Because I’m spending so much time with artificial intelligence lately, and because it seems to be such an interesting topic for podcast listeners and MacSparky Labs members alike, I decided to read Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks by Yuval Noah Harari. It’s an intriguing book, not because Harari is a computer scientist or a technology enthusiast, but because he’s a historian. His focus is on how societal change is so often triggered by shifts in information networks.
Harari walks through key moments in history where the way we share and process information radically changed. He shares such examples as the printing press, the telegraph, and radio, and how these inventions reshaped societies in ways that were often unexpected. One example that stood out to me was how, contrary to what we might assume, the printing press initially fueled witch hunts more than it did the scientific revolution. The broader theme of the book is that when information systems change, societies change. Predicting the exact nature of that change, however, is nearly impossible.
We are now heading into another seismic shift, but this one feels different. For the first time, the technology itself is intelligent enough to operate independently. A printing press, for example, only printed the words that humans put into it. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, can generate new ideas, new writings, and even new perspectives. This creates enormous opportunities, but also significant risks.
One of the key takeaways from Nexus is that every major transition in information networks has led to unintended consequences, some good, some bad. The book left me with mixed feelings about AI. My early experiments with it have shown me how much it can improve productivity and human connections when used correctly. But unlike nuclear research, AI isn’t confined to a few high-security labs; it can be developed anywhere. That makes it incredibly difficult to regulate on a global scale, and history suggests we need to be wary of unforeseen consequences.
The book doesn’t offer answers, but it does prompt big questions. If you’re interested in understanding how our current AI moment fits into the larger arc of history, Nexus is well worth your time.
