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nathday 's review for:
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
by Yuval Noah Harari
Some really interesting and important topics are discussed here, found the first half of the book around the evolution of information networks and how to define information particularly fascinating. The development of the relationships between totalitarianism and democracy with information networks, cited in Ancient Rome or Stalin's Russia. This discussion of the naive view of information relating to witch hunting in the 13th to 15th century as well brilliantly exemplified this idea of more information creating corrupted 'inter-subjective realities'. I want to give this book 5 stars and think it's a brilliant touch point for people less familiar with Yuval's other books, it's certainly more pressing!
Having read his other books and others surrounding AI or geopolitics, I found that there wasn't as much 'new' information as I'd hoped for and felt like significant portions of parts were repeating things from his other books to a point that was sometimes a little tedious. I think what lies with the problem is that he is a highly articulate writer and creates highly engaging stories when relying on his strengths (early history), and his experience and knowledge in the AI field have been largely gleaned (he states at the end of the book) from the privileged position he was put in to take a look at the discussions happening behind closed doors after completely 'Homo Deus' in 2016. What this means is that the narrative strings in the first half of the book overshadow the capacity for storytelling in the second half as he doesn't have the same expertise.
This is still an incredible book and I think if they had trimmed the fat in the editing a little, and taken off 50 or so pages, this would've been 5 stars for me, I also think I hold him to a higher standard due to his past works. 8.5/10 (an incredibly important read!)
Having read his other books and others surrounding AI or geopolitics, I found that there wasn't as much 'new' information as I'd hoped for and felt like significant portions of parts were repeating things from his other books to a point that was sometimes a little tedious. I think what lies with the problem is that he is a highly articulate writer and creates highly engaging stories when relying on his strengths (early history), and his experience and knowledge in the AI field have been largely gleaned (he states at the end of the book) from the privileged position he was put in to take a look at the discussions happening behind closed doors after completely 'Homo Deus' in 2016. What this means is that the narrative strings in the first half of the book overshadow the capacity for storytelling in the second half as he doesn't have the same expertise.
This is still an incredible book and I think if they had trimmed the fat in the editing a little, and taken off 50 or so pages, this would've been 5 stars for me, I also think I hold him to a higher standard due to his past works. 8.5/10 (an incredibly important read!)