This blog post explores the impact of rapidly advancing science and technology on the human mind, and analyzes the future and possibilities of technological humanism through “Homo Deus” by Yuval Noah Harari.
Rapid advances in science and technology will bring about a major revolution in the not-too-distant future. Even the human mind, which has been considered an inviolable domain in the scientific community, will be able to be manipulated through powerful chemical drugs, genetic engineering, and brain-computer interfaces. Noah Harari’s “Homo Deus” predicts a future that will enable such a change of heart and describes a new religion called “technological humanism.” He argues that this new future may seem like an upgrade of the mind at first glance, but it actually has the potential to downgrade the mind of humanity, and this is where the contradictions of technological humanism are revealed. Reading the book, it seems that these claims are convincing, but the question arises as to whether upgrading and downgrading of the mind can occur simultaneously. Will technological development upgrade or downgrade the mind of humanity? To answer this question, let’s look at the future. To put it simply, future technology will thoroughly upgrade the mind of humanity, and the contradictory situation feared by technological humanists will not occur. Before discussing this, let’s analyze Noam Chomsky’s argument.
According to Noam Chomsky, current research on the human mind is focused on the “substandard” area of the mind suffering from mental illness, and there is no proper understanding of a healthy mind. Therefore, even if we have the technology to upgrade the mind, we may not know what a normal human mind should be like. As a result, the technology that is developed will only strengthen the mental abilities that the current political and economic systems require, while reducing other abilities, predicts Yuval Noah Harari.
The first question that arises here is why the system degrades “other abilities” that are not needed. Yuval Noah Harari tries to answer this question by citing the example of the primitive people’s sense of smell, the hunter-gatherers’ sensitivity, and the modern people’s reduced concentration, but this is all before technology can upgrade the mind. If we can upgrade our mental abilities with drugs and technology, there is no reason why we cannot restore the primitive man’s sense of smell or the hunter-gatherer’s sensitivity, which have been degraded. The reason why modern people do not have these abilities is that they do not have the circumstances or the time to develop them, but advanced technology will solve this problem once and for all.
When hearing this argument, Yuval Noah Harari might ask, “How?” “Why should we upgrade skills that are not necessary in our current lives?” However, in the future of humanity, the criteria for distinguishing between necessary and unnecessary skills will not depend solely on the social system as it does now. As Yuval Noah Harari predicted in the beginning of his book ‘Homo Deus,’ in the future brought about by technology, humanity will live a life close to eternal life, and in this situation, the relationship between humanity and society will develop differently from now. According to Spinoza, the reason why early states emerged was to help humanity overcome misery through stability and order. Another major reason for the formation of states and societies was the efficiency of production, but in the life of eternal life, “efficiency” will no longer be considered an important value. Therefore, the decision-making power of the social system will be reduced more than it is now, and the abilities of the mind that are considered unnecessary to the social system will not be ignored if they are meaningful to the individual.
Yuvall Noah Harari says that the downgrade of the mind will occur as a result of the degradation of the abilities that are marginalized during the upgrade of the mind, but as we have seen earlier, a situation in which certain mind abilities are completely marginalized in the future society will not occur. Rather, because of the diversity of the mind’s capabilities that individuals value, humanity will experience various states of mind that exist in the world and find the optimal state of mind for themselves. The current debate and discussion of “Should animals be respected and treated like humans,” which was also mentioned in “Homo Deus,” can also be naturally resolved through the upgrade of the mind.
Currently, it is impossible to know whether animals think like humans with the current level of human science and technology. Although we can know that animals feel physical pain due to the development of biotechnology, physical pain only works as a means for organisms to detect danger. It is still unknown whether animals can suffer from mental illness due to physical pain like humans. However, if future technology gives humans the opportunity to experience the minds of animals, they will be able to clearly determine whether they should treat and respect animals like humans.
The emergence of these future technologies will upgrade the human mind to a level that has never been imagined, rather than downgrade it. As the human mind is upgraded, it will be able to control itself without relying on the social system, and it will be able to understand the minds of other creatures more accurately, becoming a being that is more worthy of the title of “master of all creation” than it is now.
