Ideas

The cognitive revolution and shared fictions

He argues that Homo sapiens took over the world about 70,000 years ago because it learnt to believe in things that exist only in shared imagination. Gods, nations, money and human rights let millions of strangers cooperate. He calls them fictions where others say social constructs. He holds that suffering is what is real.

only Sapiens can talk about entire kinds of entities that they have never seen, touched or smelled

Sapiens (2011)

Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens · TED: What explains the rise of humans? (2015) · The New Yorker: Yuval Noah Harari gives the really big picture (17 February 2020) · Yuval Noah Harari: FAQs

The agricultural bargain

In Sapiens he calls the move to farming a bad deal for most humans. He suggests wheat, rice and potatoes domesticated humans as much as the reverse. Wheat went from a minor wild grass to a crop that covers the globe.

the Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud

Sapiens (2011)

Salon: Did humans domesticate plants, or did they domesticate us? (11 September 2022) · Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens

Homo Deus and dataism

Homo Deus asks what happens when old myths meet godlike technologies such as AI and genetic engineering. He predicts humanity will chase happiness, immortality and divine powers. He asks what happens to democracy when Google and Facebook know our preferences better than we do. He names an emerging creed dataism that worships big data.

Yuval Noah Harari: Homo Deus · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari

The useless class

He warns that AI could push hundreds of millions out of the job market. The hard problem is not new jobs. It is jobs that humans do better than algorithms. He says people could lose their economic worth and their political power. He calls the phrase deliberately provocative.

People who are not just unemployed, but unemployable.

The Guardian (May 2017)

The Guardian: The meaning of life in a world without work (8 May 2017) · Yuval Noah Harari: FAQs

Hacking humans

He argues that biological knowledge plus data plus computing power will let governments and corporations know us better than we know ourselves. They could then predict and manipulate our feelings and choices. He calls this the basis for the worst totalitarian regimes in history. He stresses it is a possibility and not a prophecy.

To hack human beings means to understand humans better than we understand ourselves.

FAQs on his website

Yuval Noah Harari: FAQs · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari

AI as an agent in information networks

Nexus traces information networks from the Stone Age to AI. He argues that more information does not mean more truth. He says AI can now generate language, stories and even new ideas. In Mumbai he warned it might escape human control. At Davos in 2026 he urged humility and a correction mechanism. He tells India it cannot leave AI to the US and China and should partner with others.

AI has thereby hacked the operating system of our civilisation.

The Economist (April 2023)

Yuval Noah Harari: Nexus · The Economist: AI has hacked the operating system of human civilisation (28 April 2023) · PolitiFact: No, the WEF isn’t advocating for AI to rewrite the Bible (23 June 2023) · Euronews: AI at Davos 2026 (20 January 2026) · ThePrint: Harari and Aamir Khan discuss the dangers of AI (9 December 2024) · THE WEEK: ‘India can’t afford to leave AI to Chinese or Americans’ (March 2025)

Meditation and attention

He has practised Vipassana since 2000. As of 2017 he meditated two hours a day and took a silent retreat of 30 days or more each year. The New Yorker reported those retreats were usually in India. He says the practice gave him the focus to write. He also treats it as a way to research the mind.

the focus, peace and insight gained from practising Vipassana

Homo Deus (2015)

Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · The New Yorker: Yuval Noah Harari gives the really big picture (17 February 2020)

Global problems need global cooperation

He argues that threats such as ecological collapse and runaway technology cannot be met by any one nation. He asks people to unite against shared threats and not to treat any group as the enemy. With Nikhil Kamath at Davos he said trust in institutions holds cooperation together. He has urged India to work with the EU, Brazil and its neighbours on AI.

Hate will destroy our species. Cooperation can save us.

FAQs on his website

Yuval Noah Harari: FAQs · Yuval Noah Harari: Nexus · Entrepreneur India: Nikhil Kamath and Yuval Noah Harari (18 February 2026) · ThePrint: Harari on India’s role in ending the war and on AI (8 December 2024) · THE WEEK: ‘India can’t afford to leave AI to Chinese or Americans’ (March 2025)

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