# Yuval Noah Harari: The WEF’s Prophet of the Posthuman Future
**December 16, 2024**
*”We humans should get used to the idea that we are no longer mysterious souls. We are now hackable animals.”* — Yuval Noah Harari
If Ray Kurzweil is the engineer-prophet of transhumanism, Yuval Noah Harari is its philosopher-historian. As an advisor to the World Economic Forum and bestselling author, Harari provides the narrative framework that makes transhumanism seem inevitable—and desirable.
## The Man
Yuval Noah Harari:
– **Born:** 1976, Israel
– **Position:** Professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem
– **Role:** World Economic Forum advisor, Davos regular
– **Fame:** Author of *Sapiens* (2011), *Homo Deus* (2015), *21 Lessons* (2018)
*Sapiens* sold over 25 million copies. It is required reading in universities worldwide. And it teaches a vision of humanity that eliminates the soul, denies free will, and embraces technological transcendence.
## The Philosophy
### Humans Are Animals
Harari’s starting point: humans are just another animal species—*Homo sapiens*—that evolved through natural selection.
*”There are no gods, no nations, no money, no human rights, no justice, and no justice in the inherent course of things. The only thing that really exists is the biological Homo sapiens.”*
**The implication:** If humans are just animals, there is no inherent dignity, no rights that cannot be overridden, no nature that must be preserved.
### The Storytelling Species
What made humans dominant? Harari argues it is our capacity for **collective fiction**—shared stories that enable cooperation:
– Nations
– Religions
– Money
– Human rights
– Corporations
*”The ability to create an imagined reality out of words enabled large numbers of strangers to cooperate effectively.”*
**The implication:** These “fictions” can be replaced with better stories. Including the story of transhumanism.
### The End of Homo Sapiens
Harari predicts the end of our species—not through extinction but through **transformation**:
*”In the twenty-first century, the third big project of humankind will be to acquire for us divine powers of creation and destruction, and upgrade Homo sapiens into Homo deus [God-man].”*
The three projects:
1. **Famine** → Solved (for developed world)
2. **Disease/Death** → Being solved (through biotechnology)
3. **Human enhancement** → The current project (becoming gods)
### Hackable Animals
Harari’s most chilling thesis:
*”The whole idea that humans have this soul or spirit, and they have free will, and nobody knows what’s happening inside me—this is over.”*
With AI and biotechnology, we can:
– Read neural patterns
– Predict behavior
– Manipulate emotions
– Control decisions
**Humans are algorithms. Algorithms can be hacked.**
## Homo Deus: The Posthuman Vision
Harari’s book *Homo Deus* (literally “God-Man”) lays out the transhumanist future:
### The New Religions
Harari identifies three “religions” replacing traditional faith:
1. **Liberalism** — worship of individual free will (being undermined by science)
2. **Socialism** — worship of collective humanity (failed in 20th century)
3. **Dataism** — worship of data flow (the emerging religion)
**Dataism** holds that:
– The universe is data flow
– Value is determined by data processing capacity
– Humans are inefficient data processing units
– AI is the next evolutionary step
### The Useless Class
Harari predicts the rise of a “useless class”—humans economically irrelevant due to AI and automation:
*”As algorithms push humans out of the job market, wealth and power might become concentrated in the hands of the tiny elite that owns the all-powerful algorithms, creating unprecedented social and political inequality.”*
The solution? **Enhancement or irrelevance.**
### Human 2.0
The elite will upgrade themselves:
– Genetic engineering
– Brain-computer interfaces
– Cybernetic enhancement
**Result:** A new species—*Homo deus*—that views unenhanced humans as we view apes.
## Why Harari Matters
### Elite Acceptance
Harari’s books are read by:
– Presidents and prime ministers
– Tech CEOs
– University students worldwide
– WEF attendees
His ideas shape the thinking of the global elite.
### Narrative Power
Harari provides the **story** that makes transhumanism seem inevitable:
– History has a direction (progress)
– Humans are animals (no special status)
– Technology is the next step (evolution continues)
– Resistance is futile (adapt or become obsolete)
### Policy Influence
As a WEF advisor, Harari’s ideas influence:
– Global policy discussions
– Educational curricula
– Corporate strategies
– Cultural expectations
## The Theological Critique
Harari is wrong at every foundational level:
### 1. Humans Are Not Just Animals
We are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). We have souls. We have intrinsic dignity that cannot be reduced to biology.
### 2. Free Will Is Real
Despite Harari’s claims, we are not determined algorithms. We make genuine choices. We are responsible moral agents.
### 3. Progress Is Not Inevitable
History is not an autonomous force moving toward transcendence. History is the arena of God’s sovereign action—and human sin.
### 4. Technology Is Not Salvation
The answer to human problems is not enhancement but redemption. Not technology but Christ.
### 5. Death Is Not a Technical Problem
Death is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23). It is defeated by resurrection, not medicine.
## Harari’s Honesty
To his credit, Harari is more honest than many transhumanists. He admits:
– Free will is an illusion in his worldview
– Humans have no special value
– The future may be dystopian for most
– Dataism is a religion
**He admits what his worldview actually means.**
This makes him useful for critique—he reveals the emptiness of transhumanism more clearly than its optimistic advocates.
## The Response of Faith
We do not fear Harari’s vision because:
### 1. God Is Sovereign
History is His story. Not evolution’s. Not technology’s. Not data’s.
### 2. Humans Have Value
Imago Dei cannot be hacked. Dignity is given, not processed.
### 3. Christ Is Savior
Not algorithms. Not enhancement. Not the Singularity.
### 4. The End Is Known
Not Homo deus. The risen Christ. The new creation. Resurrection.
## Warning to the Church
Harari’s ideas are shaping the world our children will inherit:
– They will be taught they are hackable animals
– They will be pressured to enhance or become obsolete
– They will face a “useless class” future without work or dignity
**We must prepare them.**
We must teach:
– They are God’s image-bearers
– Their value is intrinsic, not utilitarian
– Their hope is Christ, not technology
– Their future is resurrection, not uploading
## Conclusion
Yuval Noah Harari is the court philosopher of the technocratic elite. He tells them what they want to hear: that they are evolving into gods, that resistance is futile, that the future belongs to the enhanced.
**He is wrong.**
The future belongs to Christ. The meek shall inherit the earth—not the enhanced, not the uploaded, not the algorithms.
*”Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”* — Matthew 5:5
We will not become Homo deus. We will be raised as the children of God.
That is the true future. That is our hope. That is worth waiting for.