Nexus

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

De: Yuval Noah Harari

Narrado por: 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, nor is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.

©2024 Penguin Random House (P)2024 Signal

Reseñas de la Crítica

One of Indigo's Top 10 Books of 2024 and #1 History Book of 2024 • #1 New York Times Bestseller • Named a Best New Book to Read in September by the New York Times and iNews • An Audible, Barnes and Noble Best Book of 2024 • A Spotify Top History Book of the Year • One of Kobo CA's best Nonfiction Ebook and Audiobook of the Year

“A historian whose arguments operate on the scale of millennia has managed to capture the zeitgeist perfectly. . . . Harari’s narrative is engaging, and his framing is strikingly original.”—The Economist

“Engrossing . . . A diagnosis and a call to action.”—Guardian

“A useful, well-informed primer . . . wise and bold.”—The New York Times

Thought provoking, timely

Well researched and presented, Harari does a great job of laying out the implications of micro decisions about the development and adoption of AI and the macro impact it will have on society. Although many of these are concerning to say the least, he does not resort to cheap hyperbole and supports his arguments with real examples.

Extraordinary analysis of where we stand as humans

Brilliant, intelligent, well written, eye opener. Nothing to dislike. An absolute pleasure from the intro to the epilogue. Could not wait to get back to it