{"id":33631,"date":"2021-04-19T23:14:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T03:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=33631"},"modified":"2021-05-02T23:24:17","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T03:24:17","slug":"homo-deus-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Homo Deus: Meaning and Implications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the meaning of the term <em>Homo Deus<\/em>? Do you think our species <em>Homo Sapiens <\/em>will eventually evolve into <em>Homo Deus<\/em>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The term <em>Homo Deus<\/em> was coined by Yuval Noah Harari to refer to the human species that will come after Homo Sapiens. In his book <em>Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow<\/em>, Harari unpacks the meaning of Homo Deus and explores its implications for society at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to understand <em>Homo Deus<\/em>, its meaning, and the implications according to Yuval Noah Harari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Meaning of Homo Deus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Over millennia, human beings evolved from <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/history-of-hominids\/\">Homo erectus<\/a><\/em>, primitive humans that closely resembled primates, to <em>Homo sapiens<\/em>, modern-day human beings<em>. <\/em>We evolved from struggling to figure out the wheel to exploring the stars. While this extreme transformation is impressive, it\u2019s likely not our final form. According to Yuval Noah Harari, the next step of humanity\u2019s evolution will take us from <em>Homo sapiens <\/em>to <em>Homo deus<\/em>, or god-like beings.\u00a0But, what&#8217;s the meaning of <em>Homo deus<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The creation of Homo Deus will likely be the result of a small, elite group of people upgrading their bodies and brains with biotechnology, creating a more powerful biological caste. If this comes to pass, the experiences of Homo Deus and Homo Sapiens will be inherently different and unrelatable.<strong> <\/strong>For example, if a Homo Deus has a chip implanted into their brain that allows them to access data from the internet, the way they experience the world is going to be completely different from the average human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harari predicts that biological enhancement will just be the first step toward the god-like status of Homo Deus. Cybernetic augmentation will likely follow biological manipulation. Cybernetic augmentation is the combining of organic and inorganic materials in the human body. This would allow people to remove parts of the body that are threatened by decay and replace them with more durable material. It would also allow people to interact with technology around the world with just their thoughts. While this may sound like something out of <em>Star Trek<\/em>, people have <em>already<\/em> begun to combine inorganic materials with their bodies. In the medical field, cybernetic limbs and hearts are used to sustain life. In the technological field, \u201cmind-reading\u201d helmets allow people to control devices with<strong> <\/strong>their thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inorganic assimilation may follow cybernetic augmentation. Inorganic assimilation is the process of moving one\u2019s consciousness into an inorganic body. Neural networks would be replaced with hardware, and people could live in both the physical and virtual worlds at the same time. For example, if a human mind could be transferred to an inorganic body, the newly formed being could hypothetically explore the internet, see out of connected cameras, and move their new form using the electrical impulses generated from the brain. This would allow humanity to abandon its organic form and become practically immortal. Space exploration and recolonization would become a more realistic concept as inorganic material can survive harsher environments than flesh and bone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the meaning of the term Homo Deus? Do you think our species Homo Sapiens will eventually evolve into Homo Deus? The term Homo Deus was coined by Yuval Noah Harari to refer to the human species that will come after Homo Sapiens. In his book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, Harari unpacks the meaning of Homo Deus and explores its implications for society at large. Keep reading to understand Homo Deus, its meaning, and the implications according to Yuval Noah Harari.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24],"tags":[269],"class_list":["post-33631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-society","tag-homo-deus","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Homo Deus: Meaning and Implications - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the meaning of Homo Deus? 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The term was coined by Yuval Noah Harari to refer to the human species that will come after Homo Sapiens.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-20T03:14:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-03T03:24:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/artificial-intelligence-robots-cyborg.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Homo Deus: Meaning and Implications\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-20T03:14:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-03T03:24:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/\"},\"wordCount\":501,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/artificial-intelligence-robots-cyborg.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Homo Deus\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Philosophy\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/\",\"name\":\"Homo Deus: Meaning and Implications - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/homo-deus-meaning\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/artificial-intelligence-robots-cyborg.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-20T03:14:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-03T03:24:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is the meaning of Homo Deus? 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