Book Review: Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

In the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers sought to guarantee the right to pursue happiness, not the right to happiness itself. In recent years, academia has advanced the notion of happiness (or "subjective well-being") as a primary objective of goverment. Richard Layard, a prominent economist at the London School of Economics, believes the "government’s role should be to increase happiness and reduce misery" and that public policy should be made and measured on that basis. Today, more and more people perceive the government this way, as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and China have elevated national well-being or happiness to the status of official government policy.

In his New York Times bestseller, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, secular philosopher Yuval Harari states that securing happiness will be one of the major challenges of the 21st century. He defines happiness on a purely physical level as the absence of pain and the experience of pleasant sensations. Further, he admits to the failure of money, fame, and pleasure to bring lasting happiness saying, “it is an ominous sign that despite higher prosperity, comfort, and security, the rate of suicide in the developed world is much higher than in traditional societies.”

According to Harari, happiness rest on two pillars, expectations and biochemistry. When one’s reality matches their expectations they are happy. However, he acknowledges the downside of fulfilled expectations as a means of contentment, saying that as circumstances improve expectations rise. Indeed, studies have shown that despite economic prosperity and improvements in basic life conditions levels of unhappiness remain the same. As life gets better, expectations increase and with them the potential for unhappiness.

Next, Harari says the physical pathway to happiness involves altering the body’s biochemistry. Today millions of people take medications in order to avoid unpleasant sensations and enhance their abilities to cope. Others use drugs to improve performance and meet those ever rising expectations, but this approach also has a downside and Harari honestly admits that “the biochemical pursuit of happiness is also the number one cause of crime in the world.”

As the title of his book implies, the future of homo sapiens is becoming something like a god. Harari posits that because of advances in genetic engineering and other modern technologies, cheating death could become a reality by the year 2050! Imagine upgrading degenerative organs and undergoing a rejuvenation of your eyes, brain, and skin. The author believes the future holds the possibility of overcoming the debilitation of age and securing extremely long life. He plainly declares, “We don’t have to wait for the Second Coming in order to overcome death.”

As Christians, we understand that happiness is never found in securing pleasant feelings or reaching life’s goals and expectations. Life in this world will always bring a degree of pain, suffering, and sorrow. We further understand that pain is a gift from God. As C.S. Lewis wrote: “Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Instead of dulling the pain and treating our “broken emotions”, we should acknowledge their purpose: to reveal our need for God.

While Harari is obviously a gifted writer whose ideas provoke serious thought, he demonstrates the religious side of secularism. By trusting in science and putting his hope in technological progress, he believes the answer to humanity’s problem lies in man, not God. The secularist is seeking for happiness and immortality in all the wrong places. Only Christianity provides an answer with no downsides--and that answer is always Jesus.