“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
In Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Yuval Noah Harari explores how systems of information have shaped social organization and the exercise of power throughout human history.
Through a historical study that spans thousands of years, he traces the central role of information networks in forming and sustaining intricate social structures.
Harari focuses on how control over information has influenced political authority and collective belief.
He explains that those who managed the creation, preservation, and distribution of information often shaped public understanding as well as the foundations of religion and governance.
These systems determined how knowledge circulated and how order was maintained.
The book describes how early societies used storytelling and written records to impose structure and continuity. Harari shows how these practices became embedded in institutions, where control over information carried long-term influence across generations.
Turning to the present, Harari considers how digital technologies and artificial intelligence are reshaping information systems.
He examines the growing role of automated processes in producing and distributing content, and reflects on the consequences of removing human interpretation from key points of decision-making.
Harari encourages readers to consider how earlier changes in communication and recordkeeping inform today’s challenges, particularly as society confronts questions about trust and oversight.
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