That took longer than I expected. Last night I reviewed Harari’s Deus and Coupland’s Bitrot, with a peek at Pinker so I could could try to show you how they tie together. For me, anyway. Harari concludes that humans are going to be irrelevant - obsolete, replaced at will by appropriate algorithms. Coupland is wittier but accurate: “I miss my pre-internet brain, but I can’t go back.”

All three writers come together on Humanism, at least they did, before humans became irrelevant.

Of course, it’s hard to reconcile this intellectual conclusion with what we (think) we feel right now. Old habits die hard. We believe in free will, for example, the power of the individual to choose. Harari says we don’t choose our desires; we only feel them. There are no individuals, only viduals. “The single authentic self is as real as the eternal soul, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.” (Try explaining that to your grandchildren.)

Apparently we have progressed - -or will soon - from Humanism to Dataism, i.e. techno-humanism, and we may end up downgrading humans. It’s the Anthropocene Age - the epoch of humanity. (See the AGO in Toronto to learn more, also a documentary at the Lightbox this week.) Harari thinks that the algorithm is the single most important concept in our contemporary world.

He compares a human being to a coffee machine with, not choices, but buttons to push (same thing). The buttons are the questions - or the answers? -

Who am I?
What is the meaning of life?
What is good?

Perhaps you can see why I prefer Bitrot . It’s more fun. “We are now always going to be living in the future,” writes Coupland.

It’s a new agenda.

And tomorrow is another day.

I’ll say.