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

Well done but long

I really enjoy the author’s previous books and therefore I preordered this audiobook. First of all, the narration is poor as narration is monotoned and the harsh voice plus the British accent are hard to listen to. A more animated and soothing voice would made it much more enjoyable. The first part about Jews and Christianity are not relatable unless you are from those cultures. It’s was very boring and a struggle to focus on the contents. It went on to the history of politics which felt repetitive and not interesting. I’m debating if I should continue the book or move on to something more interesting. The author is great, but this book is not in the same league as his previous books.

Update: finished the book and it did get more interesting and relevant in the second half. Very glad to have finished it and highly recommend it.

We learn patterns in history to plot the path to the future. At least the author has, with great critical insight.

The author in detail explains the genesis of living things from unicellular organisms to organisms capable of nuclear fission. The author has done best to explain structures that govern us, the powers we create and the possibilities of implementing our flaws into these powers.

Outstanding

His best, most incisive work yet. Wide ranging, fizzing with insights and ideas. A tour de force

must read

If you want a deeper understanding in the interdynamics of human beings that is accompanied by new intelligence, then you must read this book. Lets have better conversations.

Content

Clear and unique insight to our future. Written like no other person is speaking or seeing. A crucial study of man

Thought Provoking

Intelligent and well thought through analysis of the topics and issues of the tech and Information age.

Really thought provoking

An amazing perspective of the evolution of information technology from the beginning of Homo sapiens to inorganic information networks

Great book! Informative and surprising

The book Nexus is a fabulous read. I’ve loved his writing style ever since Sapiens was released, and I’ve been following his career closely. Nexus opens with some sensitive topics, particularly around religion, touching on the Bible, Jesus, and related subjects. While these may be controversial for some readers, it’s important to understand that he’s putting these issues into perspective to discuss artificial intelligence and the risks posed by certain phrases in the Bible throughout history.

He makes the point that the AI we know today is just the tip of the iceberg. Artificial intelligence could soon think independently in ways that we, as humans, have never imagined, and this could potentially spiral out of our control, which would have disastrous consequences for civilization and all living beings on Earth.

I really appreciated how he concluded the book, and I admired the boldness of starting with such challenging themes.

Great as always

I really like all of his books and vision. One of the best thinkers of our times.

Cooperation and the coming AI generational shift

It was okay. There was no new information. It’s perhaps because I’m up to date, read too much, ponder too much and therefore the patterns presented were all known patterns. This book is for people who can’t think deeply for themselves about what’s coming. Might be useful to get them started and get them thinking