Is Yuval Noah Harari right? The celebrated science writer thinks that “alien intelligence” will make humans redundant. But some think his claims are too pessimistic.
Aliens will destroy us warns new book
Scholar: Israeli intellectual Yuval Noah Harari (above) believes that now is the most exciting point in 70,000 years of human history. Glossary
Medieval - Relating to the Middle Ages.
Homo sapiens - The species to which all modern humans belong. Homo sapiens means "wise man" in Latin.
Bias - Biases are beliefs that systematically and unfairly distort a person's decisions, in favour or against one group or another.
Prejudice - An idea about something, especially a group of people, that is not based on reality.
QAnon - Followers of QAnon believe a Satanic conspiracy removed President Trump from office.
Democracy - A system of government based on the idea of rule by the people.
Obsolete - Outdated and no longer useful.
AI - A computer programme that has been designed to think.
Pessimistic - Tending to believe that the worst will happen.
Passive - Accepting or allowing things to happen, without actively responding or resisting.
Nostradamus - A 16-century French astrologer and physician whose prophecies earned him fame both during and after his lifetime. These included being credited with predicting the rise of Adolf Hitler, the atomic bomb and the Kennedy Assassination.
Rasputin - A Russian mystic who gained considerable influence over the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family,