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

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

Just… Brilliant. For the first time I got this urge to tell everyone who’s remotely curios about history and technology “Just. Read. It”
Some might argue that it has a lengthy history introduction but at the last chapter it proves to be equally important because it works as a reference point and connects the ideas until the very for a better understanding.
I’m more interested in his others works now.
Ps. I got this recommend by a book club. So glad I did.

jficele's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

I believe that everyone should read this book. Harari, uses history to guide us through the possible complications of AI. It was only published 9 months ago, so much has already changed in the world of AI and the world at large. We all need to be aware of potential consequences and as Harari says, “If we make the effort we can create a better world”.

joaopanizzutti's review against another edition

3.0

Ok look, i am very biased as an aspiring Data Scientist
ANd
I love harari , sapiens is maybe one of the greatest books of all times (didn’t finish it yet)

I read this one halfway and i honestly think like he has no idea about what he is talking about, it feels like he talks about Ai more as a concept than as what it actually is?

emilija_b's review against another edition

4.0

informative

armedaphrodite's review against another edition

1.75

fast-paced

If you like Malcolm Gladwell, you'll love this. If you want something well-reasoned, insightful, and and backed up by evidence... look elsewhere. The thesis statement came while discussing a Soviet boy who turned in his own father, when we read of the event, "the real story was much more complicated," and then it doesn't elaborate. Harari just wants to let you know that there Is nuance, but he's not going to show it to you.

I do think that there's value in popular non-fiction works that simplify concepts for a wider audience. And I do think that in our incredibly siloed world, where expertise requires you to specialize in a field, there is value in project that tries to take a step back and make the connections between specialties. But in the end, Harari ends up showing how shallow his knowledge is at times regarding the information by quoting debunked sources or flat misinterpreting events in order to fit them into his narrative/paradigm.

I do agree with the central premise - AI is dangerous and a net negative, and we shouldn't be handing over significant decisions to decision-making apparatuses we don't fully understand. But his sense of what AI can do is... I'll go with Questionable. And his arguments are consistently with opponents he dubs "naive" or "populist" - labeling other methods of thought thusly is great for making folks disagree with them at the outset, for sure, but not great for avoiding bias. Harari's point of view remains notably unnamed - he is of course above it all. He might call his view, "Correct," and leave it at that. And the naive view is described as those who believe that more information will always lead to good results - and, uh, who thinks that? It's a strawman of the Nth degree.

There are moments within the book that are indeed insightful, I will say. Harari's discussion of tech companies and their incentives is very often on point (though he does cite Shoshana Zuboff's phenomenal The Rise of Surveillance Capitalism, and a lot of what he discusses she does even better), especially on Facebook and the Rohingya Genocide. On the small scale, anecdotes or discussions sometimes make a salient and interesting point. However, because the book needs to churn ever forward, we leave those interesting discussions quickly and without exploring them sufficiently so that they can be subsumed into the next sweeping generalization or gross misconstrual.

The book is effectively using misinformation or sweeping generalizations to scaremonger, which, uh, sounds a lot like what Harari is railing against. Many of the individual ideas may be interesting, but they fail to make the whole worth reading.

laydback's review against another edition

5.0

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

Another amazing read by Yuval! If you like learning about history and technology and politics, then you have to read this. You do not need to read Sapiens first, I would actually recommend reading this one first if you haven’t read Sapiens yet, since it is more relevant to times now.