Title: Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AIAuthor: Yuval Noah Harari
Publication: September 6, 2024 by Fern Press
Genre: Nonfiction, History, Science, Philosophy, Sociology
Find it on: Amazon | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | Kobo | Waterstones
Rating: 4/5★
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world.
“Striking original . . . A historian whose arguments operate on the scale of millennia has managed to capture the zeitgeist perfectly.”—The Economist
“This deeply important book comes at a critical time as we all think through the implications of AI and automated content production. . . . Masterful and provocative.”—Mustafa Suleyman, author of The Coming Wave
For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite allour discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive?
Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.
Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.
I’ve been reading Yuval Noah Harari’s work since his book Sapiens and while that still remains my favorite of his so far, Nexus is now my second favorite. It was a really fascinating book and even more timely than I thought it would be. At 528 pages it is quite a chunky read, especially with the topics it contained but definitely worth a read.
The book didn’t just went into the advantages and risks of artificial intelligence but also other topics like democracy and what the future holds for it (as I said very timely), the history of bureaucracies which was way more interesting that I thought it would be, algorithms and how these have been shaping our world plus so much more. Technology has been moving forward at such a rapid pace these last few decades and it’s clear we’re in the middle of something big and transformative. And as always with new technology (just look at the industrial revolition for example) humanity might not use it for benevolent things.
As fascinating as Nexus was, it wasn’t a super easy book to read. Like I said it’s pretty chunky and it goes into some heavy topics. Still, to me it for sure is an important book and one that would be beneficial for many people to read. It definitely was for me. Yuval Noah Harari is clearly a very clever individual. He’s a historian, a philosopher and although his specialty lies in medieval and military history, he obviously has a wide knowledge of all kinds of topics.
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuvan Noah Harari is a warning for the very near future but it also comes with the hope and believe belief that we will use our growing age of technology for the good of humanity. A compelling mix of history, science, philosophy and sociology makes this book a thought-provoking and highly fascinating read.
About the author:
Prof. Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, the series Sapiens: A Graphic History and Unstoppable Us, and Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI. His books have sold over 45 Million copies in 65 languages, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today.
This sounds a bit over my head, lol. But what a great topic. And it’s interesting how the author mixed his thoughts on technology and philosophy. Thanks for sharing!
LOL this is the kind of nonfiction that sounds interesting to me but also makes me feel like I would be lost reading it!
It must indeed have been very interesting and certainly some are hot topics like AI!
Interesting and scary haha