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Recommended "Sapiens: a brief history of humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
aperture:
Picked this book up from the library after seeing Bill Gates talk about it on his blog. I am presently in the middle of reading it and want to pass on my recommendation. This book is absolutely brilliant and interesting and full of insights into our shared history.
Here is a link to Gate's blog and review of the book: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Sapiens-A-Brief-History-of-Humankind
Best wishes, Ap.
TVRodriguez:
I heard the author interviewed on npr a couple weeks ago, and it was fascinating. I plan to read it but haven't gotten around to it just yet. Thanks for the reminder!
joninnyc:
--- Quote from: aperture on August 14, 2016, 07:51:03 PM ---Picked this book up from the library after seeing Bill Gates talk about it on his blog. I am presently in the middle of reading it and want to pass on my recommendation. This book is absolutely brilliant and interesting and full of insights into our shared history.
Here is a link to Gate's blog and review of the book: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Sapiens-A-Brief-History-of-Humankind
Best wishes, Ap.
--- End quote ---
Just wait until you get to the end - then stuff really gets nuts. This is one of those epic long reads that you really need to take time to think through, but you can get so much out of it. I took it to the beach earlier this year and read it all day every day for a week. So good.
aperture:
--- Quote from: joninnyc on August 18, 2016, 07:51:28 PM ---Just wait until you get to the end - then stuff really gets nuts. This is one of those epic long reads that you really need to take time to think through, but you can get so much out of it. I took it to the beach earlier this year and read it all day every day for a week. So good.
--- End quote ---
I finished the book and enjoyed the end - and as you point out, it gets pretty weird. On the other hand, I previously read the Nexus series by Ramez Naam (which are fantastic if you like near future SF), and have been a fan of cyberpunk and Iain Banks, so the post-human speculation was not foreign to me. My work leads me to have small brushes with people seeking to expand their abilities with present pharmaceutical technologies. After 15 years of observing the trend, I suspect that any affordable technology that allows an expansion of human ability will quickly (decades at most) be adopted by a significant minority of the population. I have no doubt that there will be an emergent subculture of people that embrace enhancements in the way that a subculture today embraces tattoos.
If enhancements allow for greater productivity and achievement, there could be a new tech enhanced elite, but I am a cynic. Having watched the workplace and the way we humans work in large groups - it will not be productivity and achievement that creates an elite. It will continue to be anti-social tendencies and willingness to score points by shifting on the people below you while simultaneously kissing up to the people above that leads to advancement. Besides, it is likely that many tech enhancements will be social or pleasure enhancements and these will likely distract people from greater productivity and performance.
Anyway, the book is brilliant and I really enjoyed it. -Aperture
TVRodriguez:
My name finally came up on the library list for this book, and I'm in the middle of it now. I'm really really enjoying it. Every few pages, I just close it and say "whoa." I might actually have to buy a copy so I can mark it up and re-read it. His writing is at such an accessible level, I think many people could get into this book. But man, is it heavy! Actually heavy. As in, I find it uncomfortable to read it if I have to hold it up and not just lay it on my lap or a table.
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