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

Explore some of the examples Yuval Noah Harari provides of technological changes that influenced the nature and flow of information, such as the rise of the printing press or modern social media. How did this technological change affect how information is generated and used? How does it illustrate some of Harari’s key ideas about the nature of information?

Harari examines how information and truth are not always the same thing, arguing that more information does not automatically lead to greater accuracy or greater truth. How does Harari explore the nature of these differences? How do some forms of information he examines—e.g., government propaganda, social media, religious myths—help to illustrate these differences?

Harari presents AI as both a potential benefit and a potential threat to humanity. What are some of these potential benefits and threats? What other benefits or drawbacks, if any, did Harari’s analysis overlook?