<p>Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling books <em>Sapiens</em> and <em>Homo Deus</em> thinks that<strong> science fiction shapes the understanding of people on issues such as intelligence and biotechnology, which will likely change our society in the future.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Science fiction wrestles with concepts</strong> such as AI taking over the jobs of workers. One good science fiction movie is worth a hundred articles in Science of Nature.</p>

Science fiction and public opinion

<p>It is uncertain how many times a person can reinvent themselves during a lifetime. Reinventing yourself five or six times would cause immense psychological stress.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to see a science fiction movie that explores the mundane issue of someone reinventing themselves. Just when they settle down in a job, they hear that the new job has been automated, and they have to reinvent themselves again.</p>

Yuval Noah Harari on automation

<p>After reading <em>1984</em>, it leaves one questioning <strong>how to avoid getting there</strong>. But with <em>Brave New World</em>, it's more difficult. Everyone is satisfied and happy. There are no resistance or secret police. Yet, we have this very uneasy feeling that something is very wrong with a society that's been hacked in such a way that they're content all the time.</p>
<p>When it was first printed, <strong>it was a frightening dystopia, but today, many people read it as a utopia. It says a lot about the shift in our worldview.</strong></p>

Yuval Noah Harari on dystopias

<p><strong>On immortality:</strong> Another interesting science fiction movie considers what kinds of relations parents and children would have when the parents keep on living to be 200.</p>
<p><strong>On technology</strong>: Many science fiction scenarios can't materialise because society can take action against dangerous technologies, such as envisioning huge body farms where millions of people are raised to harvest their organs and then sold to rich people.</p>

Yuval Noah Harari on immortality and technology

sciencefiction

Science Fiction

Why Science Fiction Is the Most Important Genre

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<p>Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling books <em>Sapiens </em>and <em>Homo Deus </em>, is a big fan of science fiction, and includes an entire chapter about it in his new book <em>21 Lessons for the 21st Century </em>. </p>

<p>“Today science fiction is the most important artistic genre,” Harari says in Episode 325 of the <a href="http://www.geeksguideshow.com"><em>Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy </em> </a>podcast. “It shapes the understanding of the public on things like artificial intelligence and biotechnology, which are likely to change our lives and society more than anything else in the coming decades.” </p>

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<p>Because science fiction plays such a key role in shaping public opinion, he would like to see more science fiction that grapples with realistic issues like AI creating a permanent ‘useless class’ of workers. “If you want to raise public awareness of such issues, a good science fiction movie could be worth not one, but a hundred articles in <em>Science </em>or <em>Nature </em>, or even a hundred articles in the <em>New York Times </em>,” he says. </p>

<p>But he thinks that too much science fiction tends to focus on scenarios that are fanciful or outlandish. </p>

<p>“In most science fiction books and movies about artificial intelligence, the main plot revolves around the moment when the computer or the robot gains consciousness and starts having feelings,” he says. “And I think that this diverts the attention of the public from the really important and realistic problems, to things that are unlikely to happen anytime soon.” </p>

<p>AI and biotechnology may be two of the most critical issues facing humanity, but Harari notes that they’re barely a blip on the political radar. He believes that science fiction authors and filmmakers need to do everything they can to change that. </p>

<p>“Technology is certainly not destiny,” he says. “We can still take action and we can still regulate these technologies to prevent the worst-case scenarios, and to use these technologies mainly for good.” </p>

<p>Listen to the complete interview with Yuval Noah Harari in Episode 325 of <em>Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy </em>(above). And check out some highlights from the discussion below. </p>

<p><strong>Yuval Noah Harari on automation: </strong> </p>

<p>“It’s questionable how many times a human being can reinvent himself or herself during your lifetime—and your lifetime is likely to be longer, and your working years are also likely to be longer. So would you be able to reinvent yourself four, five, six times during your life? The psychological stress is immense. So I would like to see a science fiction movie that explores the rather mundane issue of somebody having to reinvent themselves, then at the end of the movie—just as they settle down into this new job, after a difficult transition period—somebody comes and announces, ‘Oh sorry, your new job has just been automated, you have to start from square one and reinvent yourself again.'” </p>

<ul><li><a href="https://www.wired.com/2018/09/geeks-guide-robert-repino/"><img src="https://assets.wired.com/photos/w_200,h_200/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Disenchantment-200x200-e1535651355197.jpg"><div><span>Geek's Guide to the Galaxy </span><h5><em>Disenchantment </em>May Not Enchant Hardcore Fantasy Fans </h5> </div> </a> </li><hr><li><a href="https://www.wired.com/2018/08/geeks-guide-tanarive-due/"><img src="https://assets.wired.com/photos/w_200,h_200/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/STBY-3-200x200-e1535134700131.jpg"><div><span>Geek's Guide to the Galaxy </span><h5><em>Sorry </em><em>to </em><em>Bother </em><em>You </em>Is Great Science Fiction, People </h5> </div> </a> </li><hr><li><a href="https://www.wired.com/2018/08/geeks-guide-michael-bishop/"><img src="https://assets.wired.com/photos/w_200,h_200/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Snake-161838629-200x200-e1534525908283.jpg"><div><span>Geek's Guide to the Galaxy </span><h5>Owning Guns Is Sort of Like Owning Rattlesnakes </h5> </div> </a> </li><hr> </ul>

<p><strong>Yuval Noah Harari on dystopias: </strong> </p>

<p>“The only question left open after you finish reading <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four"><em>1984 </em> </a>is <em>How do we avoid getting there? </em>But with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World"><em>Brave New World </em> </a>, it’s much, much more difficult. Everybody is satisfied and happy and pleased with everything that happens. There are no rebellions, no revolutions, there is no secret police, there is just free sex and rock and roll and drugs and whatever. And nonetheless you have this very uneasy feeling that something is wrong here, and it’s very difficult to put your finger on what’s wrong with a society in which you’ve hacked people in such a way that they’re satisfied all the time. … When it was published, it was obvious to everybody that this was a frightening dystopia, but today, more and more people read <em>Brave New World </em>as a straight-faced utopia. I think this shift is very interesting, and says a lot about the changes in our worldview over the last century.” </p>

<p><strong>Yuval Noah Harari on immortality: </strong> </p>

<p>“What kind of relations between parents and children would we have when the parents know that they are not going to die someday and leave their children behind? If you live to be 200, and, ‘Yes, when I was 30 I had this kid, and he’s now 170, but that was 170 years ago, this was such a small part of my life.’ What kind of parent-offspring relations do you have in such a society? I think this is another wonderful idea for a science fiction movie—without robot rebellions, without some big apocalypse, without a tyrannical government—just a simple movie about the relationship between a mother and a son when the mother is 200 years old and the son is 170 years old.” </p>

<p><strong>Yuval Noah Harari on technology: </strong> </p>

<p>“You could have envisioned 50 years ago that we would develop a huge market for organ transplants, with developing countries having these huge body farms in which millions of people are being raised in order to harvest their organs and then sold to rich people in more developed countries. Such a market could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and technologically it is completely feasible—there is absolutely no technical impediment to creating such a market, with these huge body farms. … So there are many of these science fiction scenarios which never materialize because society can take action to protect itself and regulate the dangerous technologies. And this is very important to remember as we look to the future.” </p>

<ul><li>Can this all-Asian competition <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/miss-asian-global-ted-talks-disrupt-beauty-pageants/?mbid=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_4">disrupt beauty pageants </a>? </li><li>How to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-track-your-heart-rate/?mbid=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_4">track your heart rate </a>with wearables </li><li>Magic Leap’s rebirth as <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/magic-leap-one-creator-augmented-reality-inside-story/?mbid=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_4 target=">a company with real products </a> </li><li>PHOTO ESSAY: The <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/spain-ghost-towns-photo-gallery/?mbid=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_4">ghost towns of Spain’s </a>financial crisis </li><li>Why Saudi Arabia would want to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/saudi-arabia-investment-elon-musk-tesla/?mbid=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_4">invest in Tesla </a> </li> </ul>

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Le Guin's 1969 novel is one of the genre's most important explorations of gender.", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Culture_GeeksGuide_514678448.jpg", "height": 2400, "width": 1587 } } <a href="https://www.wired.com/2021/04/geeks-guide-left-hand-of-darkness/"><span>‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ Is a Sci-Fi Classic </span><img src="https://assets.wired.com/photos/w_150,h_150/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Culture_GeeksGuide_514678448-200x200.jpg"> <div><span>Podcasts </span><h5>‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ Is a Sci-Fi Classic </h5><span>Geek's Guide to the Galaxy </span> </div> </a> </em></li><hr><li><em>{ "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "WIRED", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/wp-content\/themes\/Phoenix\/assets\/images\/article-icon.jpg", "width": "1024 px", "height": "1024 px" } }, "@context": "http:\/\/schema.org", "@type": "NewsArticle", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2021\/04\/geeks-guide-avenue-5\/" }, "headline": "‘Avenue 5’ Is Funny but Needs More Variety", "datePublished": "2021-04-23T11:47:57+00:00", "dateModified": "2021-04-23T11:47:57+00:00", "keywords": [ "geeks-guide-to-the-galaxy" ], "url": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2021\/04\/geeks-guide-avenue-5\/", "articleSection": "culture", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Geek's Guide to the Galaxy" }, "description": "The HBO show, from 'Veep' creator Armando Iannucci, has all of that show's comedy, but not as many of its layers.", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/culture_nikki-amuka-bird_0.jpg", "height": 1920, "width": 1280 } } <a href="https://www.wired.com/2021/04/geeks-guide-avenue-5/"><span>‘Avenue 5’ Is Funny but Needs More Variety </span><img src="https://assets.wired.com/photos/w_150,h_150/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/culture_nikki-amuka-bird_0-200x200.jpg"> <div><span>Podcasts </span><h5>‘Avenue 5’ Is Funny but Needs More Variety </h5><span>Geek's Guide to the Galaxy </span> </div> </a> </em></li><hr><li><em>{ "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "WIRED", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/wp-content\/themes\/Phoenix\/assets\/images\/article-icon.jpg", "width": "1024 px", "height": "1024 px" } }, "@context": "http:\/\/schema.org", "@type": "NewsArticle", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2021\/04\/geeks-guide-spock-logic\/" }, "headline": "Turns Out, Spock Is Kinda Bad at Logic", "datePublished": "2021-04-16T11:50:47+00:00", "dateModified": "2021-04-16T11:50:47+00:00", "keywords": [ "geeks-guide-to-the-galaxy" ], "url": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2021\/04\/geeks-guide-spock-logic\/", "articleSection": "culture", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Geek's Guide to the Galaxy" }, "description": "For her new book, Julia Galef catalogued the Vulcan's predictions and found events he describes as \"impossible\" actually happened 83 percent of the time.", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https:\/\/www.wired.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Science_TSDSTTR_PA055.jpg", "height": 2070, "width": 1701 } } <a href="https://www.wired.com/2021/04/geeks-guide-spock-logic/"><span>Turns Out, Spock Is Kinda Bad at Logic </span><img src="https://assets.wired.com/photos/w_150,h_150/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Science_TSDSTTR_PA055-200x200.jpg"> <div><span>Podcasts </span><h5>Turns Out, Spock Is Kinda Bad at Logic </h5><span>Geek's Guide to the Galaxy </span> </div> </a> </em></li><hr><em> </em></ul>

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