Yesterday, Harari's new book was released: "NEXUS: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI." I bought it immediately and JD delivered it this morning. I can't wait to see what the world's top intellectual has to say about AI.
Looking back at Harari's previous book, "21 Lessons for the 21st Century."
Many viewpoints in the book have enlightened me greatly, offering profound inspiration. His thinking is very open-minded; as a Jew, he can still objectively examine and evaluate his own ethnicity and culture, which I admire deeply.
In "21 Lessons for the 21st Century," he discusses Jewish education:
It wasn't until the 19th and 20th centuries that we saw Jews making remarkable contributions to modern science, benefiting all humanity. Besides well-known figures like Einstein and Freud, approximately 20% of all Nobel laureates in science are Jewish (while Jews make up less than 0.2% of the global population). However, it should be emphasized that these achievements are due to individual Jewish efforts and cannot be attributed to the religion or culture of Judaism. Over the past 200 years, most important Jewish scientists have not excelled within the religious domain of Judaism. In fact, it was only after abandoning the traditional Jewish elementary school (yeshiva) and turning towards laboratories that Jews began to make outstanding scientific contributions.
Before the year 1800, the influence of Jews on science was quite limited. The scientific progress of civilizations such as China, India, or Maya had little to do with Jewish influence. Even in Europe and the Middle East, although Jewish thinkers like Maimonides influenced their non-Jewish colleagues, overall, the Jewish influence was roughly proportional to their population. From the 16th to the 18th century, Judaism played no significant role in the Scientific Revolution. Apart from Spinoza (who was expelled from the Jewish community due to controversy), it is hard to find any Jew who played a crucial role in the birth of modern physics, chemistry, biology, or social sciences. We don’t know what Einstein’s ancestors were doing during the times of Galileo and Newton, but it is likely they were more interested in studying the Talmud rather than light.
In "21 Lessons for the 21st Century," he discusses the Jewish religion:
It is certain that Judaism gave birth to Christianity and influenced the emergence of Islam, both of which are historically significant religions. However, the achievements (and many sins) of Christianity and Islam should be credited to Christians and Muslims, not Jews. For example, the mass killings caused by the Crusades cannot be blamed on Judaism (Christianity bears full responsibility); similarly, the Christian idea that all people are equal before God should not reflect positively on Jews (the concept of equality fundamentally contradicts orthodox Jewish teachings, as even today, Judaism still holds that Jews are inherently superior to all other races).
Judaism's role in human history is somewhat akin to the role of Sigmund Freud's mother in modern Western history. Whether good or bad, Sigmund Freud has profoundly influenced modern Western science, culture, art, and popular wisdom. Without Freud's mother, there would be no Freud, and his personality, aspirations, and ideas might have been heavily influenced by his relationship with her (he himself would certainly agree with this view). But when writing the history of modern Western civilization, no one would think it worth devoting an entire chapter to Freud's mother. Similarly, without Judaism, there would be no Christianity, but in writing world history, Judaism does not deserve too much attention. The key issue is what Christianity did with everything it received from its Jewish mother.
The preface of "NEXUS"
So far, I've only read the preface of "NEXUS," planning to finish it on the plane tomorrow.
Humans tend to summon forces beyond our control, not because of personal psychology, but because of the unique way Homo sapiens engage in large-scale cooperation. The main argument of this book is that humans gained immense power through the establishment of large cooperative networks, but the way these networks were built makes us prone to using this power unwisely. The problems humans face today are essentially network problems.
Our problem, then, is a network problem.
1. "Mysterious" artificial intelligence
The naive view of information
At the core of this naive information theory lies the belief that information is inherently good, and the more information we possess, the better. With enough information and time, we will inevitably uncover the truth about everything from viral infections to racial prejudice, thereby not only developing our capabilities but also cultivating the wisdom necessary to use those capabilities.
Its core tenet is that information is an essentially good thing, and the more we have of it, the better. Given enough information and enough time, we are bound to discover the truth about things ranging from viral infections to racist biases, thereby developing not only our power but also the wisdom necessary to use that power well.
Will having more information make things better or worse? We will soon find out. Many companies and governments are racing to develop the most powerful information technology ever — artificial intelligence. Some leading entrepreneurs, such as American investor Marc Andreessen, believe that AI will eventually solve all the problems facing humanity; another group of philosophers, social scientists, and many leading AI experts and entrepreneurs warn the public that AI could destroy our civilization, mainly in two scenarios:
The power of AI may exacerbate existing human conflicts, leading to self-destruction among humans. The "silicon curtain" may not separate humans from each other, but rather separate all humans from our new AI rulers.
AI is the first technology in history capable of making decisions on its own and generating new ideas. AI is not a tool, but an agent. For instance, in the coming decades, it is highly likely to gain the ability to create new life forms, whether through writing genetic codes or inventing an organic code that brings inorganic entities to life.
2. "Charismatic Leaders" and Populism
The populist view of information
2.1 Power is the Only Reality
As mentioned in "Homo Deus," power is shifting from humans to algorithms. Populism, as an anti-establishment worldview, views information as a weapon. Extreme populists believe there is no such thing as objective truth; everyone has "their own truth," which they use to defeat opponents. According to this worldview, power is the only reality.
2.2 Information is Just a Weapon
Using words from the 1848 "Communist Manifesto," “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight.” This binary interpretation of history means that every interaction between people is a power struggle between oppressors and the oppressed. Therefore, whenever someone speaks, the question is not "What are they saying? Is it true?" but "Who is speaking? Whose privilege are they serving?"
To this, populism offers the solution:
No institution or authority figure should be trusted — including self-proclaimed populist parties and politicians. Instead, one should "do their own research" and only trust what they can directly observe. Abandon the modern scientific ideal of discovering truth through "research," and instead return to reliance on divine revelation or mysticism. Articles read in "The New York Times" or "Science" are merely tricks used by elites to gain power, while what is read in the Bible, Quran, or Vedas represents absolute truth. A variant of this solution is
3. This book helps us understand what information is
If we don't want to hand over power to unfathomable artificial intelligence or overly charismatic leaders, we must first better understand what information is, how it contributes to building human networks, and its relationship with truth and power. Information is not the raw material of truth, nor is it merely a weapon. There is ample space between these two extremes for a more nuanced and hopeful understanding of human information networks and our ability to wisely handle power. The book "NEXUS" is dedicated to exploring the middle ground. Exploring the gray wisdom in between.
Additionally, there are some small details where I noticed differences between the Chinese translation and the original English text.
