November 2020 – Page 8 – Echo Chamber 2016

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