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Takeaways from Talk with Yuval Noah Harari at Google

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Takeaways from Talk with Yuval Noah Harari at Google


1. The future cannot be predicted but to have a fruitful education, we need to focus on emotional intelligence and mental stability as throughout our careers, we will have to reinvent ourselves.
2. Why is democracy at risk?
Randomness and probability is not free will. Our choices are free but our will depends on biological, social and cultural factors. So our choices are not independent but are dependent on a million other factors.
Corporations have access to what is happening inside us, better than we understand ourselves using the technology merging artificial intelligence and biotechnology. We don't necessarily give them permission, yet they can still access that information. AI would not be as revolutionary if biology hadn't existed. A self-driving car is useful only when there are humans it needs to assess psychologically. 
Although, there is a dystopian negative view surrounding AI, it has tremendous opportunities in sectors like healthcare, otherwise there would have been no temptation to pursue it. 
But one fear that most humans have is that it can replace us. Everyone seeks meaning in life and that's not something we would readily give up. 
So is there a god or a religion to help guide us to meaning?
Spirituality is about questions and religion is about answers. Spirituality is  about going deep into the quest of answers. At this time, we are faced with spiritual questions as it would determine how we allow technology to be used because our choices have great practical impact.
Big corporations, nations and currencies are stories created by lawyers. They have no physical entity. There are many stories of reality but reality does exist. One test of reality that Yuval knows is that of suffering. Humans can suffer, but Google cannot. Shared fictions are one of the most powerful forces but we must remember that we are real and these fictions are not. They exist for us and we don't exist for them.
Which 21st century problem is easiest to solve?
Addressing the fake news problem, as it is the most relevant. We need to replace the model of 'Fake news for free' for 'High quality news for a lot of money but one that doesn't abuse our attention.'
To solve global problems, the first step is to steer the conversation to these problems so that there is a collective need to solve these problems.
There are many ways to know yourself better. It differs from person to person. You only need yourself for it. 
Knowing yourself is key to developing compassion and empathy.
 History is not the study of past, but the study of change. 

Personal views: This talk left me with more questions than answers. But I guess I cannot find answers to spiritual questions externally.
Do comment your Takeaways in the thread.
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