Pitching for globalisation as opposed to nationalism, Yuval Noah Harari said that the future will be very different from the present and global problems will need global solutions.

Harari, a historian by profession, was delivering the key note address at the India Today Conclave 2018 in Mumbai on Friday evening.

Harari is the author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow among other books.

ON BIOMETRIC DATA

When asked about the debates around biometric data in India and new ID card called Aadhaar, Harari said that no technology is deterministic.

"Every technology has both positive and negative potential. It would be foolish to give up all the enormous positive potential of biotechnology just because of the negative scenarios. Just as it would have been foolish to give up the inventions of previous ages just because they could support dictatorship. For example, radio was used by Nazi Germany as the main propaganda tool of the regime. Every evening, every day Hitler or Goebbels would go on the radio and give speeches to millions of Germans. This is how they were brainwashed," said Harari.

"Does this mean radio is bad? Destroy all radio sets? No. You can use radio for a lot of good. It's the same with biotechnology. I don't want people to be scared of the technology and to just think that they can stop it or abolishing it, it won't help. The key is to understand that we have options. We have political options regarding each technology. We should be aware of all the possibilities and hopefully make the right choice," Harari added.

ON NATIONALISM

Giving a potted history of nationalism, Harari said that nationalism first appeared around river plains some 4,000-5,000 years ago. Small clans "coalesced together" to fight against the wrath of the rivers and nature.

Together they built canals, dams and granaries. "Nations provided people with security...enabled cooperation between strangers towards common goals," he said.

However, the recent comeback of nationalism -- not is "some remote corner of the world but in North America, Europe and India"-- was a cause of concern.

It's a worry because nationalism will not be able to offer solutions that the world will face in future.

NATIONS NO LONGER IN RIGHT FRAMEWORK

The future will be very different and "nations are no longer the right framework" to offer solutions.

From natural rivers humankind has moved to "rivers of information and invention".

The professor went on to outline the challenges that we will face in the future: nuclear, ecological and technological disruptions.

WHAT HARARI SAID

Nationalism first appeared around river plains some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.

Nationalism will not be able to offer solutions that the world will be facing in future.

Nuclear, ecological and technological disruptions will be the challenges of the future.

In 50 years it'll be impossible to live in Mumbai; either sea will rise or it'll be too hot.

AI and bio-engineering will form a new species, human beings will get divine powers.

According to him the world has avoided a nuclear holocaust (post-1945) simply because "of the combined action of many nations and UN".

Thankfully "war is no more the standard political tool...in 2017 fewer people died of war than obesity, car accidents...sugar is more dangerous than gun powder".

In order to ensure the survival of human civilisation in the 21st century we must protect ourselves from the nuclear war, he said.

Moving on to the ecological disaster we are facing he said: "For many years homo sapiens have been ecological serial killers."

He said ecological collapse is a reality and painted a grim picture of the future.

"In 50 years it'll be impossible to live in Mumbai; either the sea will rise or it'll be too hot," he warned.

"Global cooperation" is the only way we can fight climate change, he said.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL AFFECT JOB MARKET PROFOUNDLY

Speaking of the technological disruptions that will affect us, Harari said that artificial intelligence will affect the job market profoundly and create a new class of people -- "useless class". Useless, not for their near or dear one, but useless for the economic and political system.

Thanks to technological innovations some countries will become richer, others poorer. Again nations have to come together to fight this.

"New technology will change the basic rules of human life," he said. Life was subject to natural laws but science is about to replace nature as the driving forces of evolution.

"AI and bio-engineering will form a new species...human beings are about to get divine powers," he predicted.

These are cosmic problems that nationalism would not be able to solve.

Pitching for a globalised world, Harari said that only by sticking together will we be able to usher in a brave new world.

VIDEO | Time to sound the alarm when politicians start talking messianic: Yuval Noah Harari