Fundamentally, mankind was unimportant in the ecological system. Then, in one fell swoop, an evolutionary blink of an eye, the human race is transformed from something unimportant to the most important thing in the world.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the rapid shift in human significance within the ecological system due to evolution.
Yuval Noah Harari's quote emphasizes the profound and sudden transition of humanity's role in the ecological system, portraying humans as initially insignificant and then quickly becoming the most influential species on the planet. This notion prompts reflection on our responsibility and impact on the environment and other species, urging a deeper understanding of our place within the natural world.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about environmental conservation to emphasize human impact.
We control the world basically because we are the only animals that can cooperate flexibly in very large numbers. And if you examine any large-scale human cooperation, you will always find that it is based on some fiction like the nation, like money, like human rights.
I titled the book 'Homo Deus' because we really are becoming gods in the most literal sense possible. We are acquiring abilities that have always been thought to be divine abilities - in particular, the ability to create life. And we can do with that whatever we want.
The notion of superhumans is using bioengineering and artificial intelligence to upgrade human abilities. If they use the power to change themselves, to change their own minds, their own desires, then we have no idea what they will want to do.
Techno-humanism aims to amplify the power of humans, creating cyborgs and connecting humans to computers, but it still sees human interests and desires as the highest authority in the universe.
The most important question in 21st-century economics may well be, 'What should we do with all the superfluous people, once we have highly intelligent non-conscious algorithms that can do almost everything better than humans?'
Take Google Maps or Waze. On the one hand, they amplify human ability - you are able to reach your destination faster and more easily. But at the same time, you are shifting the authority to the algorithm and losing your ability to find your own way.
We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.
The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls.
I've spent most of my mature life trying to prove that I'm not irresponsible.
It's coexistence or no existence.
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