Nexus

Author: Yuval Noah Harari

“Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari is one of my all-time favorites. Since then, I have eagerly read almost every book that he has published, hoping to relive the joy I encountered with Sapiens.

In typical style, Yuval opens with the provocative, “Why are we so good at accumulating more information and power, but far less successful at acquiring wisdom?” To answer this he traces the evolution of information networks from ancient times to the present day. The book “explores key dilemmas that people in all eras faced when trying to construct information networks, and it examines how different answers to these dilemmas shaped contrasting human societies.”

Harari’s signature style is to blend historical analysis with philosophical musing. He points out that “populism posits that there is no objective truth at all and that everyone has their own truth, which they wield to vanquish rivals”. Or more directly “truth is something that brings our attention to certain aspects of reality while inevitably ignoring other aspects.”

He seems to be very fond of the term “intersubjective reality” and uses it repeatedly throughout the book. The best way to define it is a complex belonging story that binds a large number of people together. He uses it to explore the many different kinds of people and the activities that go into building a complex information network. 

Until I read it here, I must confess that I hadn't appreciated the important role that bureaucracy plays in collecting data that is the foundation on which many innovations stand on.  “Without the diligence that bureaucrats put into painstakingly gathering and classifying the relevant data we wouldn’t have most of our  breakthroughs.”  

Yuval argues how no matter how rational we think we are, we are ultimately in the service of some myth maker. He attributes this declaration to John Maynard Keynes and points out how even nuclear physicists obey the commands of Shiite Ayatullahs or communist apparatchiks. He uses this argument to make the case that computers could be just as dangerous as the best of us.

He makes an interesting argument on what people should train for to acquire a job in the 2050s. He gives the example of doctors versus nurses or dishwashing versus playing chess and makes the case for how motor skills are a lot harder for AI to replace than intellectual capabilities. 

In summary, Yuval has written another engaging and thought provoking book. While there are flashes of brilliance, many of the points seem forced. Unless you are big fan, I recommend skipping this one.