Nexus, A Book Review
By Yuval Noah Harari
Reza Khabazian
In recent years, renowned historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari has earned great respect for himself. His first book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, followed by Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow and then 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, were all regarded as eye-opening books providing readers with a detailed history in an easy-to-read and understandable format. One of the reasons behind Harari’s success—along with his vast knowledge about the subjects—is his talented and creative storytelling, which makes his readers get attached to the subject he is explaining.
Harari’s latest published book, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, is devoted to explaining the formation and evolution of the subject of “information” across human eras by raising the following question:
Stories brought us together.
Books spread our ideas and our mythologies.
The internet promises infinite knowledge.
The algorithm learned our secrets and then turned us against one another.
What will AI do?
As in his previous books, Harari approaches this new topic in a very descriptive and detailed journey. He proposes that, in the formation of human societies, the talent for storytelling has played a very crucial role. When a piece of information in a story format has been accepted and believed by the masses, a bond is formed with the people, making a stronger society.
As long as a story lives in the minds and hearts of the people of a given society, that group can grow and become stronger. In ancient times, due to the absence of technology, traveling with information was very tedious. The story could be heard only by a small group of people who were present in a small hall. But, through the development of information technologies—the invention of printing devices led to pamphlets and books being published, then later came the introduction of radio, television, telegram, and the internet—the speed of spreading information increased substantially. The epics and myths that live in a culture, the religious stories along political ideologies are all stories of information responsible for the creation of religious groups, political parties, and even NGOs that all are formed around a particular story. On the other hand, all struggles, wars, destruction, and mayhem are a clash between one story with its opposing information.
In Chapter 5 of Nexus, entitled “A Brief History of Democracy and Authoritarianism,” Harari states:
“The history of democracy and dictatorship are quite contrasting types of information networks. In democracies the information flows differently than in dictatorial systems and new technologies help different kinds of regimes to flourish.”
In detailed comparisons between the two systems, the author brings up an interesting point that the existence of an “election” should not be considered a vital difference between the two systems of democracy and dictatorship, mainly because almost all dictators get into power through an election. The difference is the validity of the election that differs between the two systems. In a totalitarian system, the election can be regarded as “rigged” when it does not serve the will of the system. Since there is no free press and no regard for freedom of speech in a dictatorship system, the chance of forming a social discussion challenging the story that is portrayed by the system is totally absent. The system, as a means of survival, controls all the mass media, thereby crushing any form of resistance to its story by imprisonment, torture, and even execution. To put it in a technical term, the author indicates that in a totalitarian system, there is no “Self-Correcting Mechanism.”
In contrast to dictatorship, in democratic systems, the chance of having social discussions is feasible because of the existence of a free press, regard for freedom of speech, the free flow of scientific and scholastic research and findings, and the separation and independence of three branches of the government—viable factors for encouraging social discussion which can cause an upgrade in the story of information. In other words, there is a “Self-Correcting Mechanism” that makes the life of democratic systems more viable than any totalitarian system or dictatorship.
The lesson I learned from reading the book Nexus is the importance of having a self-correcting system to upgrade our personal and social behavior. Individuals who are willingly employed in this system have a chance to improve their own lives as well as the lives of people around them; individuals who are not willing to benefit from this system and keep insisting on their way of life as the only ultimate way should be regarded as dictators, no matter what title they choose to call themselves.
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Harari, Yuval Noah, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Penguin Random House (2024).
