21 Lessons for the 21st Century

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Yuval Noah Harari

📅 Finished on: 2021-01-07

🗺 Current affairs
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History repeats itself. Let's study

Recommended by Incassaforte, the book tackles 21 contemporary theses in an even-handed way. It is very interesting. Note: the chapter on the meaning of life (20) is wonderful. I am noting down a passage that struck me.

For those who do not trust the grand narratives, nor any future legacy or any collective epic, perhaps the safest story to devote yourself to is love. It does not seek to go beyond the here and now. As countless love poems attest, when you are in love, the entire universe shrinks to the earlobe, the eyelashes, or the nipple of your beloved. […] Communion with a single body here and now makes you feel connected with the entire cosmos. In truth, your beloved is just another human being, no different from all those you ignore every day on the train or at the supermarket. Yet to you, he or she seems infinite, and you are happy to lose yourself in that infinity. […] If you are truly in love with someone, you will never worry about the meaning of life.

Wonderful. Very interesting, with many insights on the future and the past. You can see that history teaches and repeats itself. It opened my eyes to many issues and made me reflect on others I took for granted. The author reviews many challenges ahead; I focus on the ones I found most interesting. I am writing a thorough recap here, in case I want to revisit it carefully. Below is the index with comments and the parts I liked most.

The Technological Challenge

  1. DISILLUSIONMENT The end of history has been postponed (trust lost in liberalism)
  2. WORK When you grow up, you might not have a job (already covered in the book on automation)
  3. LIBERTY Big Data is watching you
  4. EQUALITY Those who own the data own the future (they are indeed amassing data at scale)

The Political Challenge

  1. COMMUNITY Humans have bodies
  2. CIVILISATION There is just one civilisation in the world
  3. NATIONALISM Global problems need global answers
  4. RELIGION God now serves the nation (religion is the veneer, great metaphor)
  5. IMMIGRATION Some cultures might be better than others (examines the case, very complicated)

Despair and Hope

  1. TERRORISM Don’t panic (they lack the means for large-scale havoc; their aim is to shock and incite)
  2. WAR Never underestimate human stupidity (wars may still happen)
  3. HUMILITY You are not the centre of the world (a sharp critique of nationalism and religion)
  4. GOD Don’t take the name of God in vain
  5. SECULARISM Acknowledge your shadow (we are just dots in history)

Part IV: Truth

  1. IGNORANCE You know less than you think (another lesson in humility)
  2. JUSTICE Our sense of justice might be out of date (reflection on the relativity of justice)
  3. POST-TRUTH Some fake news lasts for ever (the fake news problem, very important)
  4. SCIENCE FICTION The future is not what you see in the movies

Part V: Resilience

  1. EDUCATION Change is the only constant (how to learn, how school needs to evolve)
  2. MEANING Life is not a story (wonderful. see passage above)
  3. MEDITATION Just observe (an interesting cue to meditate; the author sees it as the key)