Nexus

A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

By: Yuval Noah Harari

Narrated by: Vidish Athavale

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world.

For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our 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.

©2024 Yuval Noah Harari (P)2024 Random House Audio

The scariest horror book

I previously thought Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was the scariest horror book because it was a fiction based on real historical events. Now I feel Nexus is the scariest because it is a nonfiction based on the past and ongoing events. I appreciate Harari’s sharp insights into human beings encompassing time and space.

Do History's Lessons Help Us Navigate the Future?

AI is surely one of the great challenges of our immediate future. How do we guard against its downsides? How do we take advantage of its potential? Harari draws from his background as a historian to posit that self-corrective mechanisms are the key controlling the rapid evolution of AI and assuring the survival of conscious life.

Compelling Analysis

Throughout times people have been misleading and persecuted at the whims of the powerful and unethical. Harari breaks down the dangers of AI succinctly and matter-factly. Google gave away its search services to collect the data required to power AI. Them and China are playing the long game and we will be their pawns if we do not educate our people.

Spoken history

The history spoken to explain his theses on certain things was amazing I guess that should be a staple in explaining things right.

Prescient insights in a critical time

A definite read for those wanting to peer into some of the most pressing challenges the species has ever encountered.

AI Can we control it

This is a mixture of discussions of early man and progresses through major changes in the world in which we live through the early stages of AI . It is unknown if we will be able to survive this major change or not.

I learned a lot

I think everyone should read this book. Harari makes you understand what AI means for us as humans. He has a very humanistic approach, informed by his knowledge of history. His arguments are compelling and his speculations are plausible. God help us all…

Profound

The brilliant YNH does it again. A must-read for everyone living in the age of AI.

Sobering

Establishing AI within the broader historic context of information networks is illuminating and illustrative. Worth your time and consideration.

Awesome and scary.

This is a fantastic introduction for me to AI. The framework of information networks is perfect to understand the new world we will have to manage. I hope we are able to meet the task. The future is not yet determined.