Aesthetics: Historically, divine beings have been a primary source of artistic and aesthetic inspiration. People are expected to vote based on their personal perspective and experiences. In the modern era, most countries now involve the masses through voting and direct representation. Politics: Historically, politics were reserved for the noble or the religious elite. In the modern era, humanists develop their own ethical judgments and make ethical decisions based on their internal feelings, removing the black-and-white judgments of religious fundamentalism. Ethics: Historically, theistic religion dictated ethics, regardless of human impact. Modern humanists, however, believe that human beings can use their personal feelings to define their version of “right” and “wrong.”Īs people continue to value their own perspective over that of a divine being, the impact of humanism is seen clearly in the following five areas: Historically, people didn’t believe that human beings had the ability to determine morality on their own and turned to a higher power for guidance. Meaning creates morality by determining what’s important in life. To help in their quest for meaning, humans turned to humanism and the belief that humanity has the authority to create meaning within the universe. The Present: The Rise of HumanismĪs theism lost its power, humanity needed a new way to get through the constant stress, tension, and burnout associated with the demand for advancement while maintaining social order and large-group cooperation. While fewer people believe in the grandiose stories of theistic religions, economic and political religions such as capitalism, nationalism, communism, and fascism have taken their place. In the modern era, we still rely on religion to guide our perspective. In this sense, “religion” includes scientific, economic, and socio-political ideologies because they create order, generate ethical perspectives, and allow for large-scale cooperation. Rather, religion is defined as an all-encompassing story that creates ethics and laws within a human structure. While religions have historically been theistic, or centered around powerful deities, religion doesn’t have to revolve around supernatural or superstitious beliefs. Over time, the advent of writing and organized religion allowed for centralized powers to ensure large-group cooperation and mass organization. While these tales remained relatively local, they provided Sapiens an advantage over other beings such as Neanderthals by creating a stronger sense of community and purpose. These stories consisted of tales of divine beings and ancestral spirits. About 70,000 years ago, Sapiens gained the power of cognition, allowing them to share stories that only existed in their heads. To ensure cooperation, humans have used storytelling to create meaningful narratives that allow them to dominate other species and control one another. For example, in pre-Soviet Russia, 3 million noblemen controlled 180 million commonfolk by ensuring that “lower-class” citizens never learned to cooperate with one another. Historically, humans have used their ability to flexibly cooperate to dominate both animals and other humans. 
We’ve been able to dominate the planet largely through our flexibility and large-scale cooperation-not, as some contend, because we have a soul, consciousness, or self-awareness. In just a few thousand years of existence, mankind has changed the ecosystem of the entire planet. Humans have been the single greatest agent of change in the history of the Earth. To understand where we’re headed, we must first understand how we became the most dominant species on the planet. Finally, we’ll look at the future of humanity and the systems that may develop within the next century. From there, we’ll look at technology and how it has already impacted modern systems of religion, economics, and politics. To understand this perspective, we must first look to human history to see how modern society has developed. This book explores the way that technological advancement may lead to the decline of modern political, social, and economic systems, with advanced algorithms, “superhumans,” and data surveillance becoming the new normal. These will guide us to the next phase of our evolution, from Homo sapiens to Homo deus, or god-like beings. Consequently, we now look toward new goals: immortality, happiness, and divinity. However, in the modern era, we’ve mostly overcome these three problems through the development of technology and medical knowledge.
These issues contributed to the deaths of millions of people and resulted in the rise and fall of global empires. 1-Page Summary 1-Page Book Summary of Homo Deus Fast Summary of Shortform's Guide to Homo Deusįor millennia, humans struggled with three serious problems: famine, plagues, and war.
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