10 thoughts from Yuval Noah Harari's new book “NEXUS” (video)

1.     AI Slavery
We are also busy creating new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) that have the potential to escape our control and enslave or annihilate us.

2.     The path of self-destruction
Yet instead of our species uniting to deal with these existential challenges, international tensions are rising, global cooperation is becoming more difficult, countries are stockpiling doomsday weapons, and a new world war does not seem impossible.

3.     Intelligent and self-destructive
If we Sapiens are so wise, why are we so self-destructive?

4.     Freedom and equality
Even if 99 percent of the population wants to exterminate the remaining 1 percent, in a democracy this is forbidden.

5.     Freedom and Equality
Democracy doesn’t mean majority rule; rather, it means freedom and equality for all.

6.     The typical strongman
The typical strongman either deprives courts of their powers or packs them with his loyalists and seeks to close all independent media outlets while building his own omnipresent propaganda machine.

7.     The fox guarding the chicken coop
Allowing the government to supervise the search for truth is like appointing the fox to guard the chicken coop.

8.     From the lap of the people
The most novel claim populists make is that they alone truly represent the people.

9.     Idle noise
People need at least a rudimentary understanding of what they are talking about. Otherwise, they are just making noise, not holding a meaningful conversation.

10.  Nothing is predetermined
History is not deterministic, and the future will be shaped by the choices we all make in coming years.

The general partner of “NEXUS” is Bookinist. The book is available in bookstores and on the newmag.am website.