Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI [B1884]

2024 HCDJ in nice clean condition. From the author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. "Strikingly 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 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.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Information is not necessarily truth. Great book blending history and information networks in an elegant writing style. Lots of thought provoking and informative content."; "Illuminating book. I am getting closer and closer to reading anything that Hariri writes. The chapter on religion was particularly good. Definitely has had an impact on my thinking. He is a very clear writer."; "Excellent explanation of AI and the dangers it presents. This is the third book of his I have read and every one has kept me engaged the whole book. He explains a very challenging topic of AI in a way that the lay person can understand and relates it to how information networks have impacted history and how AI can potentially bring humanity to extinction because it is the first information network that can operate without human interaction. A must read."