In Nexus, renowned historian and author Yuval Noah Harari continues the exploration he began in several previous volumes (Sapiens, Homo Deus, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century) of how humankind was able to harness information to its advantage—and remarkable development as a species—and what the continuing evolution of those information networks might hold for our future. In this volume, the author takes a more focused look at how societies from the Stone Age to what he calls the modern Silicon Age have seen their development influenced and determined by the way in which information is created, gathered, utilized, and controlled. While a considerable portion of Nexus is devoted to exploring how information networks developed historically—including an interesting comparison of the way information is used in democratic and totalitarian societies—the real essence of the narrative involves a discussion of how artificial intelligence (AI)-based networks represent a fundamental shift from the past in how information is generated and the purposes for which it is used. Importantly, Harari argues, this shift holds both the promise of vast improvements in our collective well-being as well as the peril of our potential self-destruction. Although I suspect this book will have its critics (e.g., the author’s analysis is too shallow and too lurid; much of the substance is highly repetitive of his earlier work), the fact is that there is a lot to savor here. Harari argues persuasively that advanced societies could not exist without the ability to harness and share information through the stories they tell, the religious beliefs they adopt, and the bureaucratic mechanisms they form. However, while that information is crucial for cooperation, it can also be misused for control. Because of that, it is important to recognize that information itself is neither the same as truth, nor is it infallible. So, for that reason, any well-functioning information system must include effective self-correction tools that can unwind adverse outcomes resulting from data being used to reach a goal that is inconsistent with what was originally imagined and intended. The rise of AI-driven information systems presents a major challenge because their complexity may be beyond human understanding, they are able to learn and create new information on their own, and they typically lack sufficient self-correcting mechanisms. The author is not optimistic about our willingness and ability to manage where this new technology may take us in the future. While Nexus has clearly been crafted for the inquisitive lay reader, it is very much the work of an academic scholar, which has both its good and bad aspects. On the positive side, the discussion in the book is extremely thought-provoking as well as being well-grounded in how the historical development and futuristic speculations tie together. The main frame of the centrality of information networks to our everyday lives and how those systems have evolved to where they may end up beyond our control is essential material to ponder. Conversely, the book is often bloated with what seemed like superfluous side-stories that did not fit the main purpose (e.g., descriptions of centuries-old religious disputes and military strategies) and it is, if anything, over-researched; fully one-quarter of the volume simply contained the reference footnotes for the main text. Overall, given that the role and the use of AI are among the central questions that we are likely to be debating for years to come, it is easy to recommend this book as one that puts so many of the relevant issues on the table, even if it does not really offer any concrete solutions.

inspired us with more thoughts to review the current AI situation and reflect on history

Entertaining and refreshingly even sided coverage of the history, present and anticipated future uses and abuses of information as a means to power, progress, or destruction Harari besides thoughtfully brilliant and credible in its predictions/extrapolations for the future of information is courageous enough to be honest about the past and present of information control, albeit diplomatic with the status quo, of course, since he has ambitions to influence it. Harari doesn't shy away from a comprehensive review about who has been controlling information and who wants to controls Information versus those in favor of open information flows. So when we first start reading "Nexus" we roll our eyes about he seemingly pointing only to the usual contemporary suspects on the right with the usual simplified rethoric about them, only to be regained to a balanced conversation when he admits that controlling information as a means to power is much older and comes from the left and marxism. Hence, Instead of a fairy tale for children of good left guys and galls always accurate and trustful and bad ones always lying that simpler less sophisticated minds in mainstream try to persuade us of, with Harari we get an adult centrist view and reflection about the nuances and both positive as well as negative view information on all sides We leave the book much more educated and aware of all that surrounds us in terms of information networks and their potential for good and bad. The same is true for Harari's view on Artificial Intelligence intertwined with information. Never childly, neither too optimistic nor too fearful he presents a realistic and credible view of how AI is going to occupy its space and mingle with us. Great reading.