Homo Deus

When the written fantasies of European bureaucracies encountered the African reality, reality was forced to surrender.

The real ruler of the Nile Valley was an imagined pharaoh who existed in the stories that millions of Egyptians told one another.

Most people rarely think about it, but in the last few decades we have managed to rein in famine, plague and war.

If we are indeed bringing famine, plague and war under control, what will replace them at the top of the human agenda?

We don’t need to pray to any god or saint to rescue us from them.

Even though presidents, CEOs and generals still have their daily schedules full of economic crises and military conflicts, on the cosmic scale of history humankind can lift its eyes up and start looking towards new horizons.

If famine, plague and war have become manageable challenges, what will replace them on the human agenda?

If Kurzweil and de Grey are right, there may already be some immortals walking next to you on the street.

Our ideological commitment to human life will never allow us simply to accept human death.

Eternal glory, nationalist remembrance ceremonies and dreams of paradise are very poor substitutes for what humans like Allen really want – not to die.