Critical Perspective: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century - A Review

Further to my post on Instagram, I find it important to post up a review of the book '21 Lessons for the 21st Century', by Yuval Noah Harari. This book has challenged my critical thinking paradigm because it contains a lot of postulations, hasty generalisations and sweeping statements which I found hard to agree with. However, having read many books, I personally find it important to conclude that there is a certain limit to the amount of opinion and assumptions an author can put in a book and the amount of information your readers or audience can process. 

As a general rule, you should not produce opinions on the basis of weak evidence, because you will have difficulty interpreting subsequent information that contradicts these opinions, even if this information is disproportionately more accurate.

As Yuval writes his introduction, he asks some very intriguing questions like, “What are today’s greatest challenges and most important changes?" But, how do you distinguish between the two? and "What should we pay attention to? What should we teach our kids?” It is important to contemplate upon these questions as we are barraged by information every single day.

Yuval has prudently done exhaustive research to make educated "guesses" in the book. 

There are also many fascinating insights that I wanted to highlight in this book that it is hard to choose examples. I was awestruck by many things he said in the book and many are frightening to contemplate on, such as:

'Globalisation has certainly benefited large segments of humanity, but there are signs of growing inequality both between and within societies. Some groups increasingly monopolise the fruits of globalisation, while billions are left behind. Already today, the richest 1 per cent owns half the world’s wealth. Even more alarmingly, the richest hundred people together own more than the poorest 4 billion. This could get far worse'.

Here’s another worry that Harari deals with: In an increasingly complex world, how can any of us have enough information to make educated decisions? It’s tempting to turn to experts, but how do you know they’re not just following the herd? “The problem of groupthink and individual ignorance besets not just ordinary voters and customers,” he writes, “but also presidents and CEOs.”

These are intriguing thoughts put forward by Yuval. His greatest talent as a writer is his ability to condense large sweeping issues into accessible and thought-provoking discussions. He wants you to think. It is the only reason he writes. He wants his readers to engage with possibilities and questions over what might be. He looks at the future and what our lives and liberties will be like with increasing advances in technology, which come with decreasing amounts of privacy and autonomy.