21 Lessons For The 21st Century by Yuval Harari
You ought to read this book.
Dear Friend,
I am making a big assumption here. I am assuming you are young. Whether you are 50 or 70, I bestow the privilege of being young today. I need you to be young. This is for young people.
The world you are living in is changing rapidly. Gone are the days when you can be innocent about global affairs. Our lives and actions are interconnected in many ways. A US Presidential election, in which you have no vote, could influence your life. A liberal US President like Joe Biden may have an open door for migration; thereby, the nurse in your community may decide to migrate to seek greener pastures, and her exit will mean there will be no nurse at your community clinic. When you are sick, you are at more risk of not getting better with her absence. A conservative president like Donald Trump will pass anti-migration bills, and our dear Nurse will have to stay with us. Elections that happened in America have had an impact on your life.
I give you another example. Mark Zuckerberg offered a Free Facebook option for African users. African users have access to Facebook for free to a specific limit each time they do not have data. Consequently, more Africans are on Facebook than on any other platform. A further consequence is that business people in Africa who have learned to use Facebook can get more African customers than otherwise. So, if you are starting a business focusing on Africans, Facebook is your platform. If you are searching for an old schoolmate, you are more likely to find him on Facebook because he is more likely to be on Facebook than on any other platform. This results from Mark Zuckerberg's decision to offer free Facebook for Africans.
Many of these changes are happening all around us that we are not even aware of. This is what Yuval Harari explores in this book. And he doesn't do this just for technology; he explores politics, God, terrorism, war, migration, fake news, climate change, inequality, money, and so much more.
In the introduction, Yuval writes, “As a historian, I cannot give people food or clothes – but I can try and offer some clarity, thereby helping to level the global playing field. If this empowers even a handful of additional people to join the debate about the future of our species, I have done my job.”
He has done his job. Now, you can do yours by reading this. You will be wiser.