What this covers
Techno-Religions and Silicon Prophets: Will the 21st century be shaped by hi-tech gurus or by religious zealots – or are they the same thing?
What is the current status of religions and ideologies in the world, and what will be the likely impact of 21st-century technological breakthroughs on religion and ideology? Will traditional religions and ideologies—from Christianity and Islam to Liberalism and Socialism—manage to survive the technological and economic revolutions of the 21st century? What would be the place of Islam, for example, in a world of genetic engineering and artificial intelligence? The talk addresses these questions, and argues that the future belongs to techno-religions, which promise salvation through technology, and which are already gathering believers in places such as Silicon Valley.
About the Author
Prof. Yuval Noah Harari lectures at the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He specializes in World History, medieval history and military history. His current research focuses on macro-historical questions: What is the relation between history and biology? Is there justice in history? Did people become happier as history unfolded?
His most recent book is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. The book surveys the entire length of human history, from the evolution of Homo sapiens in the Stone Age up to the political and technological revolutions of the Silicon Age. It has become an international bestseller, and has been translated into close to 30 languages worldwide.
For more details see www.ynharari.com
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Harari argues that liberalism, the dominant ideology of the early 21st century, is collapsing not due to external political threats but because life sciences reveal its core assumptions about individual consciousness and freedom are scientifically false, paving the way for data-driven algorithmic authority to replace individual autonomy as the organizing principle of society.
- Life sciences demonstrate humans are biochemical algorithms without individual essence or freedom, contradicting liberalism's foundational belief in an autonomous inner self
- External algorithms will increasingly make better decisions about our lives than our own feelings, shifting authority from individual to algorithmic systems
- This transition from religious authority (Middle Ages) to individual authority (liberalism) to algorithmic authority (emerging) represents a historical pattern of legitimacy shifts
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Life sciences in the early 21st century reveal that the basic beliefs on which liberalism is built are nonsense—liberalism's foundational claims sound sensible in the 18th century but are contradicted by modern biology.
“The basic problem of liberalism today in the early 21st century is that the life sciences are telling us that it is nonsense. The basic beliefs on which liberalism are built or perhaps sounded sensible in the 18th century, in the era of Locke and Rousseau and these people. But there is a huge gap between what liberalism tells us about the world, and about Homo sapiens, and what the life sciences in the early 21st century are telling us about Homo sapiens.”
Whether or not life sciences are correct about consciousness being algorithmic, data religion does not need to be true to take over the world—religions and ideologies have historically succeeded despite being scientifically wrong.
“in historical terms, it's not as important as you might think because a religion or an ideology does not have to be correct in what it says in order to take over the world. We have many cases previously in history when religions and ideologies, which said what we think today to be completely erroneous things about the world, nevertheless managed to take it over.”
Liberalism's emphasis on individual choice doesn't account for the massive role of social interaction, culture, and bonds between people in shaping decisions, making liberalism's theory of individual autonomy incomplete.
“one thing that you sort of glossed over is the role of society, of social interaction between humans... It's also about the bond between those people.”
Liberalism assumes that the inner voice within each individual comes from a space of complete freedom, despite external physical, social, and biological constraints.
“this inner voice within ourselves comes out of a space of complete freedom. Yes, there are influences, constraints from outside, physical, social, biological, but if we go deep enough within ourselves, we will come, eventually, to a space of complete freedom.”
Liberal democracy operates on the principle that the voter knows best and is the highest source of authority—when citizens vote by connecting to their inner voices and feelings, this reveals who should rule and what policies to adopt.
“We should turn to the inner voices of each individual. So we have elections and on election day everybody goes by himself or by herself. And at least theoretically tries to connect, I try to connect to myself to listen, what are my deepest feelings? What's are my deepest personal thoughts about this issue? And I vote accordingly. And this is how we know who should rule the country... There is no source of authority higher than the voter.”
In liberal economics, the customer is the highest authority—a product is good if customers buy it, and there is no higher authority that can override customer choice, even if a committee of Nobel laureates designed a better product that people reject.
“Liberal economics is the view that the customer is always right. There is no higher authority than the authority of the individual customer. How do we know if a product is a good product? If the customers buy it.”
Traditional religions (Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity) did not disappear but became less relevant and influential, transformed from creative forces into reactive forces that respond to technological and social changes rather than initiating them.
“the traditional religions, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, they did not disappear. It's not that people stopped believing in them. They just became less and less relevant, less influential. They were transformed essentially from a creative force into a reactive force.”
A baboon deciding whether to take bananas risks facing a lion must calculate multiple probabilities about the bananas, the lion, and itself—this calculation becomes an emotion (courage or fear), not a conscious number.
“Let's say you are a baboon... should I or shouldn't I try and get these bananas and risk that while I eat the bananas the lion will eat me? Now in order to reach a good answer I basically, what I need to do, is to calculate probabilities... What we call emotions, sensations, feelings, are simply biochemical algorithms that take all that information, all the huge amounts of information from outside and inside, and within a split second reach a certain decision, a certain probability.”
Among our closest cousins, the bonobo chimpanzees, matriarchal societies are found, suggesting women's superior social skills could have created matriarchy, making human patriarchy unexplained.
“And among our closest cousins in nature, the bonobo chimpanzees, we indeed find matriarchal societies.”
History is not made by numbers; very often historical changes are made by relatively few people, as exemplified by the Industrial Revolution which was driven by a small number of engineers and technicians despite the majority being more interested in religion
“history is not made by numbers. It's not that you need a lot of people to make historical changes. Very often historical changes are made by relatively few numbers of people”
The dominant ideology of the world in the early 21st century is liberal humanism, or liberalism, which believes that the source of all authority and meaning in the universe is the individual human being.
“the dominant ideology of the world at present is liberal humanism, or in short, liberalism. Liberalism is a worldview, an ideology, that thinks that a source of all authority and all meaning in the universe is the individual human”
Angelina Jolie chose to have a double mastectomy not because she had breast cancer but because a genetic test and statistical algorithm showed she had an 87% probability of developing breast cancer, demonstrating that external algorithms now override individual feelings in major medical decisions.
“I think it was a year ago, two years ago that this is very famous story came out with Angelina Jolie that she had a double mastectomy. Why? Not because she discovered she had breast cancer. She didn't have breast cancer. But she went and did a genetic test scanning her DNA. And it showed that she carries a mutation in one of her genes that, according to the statistical database, means she has an 87% chance of getting breast cancer.”
The most important question in 21st-century economics is what humanity needs people for, as computers will likely be able to do more and more things better than humans, putting the basic economic value of humans in doubt for the first time in history.
“perhaps the most important question in 21st-century economics is what do we need people for in the economy? In a situation when it is likely that computers will be able to do more and more things better and better than Homo sapiens, this becomes a real question for the first time in history. The most basic economic value of humans is being put in doubt.”
The situation is changing because biologists are deciphering the biochemical algorithms composing our bodies, and computer scientists are creating better and better electronic algorithms, raising the question of what happens when an external algorithm knows us and our feelings better than we can know ourselves.
“In two ways things are changing. First of all, biologists decipher the biochemical algorithms that compose our body and that are responsible for our feelings. They are no longer mysterious entities as they were before. We understand them better and better. Why I feel this way in this particular situation. And secondly, we have computer scientists that are creating better and better electronic algorithms.”
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was a creative technological and administrative force equivalent to Silicon Valley—it pioneered information processing, archiving, and administrative systems that helped run kingdoms.
“In the Middle Ages they were very creative forces. Much of the new technological, economic, political, administrative techniques of the Middle Ages were pioneered by the Catholic church. The best equivalent for Silicon Valley in the 13th century is the Vatican.”
According to life sciences, all animals including humans are not individuals—they have no souls, no essence, and no inner core. They are fundamentally collections of biochemical algorithms that form the brain and body.
“According to the life sciences today there are no such things. All animals, including humans, are not individuals. They don't have souls. They don't have any essence. They don't have any inner core. They are basically a collection of biochemical algorithms, all kinds of algorithmic systems that build the brain, that build the human beings, the giraffe, the elephant, whatever it is.”
When algorithmic authority spreads across more and more domains of life, liberalism will not necessarily collapse violently but will simply become outdated—authority will shift from individual feelings to external algorithms, just as it shifted from scriptures to feelings during the rise of liberalism.
“Now when this will spread to more and more fields of life, liberalism will collapse, not necessarily violently, but it will simply become outdated. People will move authority to a different place.”
The more likely scenario than human-robot war is a 'wedding'—a merger of biochemical and electronic algorithms—not a struggle but a fusion.
“the far more likely scenario, which we are already seeing now, is not a war but a wedding. We are talking about a merger of the two kinds of algorithms, the biochemical and the electronic, not a struggle, or not necessarily a struggle.”
In the 19th century, humans explained consciousness and the mind using steam engine metaphors because that was the most sophisticated technology—the hydraulic pressure model with valves and pressures underlies Freudian psychology.
“Humans usually try to explain themselves in terms of the most sophisticated technology of the day... In 1900, the most sophisticated machine, the most sophisticated technology, which was the basis for the whole economy, was the steam engine. So people came and said, ah, the brain is like a steam engine. There are valves and there are pressures and so forth.”
A historian's primary challenge is to describe reality accurately rather than judge it, because reality is complex—every major development (agricultural revolution, industrial revolution) contains both good and bad elements that can't be dismissed with an agenda.
“my aim as a historian is above all to describe reality, not to judge it... It's very important afterwards to make judgments, to decide what is good, what is bad, where we should progress. But the most basic challenge is first of all to describe reality. And if you start with a certain agenda then very quickly you become blind to much of reality because one thing almost certain about reality is that it's complex.”
In liberal aesthetics and art, beauty is determined by the individual viewer rather than by objective standards—beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and what the individual perceives as art becomes art.
“in liberal art, also, the customer or the viewer, he is or she is the highest authority. According to liberal art, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, in the feelings of the person watching or seeing the painting, the architecture, the play, whatever it is.”
Liberal education's main goal is to teach students to think for themselves, treating the student as the highest authority rather than the teacher or professor.
“The main idea of liberal education is that the student or the pupil is the highest authority, not the teacher, not the professor. In liberal education the main thing you try to teach your pupils or your students is to think for themselves.”
Amazon's book recommendations are remarkably accurate because they have information about your previous reading and can extrapolate what you'll enjoy, demonstrating that algorithms can know your preferences better than you consciously know them.
“The annoying thing is that they are often correct. They really know me better than I know myself. They can recommend the best book for me.”
We have very little idea how gender relations looked before the agricultural revolution, but after the agricultural revolution historical and archaeological evidence shows societies were patriarchal.
“We have very little idea how gender relations were prior to the agricultural revolution. After the agricultural revolution when we have in mass of first archaeological and then written records, we know that they were patriarchal.”
In liberal ethics, the highest authority is the feelings and emotions of individuals—if an action makes people feel good, then there is no reason for it to be evil or bad.
“The highest authority in the field of ethics is also the feelings of individuals. There's nothing beyond that. If it feels good, do it. If you feel good about it, if everybody feels good about it, then there is absolutely no reason in the world why it should be evil or bad.”
Feelings and emotions are biochemical algorithms calculating two things: probabilities of survival and probabilities of reproduction—they are not spiritual entities but results of evolutionary selection optimizing for these outcomes.
“feelings? Feelings are just biochemical algorithms calculating what? Calculating either of two things, probabilities of survival and probabilities of reproduction. That's it. The Homo sapiens, like giraffes, like elephants, they are calculating all the time, all their body is just a calculating machine for calculating probabilities of survival and reproduction.”
The Church provided the funding for many great works like the Sistine Chapel in addition to technology and ideas, suggesting that secular Western society did not do all the creative work alone.
“the church provided the funding for the Sistine Chapel and for a lot of other things.”
The definition of religion is about its function in society—giving legitimacy to human laws and norms by connecting them to superhuman authority or natural law—not about belief in God or irrationality.
“Religion gives legitimacy to human lows and norms by hanging on to some super human power or law of entity... Religion gives legitimacy to human laws and norms. By hanging on to some superhuman power or law of entity... the basic definition of religion is in terms of the function it plays in history and in society.”
Human feelings are becoming outdated—they evolved tens of thousands of years ago in the African Savanna and while they were the best algorithms then, we can now produce updated versions superior to evolved algorithms
“they appeared maybe the way that we have them today maybe a few tens of thousands of years ago in the African Savanna. So far they have been the best algorithms around, but we are now at the position to produce an updated version, something better”
Asimov and other science fiction authors explored the exact themes Harari discusses—the relationship between biology and computer science and the merger of human and machine—rather than just the conflict narrative.
“specifically as you were talking I was thinking of Heinlein and Asimov who exactly have the stories specifically talking about these exact things.”
Physical strength does not directly correlate with social power in human societies; people in their 60s dominate those in their 20s despite being physically weaker, and popes become pope through coalition-building not physical dominance
“there is no direct correlation between physical strength and social power. In human society, for example, people in their 60s usually dominate people in their 20s even though they are weaker physically... the pope is not the strongest Catholic in the world. You become pope... by building coalitions of supporters”
Biotechnology presents the possibility of extending human life and health indefinitely, potentially making 80 the new 40, which raises enormous questions about sexual relations, family structures, and society.
“The possibility of extending human life and human health indefinitely, with 80 being the new 40. What will this do to society, to sexual relations, to family structures? This is very big questions.”
There remains an unresolved question about consciousness: the hard problem of consciousness—we can correlate brain patterns with subjective experiences but cannot explain how electrochemical patterns create subjective experience.
“What is called in philosophy the hard problem of consciousness. We now understand very well, we know how to find correlations between particular biochemical or electrochemical patterns in the brain, and certain subjective experiences. But we are very, very far from being able to understand how is it that a particular pattern of electrochemical signals in the brain creates a subjective experience of love, or anger, or hate”
China, the rising superpower of the 21st century, is an economic giant but an ideological dwarf with very little alternative ideology to offer to the world.
“China is definitely an economic giant, it is still an ideological dwarf. In terms of ideology or religion China has very little to offer the world, at least at present. In theory and officially, it is still a communist country, but it is very far from being communist in practice.”
Social protests around the world in recent years have been done in the name of liberal values, not against them—people demand that governments implement liberal principles more consistently rather than offering alternatives to liberalism.
“the vast majority of the protests were done in the name of the liberal values, not against them. People are coming to the governments and saying, you don't live up to the liberal ideas. We want the politics to be more democratic. We want economics, the economy, to be more free.”
Radical Islam and radical religions in general oppose the liberal package but have no relevant alternative that can be offered and implemented in the 21st century because their ideas are centuries out of date.
“even though radical fundamentalist Islamic movements oppose the liberal package, they don't really have any relevant alternative that can be offered and implemented in the 21st century. The reason is that most of their ideas are out of date by centuries, by hundreds of years.”
The most important insight of our age is that organisms are algorithms, but simultaneously this is just a dogma—we have no proof of it and no explanation of how algorithms create subjective consciousness.
“organisms are algorithms. This is the most important, I think, insight of our age. And also the most important question because we don't have any proof of it. Currently, it's just dogma.”
For the first time in history, biotechnology creates the possibility of real biological gaps opening between rich and poor—not social, economic, or legal gaps, but actual biological differences that could split Homo sapiens into different biological castes or even different species.
“Another very big question, which emanates from this field of biotechnology is the possibility of, for the first time in history, real biological gaps opening between the rich and the poor... Now with the advent of biotechnology we are facing a possibility, it's not a prophecy, it's not certain, but there is a possibility of real biological gaps opening and Homo sapiens splitting into different biological castes, or even different species.”
Communism and socialism were the first techno-religions—ideologies that promised the same things traditional religions promised (peace, prosperity, paradise) but through technology and on Earth rather than in the afterlife.
“communism was the first techno-religion, a religion or ideology if you prefer that promises roughly the same things that were promised by the traditional religions. It promised peace, prosperity, paradise, but here on Earth with the use of technology, not in the afterlife by the act of some divine power.”
Data religion begins with simple things like GPS navigation telling you which way to turn rather than trusting your feelings, then progresses to recommendations about what to buy, what book to read, eventually to major decisions like whom to marry.
“It starts with simple things like, you've got to an intersection in the road to turn left or to turn right, don't listen to your feelings. Listen to [GPS]. Then you move to a more sophisticated level. What book to buy?... Eventually we will reach even questions like, whom to marry.”
A future scenario: You ask Google 'who should I marry?' and Google responds with an 87% probability recommendation based on knowing you completely, including all your emails, phone calls, failed dates, biometric data, and data from millions of successful and unsuccessful relationships.
“I can ask Google, dear Google, who should I marry? And Google will answer, well, I know you from the moment you were born... I've read every email you've ever written. I've listened to every phone call you've ever made. I remember every failed date you went to... And based on all this information and not only on all this information, but based on databases off millions and millions of successful and unsuccessful relationships, I can recommend to you at a probability of 87%”
Google in this scenario would tell you not to trust your own emotional judgment about romantic attraction because your old-fashioned biochemical algorithms overweight physical beauty (27.5%) while statistical databases show it should only count for 9.62% of relationship success.
“you give too much importance to physical appearances, to external beauty... I know that beauty counts for 9.62% of the success of a relationship. But your old-fashioned biochemical algorithms, because of things that happened in the African Savanna, give this data, beauty, they give it 27.5%, which is far too high.”
We now say humans are like computers rather than steam engines because computers are our current most sophisticated technology, but this is similarly a technological metaphor that future generations will likely view as childish.
“So today this sounds childish and silly. Oh, the human being is like a steam engine? We have a much better technology is the computer. So we say, ah, humans are not like steam engines. They are like computers. But at present at least this is just a dogma. We don't have the hard facts to actually prove it.”
Nobody knows what subjects a 20-year-old should study today to ensure having a good job in 30 years, because the future job market is completely unpredictable.
“If there is a young man or woman today, say, 20 years old, going to college, and asking himself or herself what should I study today so that in 30 years I will have a good job? Nobody knows what to tell him or her. Nobody knows.”
Science fiction movies typically depict a war between humans and robots, with humans winning because robots don't understand human emotions and spirit—but this narrative misses the point that emotions are algorithms, so robots could understand them perfectly well.
“The usual plot of science fiction movies or books goes like this. Computers or robots become very powerful. Then there is a big war between humans and the robots... the computers are so powerful, they know everything. They can do anything, but they don't understand the inner spirit of humanity. They don't understand love or whatever. And this is why humanity wins in the end.”
Communism is a form of natural law religion because Nazis and communists argued their systems reflected natural laws (natural selection, laws of nature) rather than human inventions, giving their rules superhuman authority
“This is the case with Buddhism and Confucianism. This is the case also with communism or with Nazism. The Nazis come and say... it's not Hitler that invented this whole racial theory... This is the laws of nature... the laws, like the Nuremberg Laws did not reflect some whim of Hitler... It reflected the ultimate laws of nature”
Harari believes he has no significant biases and aims to describe reality rather than judge it, though the book reveals preferences for certain ideologies and systems.
“I tried to write the book with as little bias as I can. I think you can read between the lines that there are some things I like more than others, some ideologies, religions, and so forth that I like more than others.”
The audience member notes they work in privacy and will oppose the rise of algorithmic authority, suggesting there is political resistance possible to data religion.
“And then speaking of Google and data stuff, I work in privacy. So I'm going to fight from that happening too soon.”