Based on the transcript, Yuval Noah Harari argues that humanity is heading toward a psychological "Identity Crisis" because we have historically bet the wrong horse: we defined our worth by our intelligence (words/logic) rather than our consciousness (feelings/sensience).

Here is an elaboration of what he said and the examples he used to illustrate this shift.

1. The Trap of "I Think, Therefore I Am"

Harari points out that since René Descartes declared "I think, therefore I am" in the 17th century, humans have viewed "thinking" as the ultimate superpower. We told ourselves we rule the world because we are the smartest: we can write laws, compose symphonies, and formulate arguments.

• The Problem: Harari asks the audience to observe their own minds. He argues that what we call "thinking" is often just "words popping into our heads and forming sentences."

• The AI Takeover: If "thinking" is just predicting the next word in a sentence (autocompletion), then AI is already better at it than us. It can arrange words, logic, and arguments faster and more accurately.

• The Collapse: Harari warns that if you define yourself by your ability to write an essay, code software, or make a logical argument, your identity will collapse because an entity now exists that can do that better.

2. The Solution: "Word" vs. "Flesh"

Harari argues that humans must pivot their identity from intelligence (the ability to solve problems and manipulate symbols) to consciousness (the ability to feel things).

He draws a sharp line between:

• The Word: Information, language, and tokens. (AI's domain)

• The Flesh: Pain, pleasure, fear, and love. (Humanity's domain)

He states: "We have zero evidence that AIs can feel anything... AI can say 'I love you'... but these are just words."

Examples Harari Uses

To illustrate this, Harari uses three distinct examples in the speech and the Q&A:

Example A: The Love Poem (The Simulation vs. The Reality)

Harari explains that an AI can read every love poem ever written and every psychology textbook. It can then generate a description of love that is more profound, poetic, and accurate than anything a human poet could write.

• The Identity Crisis: If we value the text, the AI wins.

• The Human Value: The AI feels nothing. It has never had a broken heart; it has never felt the rush of dopamine. The human value is not in the description of love, but in the experience of it.

Example B: The Usain Bolt / Olympics Analogy (From the Q&A)

When asked if humans will become obsolete, Harari uses the example of running.

• The Comparison: We have known for a century that a Ferrari goes faster than a human. We know a cheetah runs faster than Usain Bolt.

• The Result: We didn't stop running. We still have the Olympics. We still pay to watch humans run the 100 meters.

• Why? Because we value the human struggle, the sweat, the suffering, and the triumph of a sentient being. We don't care about the car because the car doesn't suffer when it runs; it doesn't feel pride when it wins.

• The Lesson: Just as we value the runner over the car, we must learn to value the human author over the AI author—not because the human writes better, but because the human had to struggle and feel to produce the work.

Example C: The "Watcher" (The New Definition)

Harari mentions that AIs have reportedly coined a word for humans: "The Watchers."

• This implies a passive role where AIs do the doing (the processing, the creating), and humans do the experiencing (the watching, the feeling).

• While Harari finds this term slightly ominous, it reinforces his point: our future role may be defined by our capacity to witness and experience the universe, rather than our capacity to process data about it.

Summary of His Advice

Harari concludes that to survive this identity crisis, we must stop trying to compete with AI in the arena of intelligence (logic/words) and instead double down on the arena of consciousness.

As he puts it: "The truth that can be expressed in words is not the absolute truth." We must focus on the absolute truth of the "flesh"—the non-verbal experiences of pain, joy, and existence—because that is the only territory AI cannot invade.