Yuval Noah Harari (born 1976) is an Israeli historian, philosopher, and bestselling author best known for his sweeping macro-historical works that examine the past, present, and future of Homo sapiens. A professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Harari has become one of the most influential public intellectuals of the twenty-first century, shaping global conversations about technology, consciousness, and the trajectory of human civilization.
Harari earned his PhD from the University of Oxford and initially specialized in medieval and military history before turning to broad questions about the human condition. His breakthrough work, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011; English edition 2014), traces humanity’s rise from insignificant apes to planetary dominators, arguing that our capacity for shared fictions—including religion, money, and nation-states—enabled unprecedented cooperation. Its sequel, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2015; English edition 2017), examines how biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and data-driven algorithms may reshape or even supersede humanity. A third major work, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018), addresses the urgent political and existential challenges of the present moment.
Harari’s engagement with transhumanist themes is substantial. Homo Deus explicitly explores scenarios in which humans upgrade themselves toward quasi-divine capacities—enhanced cognition, radical life extension, and even engineered bliss—territory that overlaps significantly with Mormon Transhumanist interests in theosis, immortality, and the creative potential of humanity. However, Harari approaches these possibilities with deep ambivalence. He warns that technological transcendence may benefit only a small elite, creating unprecedented inequality, and he questions whether upgraded “Homo Deus” beings would retain anything recognizably human. His framework treats religion primarily as a useful fiction rather than as a genuine encounter with divine reality, and he does not share the Mormon Transhumanist conviction that a compassionate God ordains scientific and technological progress as means toward prophetic fulfillment. Where Mormon Transhumanism sees human potential and divine purpose as mutually reinforcing—with technological advancement serving as a vehicle for God’s work—Harari tends to view the pursuit of godlike power as fraught with existential risk and moral peril, untethered from any transcendent moral order.
A practicing Vipassana meditator, Harari’s personal philosophical orientation draws on Buddhist insights about the nature of consciousness and suffering, leading him to emphasize mindfulness and self-awareness as counterweights to technological disruption. His work has been translated into over sixty languages, and he has advised world leaders and spoken at major forums including the World Economic Forum. Whether or not one shares his conclusions, Harari’s bold synthesis of history, biology, and philosophy has made him an indispensable voice in contemporary debates about what humanity is becoming.