What do we need so many humans for?

World Today

There is a certain kind of thinking today that goes like this: “In the industrial revolution we saw the creation of a new class of urban proletariat¹ …a new massive class of useless people as computers become better and better and will make humans redundant.

And then the big political and economic question of the 21st century will be: what do we need humans for? Or at least, what do we need so many humans for?“ – Yuval Harari

Harari’s best guess solution? “…the best guess we have is to keep them happy with drugs and computer games.”

Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher, and best selling author. His books have sold 45 million copies in 65 different languages. He is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today. His fans include world leaders and well known people. His ideas and values are certainly going places and influencing influencers.

There is another kind of thinking that goes like this:

God clothes flowers of the field that are here to day and gone tomorrow.

Our heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air who don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns. (Matthew 6:25-30)

We are more precious than the flowers of the fields and the birds of the air. No human being is ever a “worthless class.”

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10 We are lovingly and masterfully created. We have a purpose and a destiny.

We are made in God’s own image, male and female he created us.²

A long time ago, a giant-slayer, shepherd boy-turned-king, musician, and the writer of many psalms wrote:

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honour.
– Psalm 8

³The root meaning of the word mindful זָכַר zakar (269c) carries the idea of remember, take thought, celebrate.

The word care 6485/pāqad̠ means attends to. It suggests a personal visit in order to issue a tailor-made follow-up. It attends to the real need of the person or situation and reflects a first-hand understanding of the matter to prescribe what meets the true need at hand (i.e. that really fits).

Both mindful and care are written in the Hebrew imperfect tense. In other words, it is a thoughtfulness and care that is continuing: past, present, and future.

God is mindful of us and cares for us: past, present, and future. We are not about politics or economics. We are not destined for a life of drugs and computer games.

We were created with purpose. Our lives have meaning. We have a destiny.

1. Proletariat, the labouring class… the lowest social or economic class of a community. – Merriam-Webster Dictionary ↩︎
2. Genesis 1:27, ESV ↩︎
3. Research Source: The Discovery Bible ↩︎