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.
Interpretation
Techno-humanism seeks to enhance human capabilities through technology while prioritizing human values.
In this quote, Yuval Noah Harari discusses the philosophy of techno-humanism, which strives to merge technology with humanity, creating enhanced beings through cyborg technologies and computer integration. However, this philosophy remains rooted in the belief that human interests and desires should remain the ultimate guiding principle, emphasizing a balance between technological advancement and the preservation of core human values.
In practice
During a technology conference, illustrating the balance between human values and tech advancements.
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.
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.
You go to a Japanese restaurant and have a wonderful dish, and the thing to do is take a picture with your phone, put it on Facebook, and see how many likes you get. If you don't share your experiences, they don't become part of the data processing system, and they have no meaning.
If there is technological advance without social advance, there is, almost automatically, an increase in human misery.
The cost of adding a feature isn't just the time it takes to code it. The cost also includes the addition of an obstacle to future expansion. ... The trick is to pick the features that don't fight each other.
The future is already upon us, it is just unevenly distributed.
In technology, we spend so much time experimenting, fine-tuning, getting the absolute cheapest way to do something - so why aren't we doing that with social policy?
It is interesting to come across people who feel that a ghost communicating via a spell-checker is less far-fetched than a software glitch.
The Internet carries the flag of being subversive and possibly rebellious and chaotic, nihilistic.
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