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Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of the Species
Life for early humans wasn't easy. They may have been able to walk on two feet and create tools 4 million years ago, but they couldn't remember or communicate. Fortunately, people got smarter, and things got better. They remembered on-the-spot solutions and shared the valuable information of their experiences. Clubs became swords, caves became huts, and fires became ovens. Collectively these new tools became technology.
As the 21st century unfolds, the pace of innovation is accelerating exponentially. Breakthroughs from robotics to genetics appear almost on a daily basis. It's all happening so quickly that it's hard to keep track - but recently there's been a shift. With vaccinations, in-vitro fertilization, and individual genetic therapy, we're entering a new epoch, a next step, faster and more dramatic than the shift from Australopithicines to Homo Sapiens. The technology that set us apart from our earliest selves is becoming part of the evolutionary process. Advancements in computing, robotics, nanotechnology, neurology, and genetics mean that our wildest imaginings could soon become commonplace.
Peter Nowak deftly presents the potential outcomes - both exciting and frightening - of key, rapidly advancing technologies and adroitly explores both the ramifications of adopting them and what doing so will reveal about the future of our species. We've come a long way in 4 million years. Welcome to Humans 3.0.
As the 21st century unfolds, the pace of innovation is accelerating exponentially. Breakthroughs from robotics to genetics appear almost on a daily basis. It's all happening so quickly that it's hard to keep track - but recently there's been a shift. With vaccinations, in-vitro fertilization, and individual genetic therapy, we're entering a new epoch, a next step, faster and more dramatic than the shift from Australopithicines to Homo Sapiens. The technology that set us apart from our earliest selves is becoming part of the evolutionary process. Advancements in computing, robotics, nanotechnology, neurology, and genetics mean that our wildest imaginings could soon become commonplace.
Peter Nowak deftly presents the potential outcomes - both exciting and frightening - of key, rapidly advancing technologies and adroitly explores both the ramifications of adopting them and what doing so will reveal about the future of our species. We've come a long way in 4 million years. Welcome to Humans 3.0.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2015
20 people are currently reading
551 people want to read
About the author
Peter Nowak
3 books13 followersPeter Nowak is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author based in Toronto. He has been writing about technology and pop culture since 1997 for publications including the Boston Globe, Sydney Morning Herald, The Globe and Mail and New Scientist magazine.
"The Rise of Real-Life Superheroes and the Fall of Everything Else" is his third book.
"The Rise of Real-Life Superheroes and the Fall of Everything Else" is his third book.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 17, 2015
'Humans 3.0' will definitely not strike you as a very original and captivating work. No grand ideas, no sophisticated arguments, nothing that you haven't seen before if you have been paying attention to life, in general, for the past couple of years. I liked it, though. And this is mostly due to its sincerity and objectivity. The whole aim of the book is to give an overview of technology's effect on the human species. Although it hurts us here and there, technology in and by itself has helped us tremendously. And this is something that we need to hear more often because not everything in this world is bleak. (See climate change, global injustice, cancer, obesity, population growth, you name it). Right now we are richer than ever, live longer than ever and we've expanded our potential for creativity in a marvellous way. As far as our problems are concerned, don't worry too much! Chances are that technology will help us once more to keep out of trouble.
November 14, 2020
Although well written and supported, this book contains two salient flaws: a) it presents nothing particularly new or original, and b) it has the same technopolist bias of other books of its kind.
There were some interesting parts, of course, not enough to make me recommend it.
There were some interesting parts, of course, not enough to make me recommend it.
February 1, 2015
From Rebel Angel.
This is quite difficult for me to review as it's not the fiction that I usually read, but rather a sort of extended essay written by tech journalist Peter Nowak as a discussion of humanity at the current time. It discusses the breakthroughs we've recently had in terms of technology, talking about how what we take for granted now would have been simply inconceivable for humans only a matter of decades ago, and their advances in turn would have been so to generations before theirs too. It covers a large subject matter of human advances, not only in technology, but financially, in terms of happiness and many others. And yet it's not dull at all - it was fairly easy for me to read, even though I'm no expert on the subject matter at all, and even had touches of humour. It was definitely interesting, making me look at how far humanity has come and how far we can still go, into worlds that are inconceivable to us yet but may happen in our lifetimes. While it's not my usual read, it was very interesting and was a nice break from fiction. It wasn't too heavy, had very good research to back up a lot of the info and is an intriguing look at humanity as we know it - good for an overview but doesn't go too far into topics that I imagine would begin to bore me.
This is quite difficult for me to review as it's not the fiction that I usually read, but rather a sort of extended essay written by tech journalist Peter Nowak as a discussion of humanity at the current time. It discusses the breakthroughs we've recently had in terms of technology, talking about how what we take for granted now would have been simply inconceivable for humans only a matter of decades ago, and their advances in turn would have been so to generations before theirs too. It covers a large subject matter of human advances, not only in technology, but financially, in terms of happiness and many others. And yet it's not dull at all - it was fairly easy for me to read, even though I'm no expert on the subject matter at all, and even had touches of humour. It was definitely interesting, making me look at how far humanity has come and how far we can still go, into worlds that are inconceivable to us yet but may happen in our lifetimes. While it's not my usual read, it was very interesting and was a nice break from fiction. It wasn't too heavy, had very good research to back up a lot of the info and is an intriguing look at humanity as we know it - good for an overview but doesn't go too far into topics that I imagine would begin to bore me.
February 16, 2015
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
It’s easy to get worried about the future sometimes. Climate change, an unstable economy, terrorist groups, government spying on its citizens, the combined impact of all this can really get you down, especially if you’re an avid consumer of cable news. In the grand scheme of human history, though, we’ve actually got it pretty good right now, especially in the increasingly irrelevantly-named “developed world”. In the “developing world”, said development is occurring at a staggering pace, especially in the fields of infant mortality, tech acceptance, access to services, etc. We now live longer, eat better, kill each other less, have fewer babies and have more access to information than at any other point in human history.
Peter Nowak’s Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of the Species is an excellent wrap-up of where Homo sapiens sapiens sits at this very moment.
Check out the rest of my review at This Nerding Life: http://thisnerdinglife.com/2015/02/15...
It’s easy to get worried about the future sometimes. Climate change, an unstable economy, terrorist groups, government spying on its citizens, the combined impact of all this can really get you down, especially if you’re an avid consumer of cable news. In the grand scheme of human history, though, we’ve actually got it pretty good right now, especially in the increasingly irrelevantly-named “developed world”. In the “developing world”, said development is occurring at a staggering pace, especially in the fields of infant mortality, tech acceptance, access to services, etc. We now live longer, eat better, kill each other less, have fewer babies and have more access to information than at any other point in human history.
Peter Nowak’s Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of the Species is an excellent wrap-up of where Homo sapiens sapiens sits at this very moment.
Check out the rest of my review at This Nerding Life: http://thisnerdinglife.com/2015/02/15...
February 14, 2015
I would say this book is aimed at those with little knowledge of "futurism," and is therefore mostly a broad overview of where we are right now. Fortunately it is quite contemporary (published in 2015!), because a lot of details are constantly changing. So although I didn't learn a lot of new info, it was still all interesting and it did focus on different aspects than I expected; more social science than techy stuff (happiness, religion, international relations, etc).
March 12, 2015
An interesting read, well researched and written, but missed or glossed over far too many things for me to be convinced by its conclusions. I wish it were all that easy but it's not. Here's my thinking on it:
http://atlanticbookstoday.ca/humans-3...
http://atlanticbookstoday.ca/humans-3...
April 6, 2015
Its nice to read a book about the way we use tech today that isn't all doom and gloom. No huge revelations in here but lots of thought provoking information about where we are and where we could be going.
March 4, 2024
I found the conclusion of the book to be unexpected but welcomed based on the observations and research presented by the author. Though I believe the author may not fully cover all issues and may make some judgements based on limited information and personal bias, I found this to be a compelling read.
June 18, 2018
I found this book choppy at places. While the optimistic message is welcoming, It's just one of millions of futurism theories. He starts to talk about how we "upgraded" from being nothing to dominating the planet, and that even though it might seem like we're destroying the earth in the process, we will eventually save each other because we're naturally altruistic. He credits technology as the glue that will save us from war and bickering, after all, when machines/genetic technology solves the hunger and disease issues, what else is there to bicker about? Thanks to globalisation one nation has nothing unique to preserve or fight for if hunger and disease is eliminated. He shows concern about AI but like all futurists he thinks it's still couple of decades away.
Now the choppy bits...he goes on rants about random people and things. For instance - he is talking about Anne Rice (why) for a while when the point he tries to make doesn't really deserved the pages and time.
Personally I do not agree about altruism in humans. It only takes few stupid people to kill millions or billions of people with the technology that he seems to think will ultimately connect and merge us as one tribe and save us.
Now the choppy bits...he goes on rants about random people and things. For instance - he is talking about Anne Rice (why) for a while when the point he tries to make doesn't really deserved the pages and time.
Personally I do not agree about altruism in humans. It only takes few stupid people to kill millions or billions of people with the technology that he seems to think will ultimately connect and merge us as one tribe and save us.
June 25, 2015
Interesting but not much in the book that you don't know already unless you have been hiding away from technology and living in isolation. I like the author's positive outlook regarding our relationships with technology, but I just do not find the content overly exciting.
April 6, 2017
Not much new thinking here. I liked the author's take on the current dialectic - globalism vs. individualism, both enabled by rapid technological developments. His speculations about if or how these may merge are interesting.
October 7, 2017
The premise of the book is to create in the reader the feeling that the situation is not hopeless - society is improving, getting healthier and happier. And if you have been living under a stone, this might be news indeed. But for the rest of us, the title of the book left something to be desired.
July 19, 2015
Excellent review of the impacts of technology on humanity, plus a thoughtful look into the near future.
February 8, 2025
I have the benefit of hindsight that comes with reading this book almost 10 years after publication, so found it interesting from several perspectives. I enjoyed it as an overview of where technology has benefitted mankind but felt the author was too optimistic at times. However, this was written before Covid, Trump and Putin's war in Ukraine, and also the malign influence of Elon Musk and other oligarchs on civilisation.
The author mostly took the view that the widespread availability of technology would eventually help humans become more equal, prosperous and (often) with less income disparity. He acknowledges that the latter has not turned out to be the case so far - there are more billionaires now and more people living on the breadline, and this doesn't just apply to 'developed' countries. He points out that this is ultimately due to globalisation, and that rising inequality along with the easiness of seeing how other countries live leads to societal harm and anger. Governments have three ways to ameliorate this - through tax, spending and regulation. The author points out that Scandinavian governments, which utilise all three to great extent, lead some of the happiest countries in the world.
The author was over-optimistic on several technological advances, e.g. having autonomous cars by 2020 - they might available but we're not ready for them. On the matter of creativity - "art, entertainment, communication and expression... is dazzlingly bright" whereas these are being firmly encroached upon by Artificial Intelligence; also that prosperity means the decline of war - unfortunately we still have despots and tyrants focused on feathering their own nests and using technology to con a population into believing that this is in their interest.
He discussed several aspects of technology which continue to be of concern - social isolation, being seduced by the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship (thanks, Facebook) and the lack of privacy.
Overall, this is a good read despite being dated, or perhaps because of it. There are no startling revelations but I found the hit-and-miss predictions very interesting, as I say, with hindsight.
The author mostly took the view that the widespread availability of technology would eventually help humans become more equal, prosperous and (often) with less income disparity. He acknowledges that the latter has not turned out to be the case so far - there are more billionaires now and more people living on the breadline, and this doesn't just apply to 'developed' countries. He points out that this is ultimately due to globalisation, and that rising inequality along with the easiness of seeing how other countries live leads to societal harm and anger. Governments have three ways to ameliorate this - through tax, spending and regulation. The author points out that Scandinavian governments, which utilise all three to great extent, lead some of the happiest countries in the world.
The author was over-optimistic on several technological advances, e.g. having autonomous cars by 2020 - they might available but we're not ready for them. On the matter of creativity - "art, entertainment, communication and expression... is dazzlingly bright" whereas these are being firmly encroached upon by Artificial Intelligence; also that prosperity means the decline of war - unfortunately we still have despots and tyrants focused on feathering their own nests and using technology to con a population into believing that this is in their interest.
He discussed several aspects of technology which continue to be of concern - social isolation, being seduced by the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship (thanks, Facebook) and the lack of privacy.
Overall, this is a good read despite being dated, or perhaps because of it. There are no startling revelations but I found the hit-and-miss predictions very interesting, as I say, with hindsight.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews