Yuval Noah Harari: What He Says. What He Thinks. And What That Has to Do With God. E-Book

Lothar-Rüdiger Lütge

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 116

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

What Yuval Noah Harari Thinks - and What He Overlooks. Harari is one of the most influential thought leaders of our time. His theses on humanity, consciousness, and the future shape the intellectual climate of the 21st century. This book analyzes his claims, uncovers the hidden assumptions behind them - and presents a different image of humanity: that of an eternal, free, and God-willed individual. A critical engagement - and at the same time an invitation to rediscover what it means to be human.

Leseprobe

Western civilization has survived the invasion of Genghis Khan from the East, the Ottoman Empire from the South, and two world wars originating from within. But whether it will survive its own intellectuals is much more doubtful.

(Thomas Sowell, American economist, and historian)

Table of Contents

Introduction:

Why This Book Is Necessary

Who is Yuval Noah Harari?

His Major Works and Their Global Reach

Why His Ideas Matter

Influence on Politics, Tech Elites, and Public Discourse

The Quiet Cult Status of a Technocrat

Why a Critical Response Is Needed

Part I:

The Hollowed-Out Human – An Analysis of Harari's Worldview

Prologue to Part I: Taking Harari at His Word

Chapter 1

The Dissolution of the Self

1. What Harari Says – and What He Means

2. The Premises – Harari's Scientific Reductionism

3. The Consequences – If There Is No Indivisible Self

4. A First Contrast – The Experience of the Self as Starting Point

Chapter 2

Free Will as Illusion

1. What Harari Says – and What He Means

2. The Premises – Neuroscientific Determinism

3. The Collapse of Humanism

4. Freedom as Reality – And Why It Is Needed

Chapter 3

The Denial of Meaning

1. What Harari Says – and What He Means

2. The Premises – Metaphysical Nihilism

3. Cosmic Indifference as a Worldview

4. Why Meaning Is Not an Illusion

5. Why Harari Is Not Neutral—But Follows an Ideological Agenda

Chapter 4

The New God Is Called Algorithm

1. Dataism as a Replacement for Religion

2. The Human as Data Point – Evaluation, Surveillance, Control

3. The Replacement of Consciousness by Function – Harari's New Paradigm

4. The Utopia of the Redundant Human

Chapter 5

A Contradiction in Itself

1. How Harari's System Undermines Itself

2. The Performative Self-Contradiction of His Philosophy

3. Why a World Without Self, Freedom, and Meaning Cannot Be Consistently Thought

What Remains – and What Follows

Part II:

The True Human – A Creature of God

Prologue to Part II: No Ideology Without Narratives

Chapter 6

The Indestructible "I": The Beginning of All Truth

1. The Immediate Experience of "I Am"

2. Why Consciousness Cannot Be Reduced

3. The Personal Self as an Ontological Fact

Chapter 7

Freedom: The Prerequisite of All Responsibility

1. What Freedom Truly Means

2. The Capacity to Choose as a Reflection of Divine Freedom

3. Responsibility, Love, Conscience – Meaningless Without Freedom

Chapter 8

The Meaning of Life

1. Why Meaning Is Not a Projection

2. Purpose, Calling, Transcendence – The Voice That Means Us

3. Personal Relationship with a Personal Origin

Chapter 9

The Origin: Why God Must Be an "I"

1. Why Only a Personal God Can Create the "I"

2. The Impossibility of Mind Arising from Dead Matter

3. The Response to the Call: Man as an Eternally Intended Person

Chapter 10

A World with God: Hope, Dignity, Future

1. What Remains of Man—When God Is Gone

2. What Man Can Become—When God Is Recognized

3. Outlook: A New Path – Not a Construction, but a Homecoming

Final Word:

The Choice Between Coldness and Light

Appendix

The "I am" Consciousness and Its Metaphysical Implications

Other English-Language Books by the Same Author

Introduction: Why This Book Is Necessary

Who is Yuval Noah Harari?

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian and philosopher, born in 1976 in Kiryat Ata near Haifa. He teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he initially specialized in medieval military history before gradually shifting his focus to macro-history, the history of science, and ultimately to the future of humanity. Harari earned his doctorate at Oxford and is today considered one of the most influential intellectuals of the 21st century. His work operates at the intersection of historical scholarship, anthropology, future studies, and the ethics of technology.

Harari gained international recognition through his popular science bestsellers, which are among his most influential and widely distributed works:

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2015)

21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018)

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to Artificial Intelligence (2024)

These books have been translated into over 65 languages and have sold more than 40 million copies. They are published by major international publishing houses and are regularly featured in public debates, readings, and interviews.

At international conferences, Harari is received like a rock star of the global intellectual scene. His ideas and assessments are taken seriously both in political and technological circles – which makes him a figure of considerable societal relevance.

But who is Harari – beyond the media image?

Harari identifies as a secular humanist. He analyzes religions as historical myths but does not consider them metaphysically true. His thinking is deeply shaped by Darwinism, evolutionary psychology, and neurobiological models of human behavior. He does not merely aim to interpret the past but also seeks to shape – or at least frame – the future. In this sense, he stands as a representative of a new generation of secular intellectuals who, with scientific authority, articulate foundational anthropological and philosophical claims.

And this is precisely where Harari becomes the subject of our engagement. His books do not merely offer theses about the past and future of humanity – they also propose a very specific image of the human being. This image is radically materialistic, deterministic, technocratic – and, ultimately, nihilistic. It portrays the human not as a metaphysical being, but as a biological algorithm, whose individual subjectivity and freedom are, in the final analysis, illusions.

This worldview is not merely Harari's personal opinion – it is gaining influence. And it has consequences: for how the human being is understood in education and science, for the ethical foundations of technology and medicine, and for the visions of society shaped by elites.

That is why we are writing this book.

His Major Works and Their Global Reach

Yuval Noah Harari has authored several works that have attracted significant international attention. At the heart of his publications lies a recurring question: What is the nature of the human being? However, he does not approach this question from a metaphysical angle, but rather from historical, biological, and increasingly technocratic perspectives. His books have been translated into more than 65 languages and have sold over 40 million copies. This places Harari among the most widely read and influential intellectuals of our time.

What follows is an overview of his most important and impactful works:

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011) This book marked Harari's breakthrough and became a worldwide bestseller. It narrates the story of Homo sapiens from the Stone Age to the present – not as a classical chronology, but as a sweeping synthesis of intellectual and anthropological history. Harari identifies three major "revolutions" that shaped humankind:

The Cognitive Revolution (around 70,000 years ago), when humans began thinking in complex stories and myths;

The Agricultural Revolution, which led to settled life and the emergence of complex societies;

The Scientific Revolution, beginning in the 16th century and culminating in modernity.

Harari argues that the human self-image – including religion, morality, and freedom – consists of cultural constructs that serve social organization rather than reflecting any objective truth. Humanity, in this view, does not appear as the "crown of creation" but rather as an accidental winner in the evolutionary game of dominance.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2015)

In Homo Deus, Harari ventures a forecast of humanity's future. He begins with the claim that humankind – at least in affluent regions – has largely "conquered" major historical problems such as famine, war, and plague. Now, he suggests, we are turning to new goals: immortality, happiness, divinity.

A central theme is Harari's vision of "Dataism": a new worldview in which information and its processing become the highest value. Human beings are seen essentially as biological algorithms, whose thinking and decisions are entirely explainable and, eventually, controllable. In this framework, the boundaries between human and machine blur, and the biological body loses significance. Artificial intelligence and biotechnology represent, for Harari, the next stage in evolution – potentially even a replacement for Homo sapiens.

According to Harari, humans may learn to "play God" – not in a religious sense, but as technological entities. The book offers no hope for metaphysical meaning or divine presence; on the contrary, Harari envisions a world in which meaning, soul, and freedom increasingly appear as myths.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018)

This work is less a continuous argument and more a collection of essays addressing current questions: What does truth mean in the age of fake news? How do we deal with terrorism, migration, artificial intelligence, and climate change? What roles do education, religion, and the nation-state still play in the 21st century?

Harari presents a wide array of challenges facing modern humans – as political, technological, and emotional beings. His general posture remains skeptical of traditional solutions: he sees no lasting stability in religion, nationalism, or even liberal ideals. Instead, he calls for a "new enlightenment" based on scientific insight, global cooperation, and technological adaptation.

Despite some useful reflections, the book – like its predecessors – is underpinned by a worldview that relativizes or outright denies meaning, transcendence, and subjective freedom.

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks – from the Stone Age to Artificial Intelligence (2024)

In his most recent work to date, Harari explores the development of information systems as the driving force of human history. From his perspective, it is not divine revelations or philosophical ideas that shape societies, but rather networks of communication and data processing – from the first spoken word to the invention of writing, and onward to big data and Al.

Nexus is divided into three main sections:

Human Networks – the earliest forms of information dissemination: language, myth, religion, administration;

The Inorganic Network – the rise of machines, algorithms, and global data flows;

Computer Politics – the political dimension of modern information power, the risks of algorithmic world governance, and the urgent need for regulatory oversight.

Here too, Harari remains true to his vision: there is no metaphysical meaning, only functional structures. Once again, the human being is not creator or image of God, but a node in a vast stream of data.

Conclusion

Harari's works have reached millions – not despite, but perhaps because of their cultural pessimism and technocratic tone. His ability to present complex ideas in accessible language has earned him the status of a "public intellectual." But such popularity does not come without consequences:

Anyone who reduces human freedom, identity, and dignity to functional illusions is not merely describing the world – he is shaping it.

Why His Ideas Matter

The significance of Yuval Noah Harari lies not only in the popularity of his books, but in the fact that his ideas are playing an increasingly prominent role in public thought. What he writes is not merely read –

it influences.

And it does so on multiple levels.

1. A Global Public Intellectual

Harari is not a theorist confined to the academic ivory tower; he is a public figure who regularly speaks at international conferences. His theses are taken up by leading politicians and technology entrepreneurs. Among his declared readers are heads of state, CEOs, and the founders and board members of major global tech companies.

Through interviews, essays, and keynote speeches, Harari consistently shapes the discourse around major questions of the future – from artificial intelligence and digital control to biotechnology, freedom, education, and governance. Many of his statements find their way into political and technological frameworks – not as binding programs, but as ideological reference points within which thinking unfolds.

2. The Appeal of Clarity

Harari writes in an accessible, often elegant language. He offers orientation in complexity and gives readers the feeling that they are gaining a coherent view of the forces shaping our world. This ability to "make sense of the world" makes him attractive to many – especially in an age marked by information overload, uncertainty, and technological upheaval.

But this is precisely what gives his theses their power:

They sound plausible, appear scientifically grounded, and align with a widely accepted secular worldview.

These are not fringe opinions – they are convictions that many people, consciously or unconsciously, already hold within themselves.

3. A Worldview in Transition

Harari does not merely describe the present – he interprets it.

And in his interpretation, the human being loses his role as a free, unique, spiritual being.

The self becomes a biological algorithm, freedom a neurological illusion, and meaning a cultural construction.

His worldview is internally consistent – but it transforms the way we see ourselves:

from subject to system,

from image of God to information processor.

This perspective is already influencing debates in education, science, politics, and ethics. It is supplying the conceptual foundations for developments long underway – in surveillance technology, genetic research, education policy, and the self-understanding of state and economy.

That is precisely why a serious engagement with Harari's thinking is necessary.

Not because we wish to criticize a person – but because we must understand the anthropology that is gaining ground here, and what is at stake if this worldview prevails.

Our goal is to help readers understand what Harari is actually saying –

and what that means for us as human beings.