The Frankenstein Prophecy
Are we approaching the end of Homo sapiens?
Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2014) is a fascinating read that tracks the development of Homo sapiens throughout our existence.
The book ends with Harari outlining a frightening vision of the future, which he describes as ‘The Frankenstein Prophecy’.
The Prophecy
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is the story of a man who tries to create a superior creature but accidentally creates a monster. But there’s a much deeper meaning behind this story aside from the warning that we shouldn't play God.
The Frankenstein myth, according to Harari, tells us that humanity’s last days are fast approaching. Simply put, the pace of technological progress will soon lead to us being replaced by creatures who are physically, cognitively, and emotionally superior.
This isn’t a nice thought, and that’s putting it mildly.
The idea that some creature in the future will look at us the way we look at the Neanderthals, for instance, isn’t easy to digest.
Is it inevitable?
No one can be sure that such a prophecy will occur, however. Forecasts of the future have been wrong plenty of times before.
