emotional states but out is
about inspiring human emotions
so the instrument
artists play on and whether it's
musicians or poets or movie makers
they're actually playing on the homo
sapiens biochemical system
and we might reach a point quite soon
when an algorithm
knows this instrument better than any
human artist a movie or a poem or a song
that will not
move you that will not inspire you might
inspire me and something that will
inspire me in one situation might not
inspire me in another situation and as
time goes on and the algorithm gathers
more and more data about me it will
become more and more accurate
in reading my biochemical system and
knowing how to play on it as if it was a
piano like okay you want joy
i press this button and out comes the
perfect song the only song in the world
that can actually make me joyful right
now
that's so interesting to me all right so
right now real world you can snap your
fingers and you can have one algorithm
that's tied to one
biochemical process in your life for
real what would you want to monitor and
get that feedback on now that's easy i
mean healthcare if there is like
something seriously wrong in my body
that i don't know about like i don't
know cancer or something i would like
the algorithm to find that out i don't
want to wait until i mean the usual
process
is that it has to go through your own
mind you can't outsource it i mean today
when you need to diagnose cancer there
are exceptions but in most cases there
is a crucial moment when you feel
something is wrong in my body and you go
to this doctor and that doctor and then
you do this test and that test until
they finally realize okay we just
discovered you have cancer in your liver
or whatever
um but
because it relies on your own feelings
in this case feelings of pain very often
uh it it's quite late in the process
by the time you start feeling pain
usually the cancer has spread and maybe
it's not too late but it's going to be
expensive and painful and problematic to
treat it
but if we can you know outsource this
don't go through the mind through
through my my feelings i want an
algorithm that with biometric sensors is
monitoring my health 24 hours a day
without my being aware of it
it can potentially discover this liver
cancer but it is just a tiny just a few
cells are beginning to to to to split
and to spread
and it's so easy and cheap and painless
to take care of it now
instead of two years later when it's
already spread and it's it's a big
problem
so this is something that i think almost
everybody would sign on to and this is
the big temptation
because it comes with the whole other
the long tail of dangers i mean this
algorithm the the the healthcare system
knows almost everything about you
so one of the biggest
battles in the 21st century is likely to
be between privacy and health
and i guess that health is going to win
most people will be willing to give up a
very significant amount of privacy in
exchange for far better health care now
we do need to try and enjoy both worlds
to create a system that gives us a very
good healthcare but without compromising
our privacy keeping the yes you can use
the data to tell me that there is a
problem and and we should do this or
that to solve it but i don't want this
data to be used for other purposes
without my knowing it whether we can
reach such a balance
and like you know have your cake and eat
it too that's a big political question
yeah
yeah that's uh that is very crazy and
very exciting for somebody like me who
definitely airs on the side of wanting
the healthcare um you've talked really
powerfully about story about how stories
like money which i don't think most
people think of as a story um as being
you know these tremendous things that
control all of our lives that point us
all in the same direction that gives us
sort of a common code by which to live
how can people take control of the story
that they tell themselves about
themselves which i find
to be one of the most
important stories that you engage in
yes so our identity
is really just a story which we
constantly construct and and embellish i
mean you can say that the entire human
mind is a machine that constantly
produces stories and especially one very
important story which is my
story and different people have
different specialized in different
genres some people build their stories a
tragedy some people build their story as
a comedy or as a drama
but um in the end i the self is a story
and not a real thing
and on the one hand with all the new
technologies
you get
better and better abilities to construct
yourself but already today a lot of the
work
which previously was done in the brain
and in the mind of constructing my
identity my story has been outsourced to
things like facebook
that you build your facebook account
and this is actually outsourcing it from
the brain
and you are busy maybe for hours every
day just building a story and becoming
extremely attached to it and and
publicizing it to everybody and you tend
to make this fundamental mistake you
think it's it's the this is really me
and um so why is that a mistake
i'm actually really curious first of all
if you take something like the profile
that people create about themselves in
in facebook or instagram it should be
obvious it doesn't really reflect your
actual
existence your actual reality both in
reality and outer reality like the
percentage of time you smile in your
instagram account is much bigger than
the percentage of time you smile in real
life
and you know you go on some vacation
um and you post the the images from the
vacation so usually you're smiling in
your in your swimming suit on the beach
with your girlfriend and boyfriend
holding this cocktail and everything
looks perfect and everybody is so
envious
but actually you just had a nasty fight
with your boyfriend five minutes ago and
then this is the image that everybody
else is seeing and thinking oh they must
have such wonderful time and afterwards
like a year later or two years later
you look back and this is what you see
and you forget what was the actual
experience like
what what is the role of truth in the
story that we tell ourselves about
ourselves
very little
do you think there should be more there
should there should definitely be more
and what would be the outcome if we were
like i'm really going to make sure that
the story i tell myself is objectively
true
it's going to be very very painful and
difficult i think it is worth the effort
but it's just very difficult we
constantly
uh we constantly edit
the
this story
just like the news on tv are edited and
just like you know it's a bit like
making a movie like you watch the movie
in the cinema and everything is so
seamless
like yeah this is the story it flows
and then when you actually see how a
movie is produced this is insane like
you have this tiny bit of a scene you
repeat it 50 times
and sometimes you know you shoot this
scene this scene scene two comes after
scene one but actually it was filmed
long before that so sometimes you you
you feel the breakup of of the lovers
before you film
the the first meeting for all kinds of
scheduled reasons and locations so the
the end result is completely seamless
and perfect but it is actually made up
from all these tiny tiny disconnected
bits that have been you know this is
from here and this is from there and we
somehow glue it together and it looks
good
and it's the same with the story of our
life
it's all kinds of bits and pieces
and only when you tell it to yourself or
to somebody else
it kind of makes sense
the cost of trying to stick
with the reality as it is
is very very high it's very difficult it
demands a lot of effort and it is often
very painful because you have to
acknowledge many things about yourself
that you don't want to acknowledge them
people have this
fantasy
of
i don't know going to some retreat and
just taking out a week or two from life
to really observe inside to really
explore who am i what is my authentic
self and they have this
fantastic notion
that i will be able to finally connect
to my inner child and i will discover my
true vocation in life and i will
discover all these wonderful things
about me
and when you actually do it
the first thing you usually encounter is
all the things you don't want to know
about yourself there is a reason that
that that you don't want to know them i
think it's worth the effort but it's a
very very hard
task
all right on that there's so many
studies that talk about the more
delusional somebody is self-delusional
the more likely they are to be happy
you've said one of the big questions as
a historian you're trying to answer is
as we've moved forward as a
you know a species of society have we
actually gotten happier
so there is some importance it sounds
like that you place on happiness so why
then would you want people to do that
hard work of facing the realities
recognizing the things about themselves
that they don't necessarily want to
recognize is that because you think it
leads to more happiness i think that
ultimately it is worth the price i mean
delusions come at at a very high
price also
um
and not just to yourself
but to people around you to the world as
a whole i mean ultimately this leads to
things like wars and like genocide and
like in empire and you know i come from
israel i come from the middle east so i
am surrounded by millions of people who
are killing each other because of all
kinds of fictional stories and delusions
that they believe in
so sometimes it's an important defensive
mechanism it's very difficult to live
just with the raw truth all the time
but the price of delusion and the price
of not being able to tell the difference
between fiction and reality it adds up
and eventually it adds up to things like
genocide and war
that sounds like a pretty extraordinary
price to pay yeah i would agree with you
there um in 21 lessons is
what do we do when
we're
faced with being put out of work that we
are one of the useless class and we have
to do this reinvention at a career level
you're living longer your career life is
50 60 70 80 years whatever that looks
like in a time where every seven to ten
years like it's just it's a completely
new world
what do you think the human capacity for
that level of reinvention is
well that's a very important question it
has little to do with immortality
because even without immortality we are
heading in the direction even if people
if the lifespan remains as it is 80
years
every 10 years you have another big
shock i mean people
one of the things many people don't
realize about the ai revolution and the
automation revolution they imagine it as
some kind of
one-time event we have the big ai
revolution in 2025 you have all these
truck drivers and taxi drivers and
doctors and whatever losing their jobs
you have a few difficult years of
adjustment
and then eventually you have the new
brave new world of ai with a new
equilibrium
and this is an extremely unlikely
scenario because we are nowhere near
the maximum potential of ai
the speed in which it develops is only
likely to accelerate
so what we are really going to face
is a cascade of ever bigger revolutions
in the job market and in many other
areas of life relationships politics and
so forth
so you have
a big disruption in 2025 you have an
even bigger disruption in 2035 and even
bigger one in 2045 and so forth and if
you look say the job market
so okay you were a truck driver and they
no longer need you but there is new
demand for yoga teachers so you somehow
reinvent yourself at age 40. i'm no
longer truck driver now i'm a yoga
teacher
it's very difficult to somehow do it
ten years later no need of yoga teachers
thank you very much we now have these
amazing applications connected with
biometric sensors to your body they know
exactly
what you're doing with every tiny muscle
as you do this posture or that posture
no human yoga teacher can compete with
that
you're out of job you have to reinvent
yourself again as a designer of virtual
world games
and you do it somehow but 10 years later
you have to do it again because this too
has now been automated
and even if you get support from the
government and there is all these
uh education for for adult uh a system
the really big question is again it's
psychological
do
do we as human beings have the
mental stability and the emotional
intelligence necessary to reinvent
ourselves repeatedly
and you know when you're 20
what you're doing is basically to
reinvent yourself or to invent yourself
for the first time and it is very
difficult
when you're 30
it's even more difficult but you
sometimes but you somehow do it but when
you get to be 40 50 60 it becomes more
and more difficult you have more to let
go of i've invested so much
in building this career this personality
these skills
to give it all up and start again from
from a new it's so difficult so
i don't know whether we can do it
yeah that is the question that i think
we'll ultimately be forced to answer
and that brings me to education so what
do you think that
if
we're talking to somebody who's 18 right
now they're trying to decide do i go to
college yes or no should they go to
college and if they go to college what
should they be studying
um
that's it's a very difficult question
the first thing they should realize
is that nobody really knows
nobody really knows how the job market
would look like in 2040
so they should
be suspicious of all these kinds of
advices by people who pretend that they
know
what the job market would need in 20
years the best investment i would say is
in emotional intelligence
and in mental balance and these kinds of
skills of how to keep changing
throughout your life
how to keep learning throughout your
life
now how do you learn that that's very
very difficult
we don't have a college degree in mental
flexibility
but these are the most important tools
so whatever you choose you can go to law
school you can go to ballet school but
you should keep in mind
that
much of what i'm learning might be
irrelevant in 20 or 30 years so whatever
else i'm doing i should also
invest
in developing my emotional intelligence
my mental balance my ability to keep
changing and learning and reinventing
throughout my life
so maybe to give an image or a metaphor
if in the past
education was like building a stone
house
with very deep foundations
now i would say that education is more
like
a constructing a tent
that you can fold up and move to another
location
very quickly and easily that's a great
analogy
so given that it's so hard to predict
the future you've talked a lot about the
power of science fiction science fiction
writers
walk us through that why
what is the role that a science fiction
writer can play or storyteller filmmaker
whatever the case may be
our lives in the 21st century more than
anything else
are going to be new technologies
especially
ai and biotechnology
and
most people their understanding of these
technologies and their potential for
good or for bad it really comes from
science fiction
the political system so far has done an
awful job
in understanding and preparing us
for these kinds of of development there
is almost no talk in the uh political
arena about ai and biotechnology
the scientific community
is of course very deeply engaged with it
but
most people don't read articles in
science or nature and even if they tried
it would be very difficult for them to
understand the professional jargon and
all the statistics and and so forth
so most people actually get their
education about what's coming from
science fiction
and
this means at least i think so that
science fiction is now the most
important artistic genre
and it should also be the most
responsible
and one of the problems with science
fiction is that so far it has done a
so-so jobs
some
novels and tv series and films are
really amazing in the way they explore
what's what could what could happen
uh ranging like some of my favorites are
my all-time favorite is brave new world
by aldo saxley which was written back in
the early 1930s and i think is the most
prophetic and profound
i totally understand
all right so before i ask my last
question tell these guys where they can
find you online
uh i have a website ynharari.com
and
they can find me on facebook and
instagram and twitter and all the usual
places
awesome my last question is what is the
impact that you want to have on the
world
i want to bring more clarity to the
public conversation on what's happening
in the world
i think that too much of the public
discussion
is focused either on the wrong issues
or is
extremely confused and unclear
and people are flooded by enormous
amounts of information
which they don't know how to make sense
of
and what i i see my mission as bringing
clarity to the public discussion
especially in terms of focusing people's
attention on the most important
questions i try to give some answers too
but i don't care a lot if people don't
agree with me about the answers about
the solutions the important thing i
think is is to agree about the questions
and i would end by saying that there are
three big challenges to humankind in the
21st century
there are nuclear war climate change and
technological disruption
and these should be the first
three items on the political agenda of
every country and this is not the case
right now i would like it to be the case
awesome involved thank you so much for
joining us that was incredible
[Applause]
all right guys when i say that you're
going to learn just an absolute metric
ton of stuff from this man dive into his
first three books they are absolutely
extraordinary
you will learn so much about where we've
come from where we're going and where we
are today that it will give you the
ability to look at yourself in a totally
new way to understand yourself not even
just at the operating system level but
like at the kernel level it was so
fascinating to see him walk us through
that entire lineage
it's unlike anything that i've read
before and reading the books as a
trilogy and understanding um how they
all work together is is breathtaking so
i highly highly highly encourage that
and the fact that he's out there in a
populist way getting people to ask these
questions i think is so critical and he
threw out go back to the beginning of
this episode he threw out some amazing
business ideas without i think even
meaning to but i thought wow somebody
could actually run with these and they
would be extraordinary
and that's just the way his mind works
he really is one of the most profound
thinkers of our time dive in he's
accessible and that is one of the most
beautiful things and remember he's a
historian so the way that he's putting
this all in context is is truly
extraordinary and once you understand
things at why they are the way they are
then it just brings a whole new ability
to see through the lies fake news the
stories we tell ourselves all of the
just natural human attachments to really
come to an understanding of the way the
world actually is and once you
understand that then you can begin to
move in a way that makes sense and
allows you to reach your own goals all
right if you haven't already be sure to
subscribe and until next time my friends
be legendary take
[Applause]
hey everybody thank you so much for
watching and being a part of this
community if you haven't already be sure
to subscribe you're going to get weekly
videos on building a growth mindset
cultivating grit and unlocking your full
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