Nexus

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

By: Yuval Noah Harari

Narrated by: Vidish Athavale

Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Must needed book for 2024!!!

Yuval's arguments are compelling and hard to confront. In this book he argues that human history is an information network history, and explain the evolution of this network is the essence of our own survival. We need to be very clever in the coming years on how we decide to do in terms of regulation, spread, and inforce the next steps, or the next one will be our last mistake.

About much more than AI

My 4th YNH read/listen, & though I’ve quite liked them all, I think this one is the most important to widely disseminate. Each of the 4 major sections is like a book in itself & individually worth the price of admission. This book is a strong reminder of how much we need thoughtful historians like YNH to make sense of an ever more complicated world. Highly recommended.

Amazing Book

Harari's oeuvre is already impressive, and this book is on par with the trademark of thought-provoking ideas which permeate in his work. Negative reviews are almost exclusively, and quite obviously, lauded from personal biases. The books get people thinking about the big ideas - that's the point of writing the books.

Another great book by Harari!

Very well written and enjoyable - important questions for the future of humanity, tied to a historical perspective.

great analysis of human information systems

Yuval harrari gives an really unique perspective of looking at the way human societies organize around information and information sharing, although on a surface level it seems a bit flawed in its logic (I'm not gonna spend the time trying to overanalyze it, Mr. Harrari is clearly far more intelligent than I am and has spent more time considering this) but overall it is highly educational and provides a useful framework for understanding humanity. The narrator is fantastic, but every time he pronounces Ramayana I want to fight someone

Phenomenal book

This is my fourth book by this author. Each book surpasses the last book. I strongly recommend it. Especially if you’re interested in artificial intelligence.

Clarity out of chaos

As always with this authors books, the insight, backed up by historical references, is illuminating. The book is so rich I was compelled restart it for a second listen.

Masterpiece

Another eloquent book that not only draws your attention but holds it and keeps it?

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.