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Thread: Bill Gates' Vacation Reading: Homo Deus popping up all over

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    Default Bill Gates' Vacation Reading: Homo Deus popping up all over

    Ah, don't you just love this stuff?

    From:Bill Gates says these five books ‘made me question my own thinking’ -- The Microsoft co-founder is out with his annual summer reading list

    "Homo Deus” by Yuval Noah Harari.
    This is what Gates brought to read on vacation — and its provocative idea is what happens should the world achieve the goals of “bliss, immortality and divinity."


    Hmmm . . . that goal, that promise, sounds familiar . . .


    Please note that the author is a tenured professor and historian from Israel, a part of the world where a lot of you are looking for the next fulfillment of prophecy to occur: Yuval Noah Harari wiki bio.

    What's in the book? Here are a few excerpts from an interview with the author, published just today in Godlike 'Homo Deus' Could Replace Humans as Tech Evolves

    Evolution is a slow affair, taking some 5 million years to turn a chimpanzee-like creature into us. But what happens when we push down the accelerator and take command of our bodies and brains instead of leaving it to nature? What happens when biotechnology and artificial intelligence merge, allowing us to re-design our species to meet our whims and desires?

    . . .

    Harari makes no pretense of being able to peer into the future — but the advances humans have made suggest where we may be heading. Breakthroughs in biotechnology, including gene-editing methods like CRISPR, hint at the power we’ll soon have to change our genes, our bodies, and perhaps our brains.

    . . .

    “In 2050, it is likely that your smartphone will not be separate from you at all,” Harari said by e-mail from his home in Israel. “It will be embedded in your body via biometric sensors, and it will monitor your heart rate, your blood pressure, and your brain activity 24 hours a day.” Your smartphone will constantly analyze that data, and “will, therefore, know your desires, likes, and dislikes even better than you.”

    . . .

    “Humans will merge with computers and machines to form cyborgs — part-organic, part-bionic life forms,” Harari said. “You could surf the Internet with your mind; you could use bionic arms, legs, and eyes; you will augment your organic immune system with a bionic immune system, and you will delegate more and more decisions to algorithms that know you better than you know yourself.”

    . . .


    Harari won’t say whether we will conquer death, but he’s confident we’ll “make a bid” for immortality this century. In fact, our attitude toward death has changed since the Scientific Revolution, he said. Science “has redefined death as a technical problem. A very complicated problem, no doubt, but still only a technical problem.”


    And technical problems have technical solutions. “If traditionally death was the specialty of priests and theologians, now the engineers are taking over,” Harari said. That doesn’t mean we’ll be able to pull it off — but he doesn’t dismiss the idea. “My position is that humankind has the potential to overcome old age and death, but it will probably take a few centuries rather than a few decades.”

    . . .


    The office isn’t the only place that may soon be redundant. Churches, Harari suggested, may fade into history along with the very idea of religion. As he points out, the things that God does in Genesis — creating plants, animals, and people — may soon be things that humans can do. We’ll see these new gods every time we look in the mirror. If making things no longer seems miraculous, what would?


    As artificial intelligence progresses, and the power of algorithms and data-crunching dominates more aspects of our lives, Harari wonders whether data may come to have divine properties. In the future, “techno-religions” may conquer the world, he said, not by promising salvation in the next world, but by radically changing our lives in this world.


    Harari argued that “the most interesting place in the world from a religious perspective is not the Islamic State or the Bible Belt, but Silicon Valley.” The technology gurus “promise all the old prizes — happiness, peace, prosperity, and even eternal life — but here on earth with the help of technology, rather than after death with the help of celestial beings.”


    And for those savvy investors on the daily bidding threads: How upgrading humans will become the next billion-dollar industry

    Investors searching for the next transformative technology destined to turn a bunch of Ivy League dropouts into billionaires, and half the market into a loose slot machine, need only look in the mirror. “The greatest industry of the 21st century will probably be to upgrade human beings,” historian Yuval Harari, author of the fascinating new book “Homo Deus,” told MarketWatch.


    One thing Harari points out in the interview is that this "bliss, immortality and divinity" will only be available to the wealthy, and the poorer of us will be angry about that.

    I say, not true. The satan will not let one's monetary status keep you from being deceived into believing we have achieved "bliss, immortality and divinity" on man's merits without God's amazing salvation and reconcillation possible only through grace by faith alone in His only-begotten, Christ Jesus.

    Thoughts, anyone?
    Last edited by LittleFish; 05-31-2017 at 05:04 PM. Reason: Apologies for the extra line spacing. It was double or nothin'.

    There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. -- I John 4:18-19


    Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue. -- Proverbs 11:12.

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    None of those predictions seem too outrageous. Consider how much the world has changed in the past century. Consider how much just in the past 30 years. By 2050, the world will be a very strange place indeed. There is no reason to think that we won't conquer age related mortality eventually. People will still die from other causes, but could live much, much longer lives. The ability to halt or significantly slow age related mortality would alone shake almost every human institution. I doubt religion will ever go away because it attempts to answer questions that science and technology can't. There will always be some people who hunger for those answers. Science will never be able to answer a question as simple as: What is the purpose of life? You have to find the answer to that question through other forms of inquiry.


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    If the world continues as it is until the year 2050, I agree that it will see changes that are unimaginable in scale and scope for most people today. The full transformation to Homo Deus (Humanity 2.0) may not happen until a century or two later but the ability to extend the lives of those living in 2050 so that they are living when man's version of immortality is possible may well be in play by then (Kurzweil thinks that part of it will be here by 2030).

    It is certainly possible I could still be alive as it gains popularity. I can see myself sitting on the front porch swing, talking to my children, grandchildren, great-grands, maybe even great-greats, and anyone who will listen, warning them against any of the genetic or AI enhancements for it means surrendering that which makes us humans made in God's image with access to salvation afforded us in that. No doubt if the authorities hear of my little talks, they will have me euthanized (v. 5).

    I wonder how far God will let this H20 thing go. He put a stop to what was going on in Noah's day, and at Babel soon after, and the twin cities after that, but how long will He let this go? Maybe a bit farther than those since this time it will be the Last Day, and it is not His will for any to perish.

    And then there is that thing about the Book of Life. If the vast majority of people -- 90% or more -- born in a century or two will be non-human (for 'Humanity 2.0' is not truly human), their names will not be written in it from the beginning. Will there be any left to come to faith in that day, that He should wait that long? Is that the day Christ sees when He asks, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

    A lot of people think Christ's return is imminent because, among others, all the technology required for prophecy to be fulfilled are now in place. That's not true, of course -- there has never been a need for higher technology than two feet and a libellus, both available in Christ's day. So, the end may be near or maybe it isn't. And if not, who can say what this world will see before the end comes?

    There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. -- I John 4:18-19


    Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue. -- Proverbs 11:12.

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    Hey LittleFish,

    The satan will not let one's monetary status keep you from being deceived into believing we have achieved "bliss, immortality and divinity" on man's merits without God's amazing salvation and reconcillation possible only through grace by faith alone in His only-begotten, Christ Jesus.
    I think that is true. I think the only thing that will keep you from Satan's "bliss, immortality, and divinity" is your allegiance, and not money, and who it is to.

    Something like this:

    Go before the "image of the beast" that speaks and makes life and death decisions (AI, or an indwelt object by an evil demon) and it will say something like. Bow down and worship me, and you can have all this, (same as with Jesus' temptation) bliss, immortality and divinity, AND the ability to buy and sell.

    Or death.

    Choose, but choose wisely.
    Wise Men Still Seek Him

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    don't worry,this is all pie in the sky for the most part--extending life through changing organs may be a growing business but blending computers into human minds--doubt it.you can't put a race engine into a go cart, that is what machine intelligence is to human capacity.

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    God has set man's age at 120 years, and nothing man can come up with will ever change that. Immortality on man's terms are vain imaginations. I believe that God will let man go far, but He has a limit that will not be crossed.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CaryC View Post
    Hey LittleFish,



    I think that is true. I think the only thing that will keep you from Satan's "bliss, immortality, and divinity" is your allegiance, and not money, and who it is to.

    Something like this:

    Go before the "image of the beast" that speaks and makes life and death decisions (AI, or an indwelt object by an evil demon) and it will say something like. Bow down and worship me, and you can have all this, (same as with Jesus' temptation) bliss, immortality and divinity, AND the ability to buy and sell.

    Or death.

    Choose, but choose wisely.
    True. A lot of people go to great extremes today to look younger and feel younger. If they could in fact be younger (by manipulation of DNA or actions of nanobots) they'd give not only their eye teeth but their souls.

    When it comes to everyone being able to receive this without regard to ability to pay, a world-wide crisis would fit the bill. For example, let's say that a unified world government comes into play after the events brought on by Wormwood. There would have to be some kind of administration set up as people come out of their mountainside, underground, and other survival compounds (most of these sponsored by governments and the uber-rich) and that would be the perfect opportunity for the satan to set this plan into play.

    Once the central administrations are set up in the seven or ten geographic regions of the world, word might be sent throughout the sparsely populated regions -- the third world, poorer countries -- that anyone wanting to be a part of this brave new world must go to their local administration to register. It could work like the vaccination centers in those places today.

    Before the first injection (or whatever means is used) of life-preserving nanobots, identifying/linking chips, and DNA modifiers is given, every individual would have to make a vow that would effectively declare their loyalty to the beast and none other. It would not be worded so plainly. It would be clear enough to qualify as willingly accepting this and refusing any other (meaning The One True God) but using words like new society, preservation of humanity, fealty pledge to the new order, etc.

    Everyone who chooses to enter the society, receiving this injection or however they do it, would be linked by the chip(s) to a hive / hub -- a dedicated wireless Internet of the human mind and soul. This would allow group-think as we've never known before, controlled from the main server by whoever is in charge. There would most certainly be direct downloads to upgrade and direct not only the mind but the nanobots and DNA modifiers in the body. We saw this in Transcendence which may have been exaggerated for today's technology but is definitely not science-fiction when it comes to the near (30-50 years from now) future.

    Over a few years, these beings would no longer be human but 'other'. This is why the final MOB is irreversible. It is a single sinful act of rejection towards God that leads people down a path from which they cannot return or turn away.

    We are currently being let in on some of the developing and experimenting happening in DNA modification, medical / neurological nanobots, and computer technology that can 'live' in the human body. We can only imagine what is being worked on that we are not told about. They are much farther along in this than we know.

    JMHO, of course.

    There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. -- I John 4:18-19


    Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue. -- Proverbs 11:12.

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    Quote Originally Posted by "LittleFish
    JMHO, of course.
    But of course. It still sounds good. A global event/catastrophe could easily unite everyone/the world. In fact we are already being programed to think that way.

    We need to put aside our petty differences for the common global good. (note global warming to name one, not to mention all the Hollywood movies promoting such)
    Wise Men Still Seek Him

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    Quote Originally Posted by jimmythebee View Post
    don't worry,this is all pie in the sky for the most part--extending life through changing organs may be a growing business but blending computers into human minds--doubt it.you can't put a race engine into a go cart, that is what machine intelligence is to human capacity.
    I wish you were right, Jimmy, but much is already in play.

    For example, curing conditions with 3D-printed replacement parts. Here are two examples; many more are coming. There will be a replacement parts industry. No more waiting for a donor.
    The future of nanobots vs. traditional medicine:

    Why We Need a Total Rethink on How to Cure Alzheimer’s
    --
    May 2017 -- says "pills are not the future" but "it’s going to be nanobots, viral vectors, regenerative medicine."


    And brain-computer interface:

    Elon Musk enters the world of brain-computer interfaces
    -- March 2017 -- poses the question, "Do human beings need to embrace brain implants to stay relevant?"

    If it were being done with human knowledge only, this might not ever be possible, but with 'otherly' intervention, it is. As in the days of Noah.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sherree View Post
    God has set man's age at 120 years, and nothing man can come up with will ever change that. Immortality on man's terms are vain imaginations. I believe that God will let man go far, but He has a limit that will not be crossed.
    Absolutely right, Sherree. And I have wondered if God's declaring that was in response to the fallen ones guiding humans in life-extending technology back then (I'm sure you and CaryC have read that part of the n/c Book of Enoch, where the watchers teach what God did not want man to know). I know it was the time given to the end, the time Noah was building the ark, but sometimes I believe there is more than we are given, that those who put together the canon were afraid of revealing more than they could bear.

    As technology increases faster and faster -- enhanced, I believe, by the otherly ones -- it makes sense that the end will come quickly once a certain point is reached. God will say, "That's it -- no more!" and then the end of sin and evil will come.
    Last edited by LittleFish; 06-01-2017 at 10:43 AM.

    There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. -- I John 4:18-19


    Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue. -- Proverbs 11:12.

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    Quote Originally Posted by LittleFish
    Absolutely right, Sherree. And I have wondered if God's declaring that was in response to the fallen ones guiding humans in life-extending technology back then (I'm sure you and CaryC have read that part of the n/c Book of Enoch, where the watchers teach what God did not want man to know). I know it was the time given to the end, the time Noah was building the ark, but sometimes I believe there is more than we are given, that those who put together the canon were afraid of revealing more than they could bear.

    As technology increases faster and faster -- enhanced, I believe, but the otherly ones -- it makes sense that the end will come quickly once a certain point is reached. God will say, "That's it -- no more!" and then the end of sin and evil will come.
    Yes, we have read and studied the Book of Enoch. A lot of people, including Christians, don't give credit to the fallen angels as much as they need to. They did much more than just mate with human women corrupting DNA.

    And yes, I agree that God has/is giving men the permission to use the technology, which has been given through esoteric knowledge by fallen angels, to make advances all to bring about some of the events described in the Book of Revelation. All according to His plan and purpose. Once His plan has been achieved, "That's it--No More" will be His answer.

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