By Sanan Hassan Lashari
The modern world’s risks are briefly described in Yuval Noah Harari’s book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. Although the book thoroughly explains the dangers, its primary focus was on those arising from the intersection of biotechnology and information technology.
In his opening remarks, Harari claimed that history had not yet come to an end. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Francis Foukayama developed the theory known as “The End of History,” which holds that since democracy was established as the ideal political system for humankind, there will no longer be any international conflicts. However, given that the globe is once more engulfed in an arms race, hostilities, and wars, Harari disagreed with the idea that history is coming to an end. As the world experiences a democratic recession , democracies struggle. The standards of democracy are being challenged. Harari contends that authoritarianism and dictatorship did not end with Hitler. Since nationalism still poses a threat. Nationalism and the “America First” stance are the main platforms used by populist politicians like Trump and Modi to energise the populace.Last but not least, authoritarianism is rife as its leaders create an endless cycle of crises to bolster their governments. I believe that we may use Russia as an example, where Putin fought a war against Ukraine and won elections.
The threat posed by artificial Intelligence was Harari’s second main issue. Since AI has the capacity to surpass human performance. Physicians, engineers, drivers, and bankers are being replaced by artificial intelligence. He attempted to draw a comparison between it and capitalism, noting that while capitalism also produced inequality, the disparities resulting from artificial intelligence will be enormous and startling. People will be irrelevant in the age of digital tyranny and will not be able to find employment due to their lack of knowledge about new abilities. Humanity are exploited by capitalism in the modern world, but in the age of artificial intelligence, humanity will become irrelevant.
In addition, he put up the idea of a “digital dictatorship,” in which people’s freedom and ability to make decisions will be restricted and they will be dependent on artificial intelligence (AI) for everything from marriage to professional decisions. The dangers posed by artificial intelligence surpass even those posed by Stalin and Hitler. Consider the murderous robots that could be created by AI, and then picture them operating under the command of despots such as Kim Jong Un. There will be two types of people under the digital dictatorship: superclass humans and worthless homo sapiens.
The book went on to discuss the threat posed by climate change, referring to humans as the “serial ecological killer” (Harari). He clarified that people will soon identify themselves in that way. Hi, my name is Homo sapiens, and I’m addicted to fossil fuels. However, the effects of climate change are concerning, ranging from increased heatwaves to glacier melting. His final two points were related to immigration and war. Yuval discussed immigration in the context of how immigrants, especially those from Muslim nations, are unwilling to adapt into Western culture and how the host nation is also unwilling to grant them citizenship. Thus, these two represent the area of contention between two parties involved.
Finally, on the purpose of war, he put forth the theory that, in this complicated world, limited-duration conflicts are appropriate, but full-scale invasions and protracted conflicts will yield no results. He used the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, which only served to humiliate people, as an example, while Russia continued to win its proxy conflicts in the Middle East. This concept can be used to Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, as Russia was unable to achieve its goals due to the protracted conflict.
From the debate above, it is clear that biotechnology, information technology, and climate change pose a threat to humanity and that Earth is in peril. A persistent sense of crisis seems to be the new normal, and the only way to combat these dangers is for regional and global powers to work together. If humanity must save the planet, then a united effort will prove to be successful.
