nexus: a fascinating insight about our future

By: Silas Miller

The recent rise of ChatGPT and other AIs of the like have made their way into our everyday lives. Only a few years ago, AI art was barely recognizable, and nobody could confuse the origins of a story written by AI. The rapid growth in intelligence of these programs follows an exponential curve; it was only with the rise of ChatGPT in 2022 that pop culture caught on. But, what happens when humans can no longer keep up with AI? Will we be replaced? These are the questions tackled in Yuval Noah Harari’s 2024 nonfiction book: Nexus.

Major Points
Harari argues for a view of history centered around the information networks; basically, these webs are ways information can get around, like a government getting information from a census. Harari makes the case that information can take many forms, that it is neither power nor truth, rather, something in between. The author claims that as a rule of thumb, states with better information processing systems tend to shape history, but again, this is only generally. There are two types of information networks: distributed and centralized. Distributed information networks are usually democracies, and centralized tend to be dictatorships. At least with our current level of technology, distributed information networks tend to be better at processing, due to the fact many smaller centers can work together. Centralized information networks, by contrast, tend to be worse, because where the information “collides,” the overworked bureaucrats struggle to get an accurate picture of the world.

AI, however, may completely change this dynamic.

Artificial intelligence prospers when you give it large amounts of information. So, it may give an edge to centralized information networks. If Harari’s predictions are true, distributed information networks will be paralyzed by a flood of fake information, which will be almost impossible to tell from real news. So, voters can be easily fooled, and in a system where voters control the nation, this can paralyze the state.

One may argue that while it can be quite skilled, AI still makes mistakes. Harari answers this question simply: yes it does, but, it doesn’t have to be perfect, only better than humans.

Combined with robots’ quicker reactions, this opens the pandora’s box of AI powered weapons and a society centered on these intelligences. The place where all the information collides is the nexus, hence the name of the book.

Not only does this pose an existential risk to democracies, but possible humankind as a whole. AIs won’t rise up in rebellion; instead, they might misinterpret their task. The textbook example is the Infinite Paperclip Theory. The story goes like this: there is an AI that is told to make as many paperclips as possible for its factory. The machine sees humanity as being in the way of this goal, and wipes us out. It expands across the universe, and turns it all into paperclips. It is only following its one and only command!

This may sound far-fetched, but it is only for the sake of argument; more benign versions of this may be almost unavoidable if we accidentally make our commands vague.
My Criticism
I am certainly not an expert on AI; in fact this is the only book I read on the topic. But, I feel this book provides fascinating insights; I agree with most of what it says, but not everything.

I understand “more efficient information networks outcompete less efficient information networks” is just a rule of thumb; I still feel it is overly simplistic. Thinking back into history, one can think of numerous examples where this was not true. Take Rome as an example. In the first centuries AD, Rome was an incredibly powerful empire, which ruled over the mediterranean. Yet, it was destroyed by Germanic barbarians. While these northern peoples were not the only factor causing the Roman Empire to collapse, it does raise questions about the statement made at the beginning of this paragraph. I could just be misunderstanding what Harari is talking about. It’s like Occam's Razor: it’s almost begging to be misunderstood.

Another aspect of the book which I find a problem with is its lack of proactive solutions. Harari spends a long time discussing what AI might do, but says very little about how to avoid the negatives (besides the cliche “use it responsibly”). I could be pedantic, as Harari is just a philosopher, and the book made it quite obvious from the beginning that it would not contain many solutions, just theories.

One last aspect I wish to criticize is the use of anecdotes. The use of such tactics can be quite helpful, yet I feel they are too long, and some of them are completely unnecessary.
Positives of the Book
In my opinion, Harari has an amazing writing style; it is very simplistic, yet it gets some very complex messages across in a digestible manner. While the book is on the longer side, it is not outrageously so, and it is surprisingly effective: almost every page has something interesting to tell.

The novel has a very unique perspective on reality. Before reading this novel, I’ve never seen world history told through the lens of information, yet it explains much of our modern world. The late 20th and early 21st century have been described as The Information Age, since it seems that the immaterial world of information is holding more and more sway on the material world by the day. Yet, this data that governs our lives is rarely talked about, so I'm thankful that Harari helped illuminate it.

Another idea I wasn’t aware of is the changing viability of government systems over time. Democracy wasn’t implemented on a mass scale until modern times because it was difficult to hold an effective public conversation before the advent of advanced information technology. Yet the same is true in reverse: will AI stop democracy from being competitive? While this is certainly a chilling thought, it is rarely discussed in our society.
Should You Read this Book?
First things first, if you are not into philosophy and are not interested in history and current events, then you should not read this book; it will bore you. If you are however, I would strongly recommend it. 

Nexus is an interesting, chilling, and sometimes humorous book. After reading it, I look at our modern world in a different way.  It and other works by Harari are perhaps the most fascinating things I have ever read, and I hope that others share my strange interests. 

​Perhaps the main takeaway from the book is this: whatever the future holds, everything will be liable to change, even our most sacred values and traditions.