The AI era has already begun. Yuval Noah Harari on his new book
09/07/2024
Yuval Noah Harari greeted his readers and told them why he decided to write the new book, “Nexus”. The world-bestselling author is considered one of the world's most influential intellectuals.
Hi, my name is Yuval Noah Harari. I want to tell you a bit about
my new book: Nexus, A Brief History
of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI.
At the heart of this new book lies one key question: We have
named our species “Homo Sapiens”, the wise human. But if humans are so wise,
why are we doing so many self-destructive things? “Nexus” argues that the fault
is not with our nature, but with our information.
Humanity gains power by building large networks of cooperation.
Unfortunately, the easiest way to build and maintain these networks is by
spreading fiction, fantasies and mass delusions.
That’s how we got, for example, to Nazism and Stalinism. Now the
danger is particularly menacing, due to the rise of a new information
technology: AI.
In the 21st century, AI may form the nexus for such a
powerful network of delusions, that it could prevent future generations from
even attempting to expose its lies and fiction.
What impact will this have on human societies? How can
democratic governments make financial decisions if the very meaning of money
comes to depend on inscrutable algorithms? How can societies maintain a public
conversation about anything, if we can no longer know, whether we are talking with
another human being or with a chatbot masquerading as a human?
I hope you enjoy deep diving into all this and more within the
pages of “Nexus”.
The Age of AI is here.
What can history teach us?
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Yuval Noah Harari
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Description
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.
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