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21 Lessons for the 21st Century,

The world in 2050. In an excerpt from his new book, “21 Lessons for the 21st Century,” Yuval Noah Harai examines nothing less than the impact of artificial intelligence on our political and economic future. As mysterious terms like AI, blockchain and globalization gain steam at tech conferences and think tanks, a large group of people feel those terms don’t apply to them, he says. Increasingly intelligent machines may threaten humans’ economic mobility and shift more authority to algorithms. Meanwhile, an abundance of data controlled by a few powerful organizations could limit individuals’ political power. “If we are not careful, we will end up with downgraded humans misusing upgraded computers to wreak havoc on themselves and on the world,” Mr. Harari writes.