What lies ahead for humans?

I just finished reading Yuval Harrari’s “Homo Deus.” It is an intriguing book although Harari does meander a bit in articulating his speculations for the next thousand years for human beings. 

He starts by laying the groundwork on how the past chapters of our existence will lead to the future. He says, “Three problems preoccupied us right from the beginning: Famine, plague and war. They all are under control. However, humans are rarely satisfied with what they have. Humanity’s next targets are likely to be immortality, happiness, and divinity. We are aiming to upgrade humans into gods, hence Homo Deus.”

In his opinion, of the three targets, death is a technical problem that we can and should solve. “In a world without death, there is no need for heaven, hell or reincarnation, the mainstay of most religions.”

He rightly points out that being happy does not come easy. “Reality matches our expectation, we are happy, but expectations keep going up. Our biochemical systems are designed to survival and reproduction, not happiness. A change in our biochemistry is required.”

Then, he comes to the main point of the book, which is that Homo Sapiens has run its course and will no longer be relevant in the future. “A superior model, Homo Deus will have upgraded physical and mental abilities that will enable it to hold its own even against the most sophisticated algorithms.” 

“Upgrading humans into gods will require biological engineering, cyborg engineering, and engineering of non-organic beings. Bioengineering will involve rewriting genetic code, rewiring brain circuit, and altering biochemical balance. Cyborg Engineering will deal with merging organic bodies with non-organic devices, such as bionic hands and artificial eyes. Finally, neural networks will be replaced by intelligent software, able to surf virtual and non-virtual worlds.”

You may ask what happens to soul in this transformation.

Harari does not believe in the existence of soul. “Theory of evolution cannot accept the idea of souls, if by ‘soul’ we mean some thing indivisible, immutable and potentially eternal. Evolution means change and it is incapable of producing everlasting entities”.

Then he goes on to describe the concept of free will and meaning of life, and slays both of them.

“Medieval crusaders believed that God and heaven provided their lives with meaning; modern liberals believe that individual free choices provide life with meaning. Both are equally delusional,”

He makes a persuasive argument against free will. “Decisions are reached through a chain reaction of biochemistry events, each determined by previous events, are certainly not free. If humans are free, how could natural selection have shaped them? Neural events in the brain indicates the person’s decision begin from a few hundred milliseconds to a few seconds before the person is aware of the choice. If I am indeed the master of my thoughts and decisions, can I decide not to think about anything at all for the next sixty seconds? Try that, and see what happens.”

According to Harari, even Homo Deus may not be the end point of our existence. That would arrive in a way a new “religion” Dataism predicts.  

“Dataism declares that the universe consists of data flows, and the value of any entity is determined by its contribution to data processing. Exactly the same mathematical laws apply to both biochemical and electronic algorithms. According to Dataists, Homo Sapiens are not a precursor to some Homo Deus, but are merely tools for creating the Internet-of-all-things, which may eventually spread out from earth to pervade the whole galaxy and even universe. This cosmic data processing system would be the God, and humans are destined to merge into it.”

We are created by nature to create a network. That may provide meaning to our lives.

To me this is a bold and homocentric view. Many, if not most, scientists believe that we are not unique in this universe. There are trillions of planets and it is hard to imagine that life exists on only one of them. For sure, the creatures in other planets may be way backward, may be just single cell organisms. Many of them, however, may be way advanced. If they are, it is not hard to imagine that they may have gone on the same path and their living beings are also subsumed into a cosmic data processing system. 

In that case, we would be providing just the latest connection to this universal system already in existence. Once connected, we (or our data version) will be able to post stories on the intergalactic FaceBook, and send those aliens pictures using Instagram.

Oh well…who know what lies ahead for us. 

Who are we?

While growing up in India, we were taught that we in the northern part of the country are Aryans and those in the southern part, Dravidians. They speak languages that were very different from our Sanskrit based languages. Sanskrit is a member of a vast family of languages---the Indo European languages---which include German, Latin, Persian, as well as Slavic and Celtic languages. That means, we of the Northern part of India are members of a vast group of people who populate Europe and Middle East. 

A book I read recently, “Early Indians” by Tony Joseph, confirmed these beliefs but added layers of nuances that I was not entirely aware of.  Here is a brief summary.

A group of Homo Sapiens, or modern humans, emerged in Africa and ventured outside that continent some 70,000 years ago. Modern DNA analysis shows that all people outside Africa are descendants of that group. Not only that, the ancestry of all of us non-Africans can be traced to a single African woman and man from that group…the original Adam and Eve!

Travelling along the coast, the first group of modern humans arrived in India 65,000 years ago, becoming the First Indians. These folks took two routes, a sub-Himalayan one and the other coastal one. This way they avoided the archaic humans (cousins of Homo Sapiens who are now extinct) in the region. 

About 35,000 years ago, climate deteriorated. However, the First Indians had developed technology to hunt down their prey and beat the rivals, the archaic humans. They expanded their range and moved deeper into the Indian Peninsula, thereby becoming the first South Indians. 

These folks were hunter-gatherers, who could sustain themselves but could not develop what we would call a civilization. For that, they had to learn farming. Only then, they could settle in one place, and have a larger percentage of population do other things besides gathering food---such as make potteries, develop written language, and create art. 

For Indians, that came about in the form of Harappan Civilization. To get that going, the First Indians got help from people living around Zagros region in what is modern day Iran. These Iranian agriculturalists helped Indians create one of the greatest civilizations of all time starting about 9000 years ago in Balochistan (now in Pakistan). 

At its peak, the Harappan Civilization (also called the “Indus Valley” Civilization) covered much of Pakistan, northeastern Afghanistan and Western India (Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and, my state, Gujarat)…a million square kilometers in all. Mohenjo-Daro, in Pakistan is one of the finest examples of archeological sites of this civilization, but there are plenty others. These cities were well planned, with excellent water management systems. 

The Zagrosians also brought their language, Proto-Elamite, which is found to be closely related to the Dravidian languages. So, the Indus Civilization was Dravidian, even though the speakers of these languages now reside in South India, far from Indus Valley. Unfortunately, the Harappan writing has not been deciphered, so some of the details are still in dispute. 

The Harappan Civilization eventually declined around 4000 years ago and about the same time new migrants arrived in northwestern India. These migrants from the Eurasian Steppe region (present day Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) called themselves Aryans and spoke Indo-European languages. They mixed with the Harappans to create a new genetic cluster called Ancestral North Indians (ANI). Pushed to the south by the new arrivals, the Harappans mixed with the descendents of the First Indians to create a new genetic cluster Ancestral South Indians (ASI). This was the bedrock of Indian population.

There were many others who came to India subsequently. The Greeks (Alexander the Great), the Jews, the Huns, the Parsis (Zoroastrians from Iran escaping persecution), the Mughals, the Portuguese, and the British, all of whom have contributed to our ancestry, although not to the same extent as the First Indians, the Zagrosians or the Aryans. 

So, that in a nutshell is what I gathered from the book “Early Indians”.  It is a very well written book that is highly recommended. 

PS: The term Aryans may sound strange and even offensive. Attribute that to Hitler, who stole the term to refer to his image of perfect humans, the blond blue eyed Germans. He also stole Swastika, which was, and still is, a religious symbol of the Aryans who came to India. 

Staying with FaceBook

Many of my friends and family are cutting cords with FaceBook (FB). Some of them have done it our of concerns with privacy, the others because they are opposed to FB (and other social media) contributing to the weakening of our democracy. It is a well-established fact that FB is a preferred platform for spreading disinformation and without facts at hand; people’s opinions are based on falsehood and lies. FB says that they can’t do much about it, which on the face of it sounds like self-serving baloney. 

I respect the opinions of my friends and wonder about my own allegiance to FB. Why am I sticking with FB?

 First the facts. I am a heavy user of FB, deriving all types of benefits. To begin with, FB serves as a showcase for my photographs. I am a serious amateur and have won some awards and accolades. Many of my FB friends enjoy seeing my work (or so they say) and I feel they will be disappointed if I stop posting. This factor was particularly important during the past year of being nomads and travelling. My FB friends appreciated the ongoing travelogue, and their compliments have boosted my ego (I admit). 

The other reason is that FB allows me to keep in touch with far-flung friends and relatives. Many are my family members and friends in India, some are new folks I have met in my travels, and others are my fellow classmates/officemates. I enjoy reading about them, seeing their photographs, and discussing various topics. Further, FB has allowed me to find friends who I had lost touch with, sometimes for decades. It is so nice to reestablish our friendships.  Finally, FB allows me to rant about whatever topic I feel like ranting about. It serves as a relief valve and allows me to connect with likeminded people. 

So, departing from FB will cause a major disruption in my lifestyle. It is an addiction that will be hard to kick. 

When I think about the privacy risks associated with my continued participation, I feel that the horse is already out of the barn. Even if I cutoff from my social media participation today, there is enough about me out there for someone intent on causing harm to do so. Besides, my Google searches and cookies I leave at all kinds of websites provide on-going fodder to those looking for details about who I am and what I like. 

The other point, supporting an evil empire, is more difficult to argue with. I am reminded of one of my relatives who tells me that using air-conditioners is harmful to environment and I should stop using it. Another relative has curtailed flying because of Carbon footprint issues. I cannot disagree but have difficulty in meeting either one of them. I am very uncomfortable in hot rooms and travelling is one of my passions. So, I respond by saying that I am doing my best in other places to reduce harm I cause. For example by reducing the size of the place we call home. 

So…to my friends who are abandoning FB due to moral issues, please allow me to indulge. I am doing good things for our society in other ways. For example, a couple of non-profits I have helped in recent years deal with education of inner city kids and immigrants. Perhaps they will learn to differentiate fact from fiction, even on FB. This will make a miniscule difference, if any, you say. But so will one person quitting FB out of two billion. 

An experiment in living

We are both fond of Henry David Thoreau. After all, we lived for decades in a house not far from where he did. One of his favorite quotes is his explanation of why he lived simply along the shores of lovely Walden Pond; in a cottage he built himself. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life,and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and when I came to die discover that I had not lived.” In a previous Blog post (June 2011) I had used this quote to support my desire to simplify life. 

Now, inspired by this quote, we have upended our comfortable retired life in a leafy suburb of Boston to live the life of a nomad with no fixed address. We have sold our house and disposed off most of our stuff. What remains does not even fill a small container. There are a few pieces of furniture and a number of boxes containing some precious books, memorabilia and things we found difficult to part with. We want to “live deliberately” to see what we can learn from traveling the world and make sure that when we come to die we don’t feel that we had not lived. 

We are not pretending to be Thoreau, nor are we pioneers in this mode of living in retirement. There are others who have been doing it and writing on the subject. We draw inspiration from these folks. Also, we are not sure how long we will live this way. There is always the choice of stopping the experiment and planting roots. 

This experiment does not have a well-defined success or failure. It is the journey that counts. We feel that we have already learned a lot in the process of getting rid of stuff, selling the house and the first few weeks of living the nomadic life.

The list of tasks that need to be performed in order to successfully achieve this transition has been unending. We have worked on four parallel work streams over the past few months. The first was to decide what we wanted to keep and how to get rid of what remained. The second was getting the house fixed and selling it. The third work stream was related to putting our joint retired life in order (health insurance, estate planning and such), and the final, which we are deep into is planning for the journey ahead. 

We have decided to stay with family and friends where we have them and it is convenient for them to keep us. All other places we will stay in hotels and Airbnbs. We hope to travel lightly---one suitcase and one backpack each. The first major trip, to Asia for a few months, is more or less planned. After that we have ideas but they need to be implemented. We can more or less be wherever we want to be, assuming we keep good health or don’t get tired of living out of suitcases. That’s the beauty of this experiment. 

We plan to write a Blog that chronicles our journey. The purpose is not to describe what we did everyday. That would be too boring. We hope to outline the experiences we had, the folks we met, and insights we gained. We will sprinkle in a few photographs. 

So, here we go.

Quantum life

The world of the very small is bizarre. When you start investigating how do really tiny things like photons and electrons behave, you find that they exhibit properties that defy imagination. The field of study that captures all that is called quantum mechanics. This is not a new area; scientists have been studying it for over hundred years.

In my quest to keep my left-brain alive during my retirement, I study topics like quantum mechanics, theory of relativity and origin of life.  I must admit, sometimes I find it hard to fully digest even relatively elementary books on these subjects, but still I find them fascinating.

I also try to draw analogies between these theories and our human experience. I wrote a Blog post titled “Theory of Relatives” on how a similar sounding theory applies to our behavior. I published this tongue-in-cheek article in August of 2017. Now I cannot resist the temptation of doing the same to quantum mechanics. So here I go. 

A basic property of a very small particle, photon for example, is that it takes all possible pathsfrom origin to destination. That sounds creepy, doesn’t it? However, even more interesting is that if we make a measurement, it will make up its mind and be found in one and only one specific path. 

I have found many people exhibit similar property. They would not make up their mind on a controversial topic until youtake one. Then they decide. This could be agreement or disagreement with you. One person I know is so willing to agree with you, that her waffling on a subject comes to an end only when you decide. Then she agrees. Some others I know are confrontational and will always take a position oppositeof what you have stated. Quantum mechanics at work, I bet.

The world is composed of two types of particles, Bosons and Fermions. Bosons are the particle incarnation of energy (photon for light), while Fermions are what matter is composed of. Quantum mechanics says that Bosons are gregarious; they like to hang out with one another, while Fermions (e.g., electron) are antisocial; they resist encroachment by other Fermions. It is this property that allows us to have lasers, which are composed of photons marching together in a very disciplined manner. On the other hand an atom, which is mostly empty space, does not allow another atom to occupy the same space. That’s why you can’t walk through a wall.

I can imagine people in some cultures, say Asian ones, are like Bosons, thriving in their collective living, while those in Scandinavian countries are like Fermions. They like their space around them.  Of course this is a gross generalization. In such groups of Bosons, there would be isolated Fermions and vice versa. 

One of the most amazing aspects of quantum mechanics is entanglement, in which two particles, world apart, behave in a lock-step manner. The state of one particle immediately defines the state of the other. Further, if two particles are in an entangled state together, then neither of them can be entangled with any other particles in the universe. This is monogamy of quantum entanglement…passion at a distance.

I feel I have seen this movie before, yes and it is a Bollywood movie. A hero and heroine in a strictly monogamous relationship can be found singing different verses of the same song even though they may be world apart. What better example of quantum entanglement?

One final example of quantum mechanics that has found its way in regular living is called zero-point energy. That refers to the fact that even completely empty space has some energy. It can never be zero. If you want to be technical, this vacuum energy is suspected to have caused cosmic inflation after the Big Bang, which created our universe. 

I find this property resident in my brain. No matter how hard I try, I can never empty out my brain of thoughts. Now, this is where Indian gurus shine. They have developed an ability to achieve a thoughtless mind. I suspect, however, that there is some isolated thought lurking around even in their well-developed brains. One cannot fool around with zero-point energy.

So there you have it. If quantum mechanics is bizarre, we are equally so.

The Great Depression

In retrospect, it was inevitable. However, at the time we thought, or hoping, it would never happen. 

Almost exactly eleven years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the beginning of the great recession, in the fall of 2019, the American financial institutions were under a major cyber attack by the Russian hackers. Overnight, a majority of them became insolvent and with that the entire machinery that kept this country going came to a grinding halt.

There were early warnings. The intelligence services had identified attempts by the known Russian hackers to infiltrate the American banks and investment houses. However, when they took that warning to president Trump, he responded by saying he will call Putin and make sure they were not up to some mischief. When Putin said that they had nothing to do with such attempts, and in fact, there were no hackers in Russia, Trump was satisfied. He told the intelligence services that they were wrong and the whole thing was a Democratic plot to stop him from being re-elected.

At first, Trump did not understand that an attack had happened and the financial system was in grave danger of collapse. However hard the economists and Federal Reserve Board chairman tried to explain it to him, even in a sixth grade English, the president refused to accept that anything was wrong. He explained that Sean Hannity did not think anything was wrong so it could not be. Besides he was a successful businessman and knew financial matters better than anyone else. 

Things got bad very quickly. It was clear that an international effort was required as was the case during the great recession. The Europeans, Canadians and Chinese were eager to work with US to align their policies so that the bottom would not fall out. Trump’s response was predictable. “We have America First policy and we don’t depend on Canada, run by a weak person Trudeau; or Europeans, because they sucked us dry; or the Chinese, because they are shifty people.” The only person Trump relied on was Putin, who was too eager to help. 

A large number of people became unemployed. Trump quickly attacked the illegal immigrants for taking away jobs. “If they had allowed me to build the wall, this would not have happened.” 

As he looked at the unemployment numbers climbing rapidly, he asked the economists to provide him the number of people employed. This he used for his next rally in Alabama. “See the number of people employed. It is larger than the number during Truman’s administration. I am the greatest job creator in the history of mankind.” The crowd of hypnotized followers cheered and waved Make America Great Again posters.

Then there were riots on the street as people desperate for food broke into grocery stores. These images were shown as breaking news on all the regular channels except Fox News, which maintained that the whole thing was a right wing conspiracy and continued showing a program on pet care. “All fake news being shown by the enemy of the people,” tweeted Trump. “I definitely saw Hillary standing on the sidelines, directing the whole operation.”

The next few days were chaotic. Trump was found one day by the White House staff, roaming in his bathrobe, shouting obscenity and nonsense. “It is all a plot. Nothing is wrong. I am the greatest president who ever lived. It is all Crooked Hillary’s fault. Obama is behind it. The Mexicans are coming after me. Muslim terrorists have infiltrated our economy. Sean Hannity is going to be my Vice President. The Democrats should be all jailed. Nobody knows anything like me. I am the greatest, THE GREATEST”

The 25^thamendment was invoked, and Trump was removed from the office for the reason of insanity. His whereabouts are unknown but it is widely rumored that he has taken residence in a small island in the Pacific Ocean and they have elected him their emperor. 

I hope you enjoyed my brief narrative. I now better get to my soup kitchen before it closes. I better get used to the chicken broth soup; this great depression is going to last for a while. 

Experiencism

Numerous wise folks tell us that one should collect experiences in life, not material goods. I have been an early convert to this philosophy. Having been brought up in a family that did not care much for collecting material goods, this is not surprising. Also, I live in in a town next to Concord where Henry David Thoreau conducted his experiment of living with bare minimum. His influence has further fortified my belief. 

This idea is now becoming mainstream. Call it the beginning of the post-materialism era. 

For example, the business world has started to capitalize on helping their clients “collect experiences” much the same way they would material goods. If you go to the Airbnb website, you can browse experiencesas a category along with homes and restaurants. In that category you would find bike rides, history walks, craft class or intimate concerts. Purchasing an experience will let you participate in an activity for a fee. The experience of meeting an interesting local person in a strange city no longer has to be left to chance; the seller of that experience will make sure that you domeet one, no matter how contrived the whole thing feels. 

Materialism is defined as preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects and consideration with a disinterest or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values. I hereby coin the word “experiencism” as a similar obsession with experiences, bought or otherwise. Just as a materialist brags about possessing an exclusive piece of furniture, we experiencists will make a big deal out of the experience of having an exclusive access to an artist. 

The parallels between materialism and experiencism are striking. A materialist will compare himself/herself with the others based on what he/she owns. “My car is better than your, or this dresser I got from my grandfather is far more valuable than the IKEA thing you have.” The experiencist will boast about the authenticity of his experience compared to yours because he went to Venice in 1970’s before the hoards of tourists arrived. “My experience was better than yours.” Just as a materialist will gloss over the fact that he has to worry about his expensive car being stolen or grandfather’s dresser being totally unusable because the drawers are falling off, the experiencist will not tell you about any unpleasantness associated with the acquisition of his experience--- atrocious weather or being fleeced by a waiter.  

In the end it is all about ego. Even though gaining experiences is a better way to enjoy life than acquiring material goods, at least according to people like me, we can turn even that into a way to establish our superiority over others.