Nexus Quotes

“Tech executives and engineers who rush to develop AI are making a huge mistake if they think there is a rational way to tell AI what its ultimate goal should be. They should learn from the bitter experiences of generations of philosophers who tried to define ultimate goals and failed.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“When all is said and done, the essence of patriotism isn’t reciting stirring poems about the beauty of the motherland, and it certainly isn’t making hate-filled speeches against foreigners and minorities. Rather, patriotism means paying your taxes so that people on the other side of the country also enjoy the benefit of a sewage system, as well as security, education, and health care.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Instead of dividing democracies from totalitarian regimes, a new Silicon Curtain may separate all humans from our unfathomable algorithmic overlords. People in all countries and walks of life—”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Instead of dividing democracies from totalitarian regimes, a new Silicon Curtain may separate all humans from our unfathomable algorithmic overlords.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Like the Soviet leaders in Moscow, the tech companies were not uncovering some truth about humans; they were imposing on us a perverse new order. Humans are very complex beings, and benign social orders seek ways to cultivate our virtues while curtailing our negative tendencies. But social media algorithms see us, simply, as an attention mine. The algorithms reduced the multifaceted range of human emotions – hate, love, outrage, joy, confusion – into a single catch-all category: engagement.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“just as the Soviet secret police created the slavish Homo sovieticus through surveillance, rewards and punishments, so also the Facebook and YouTube algorithms have created internet trolls by rewarding certain base instincts while punishing the better angels of our nature.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“The truth is that while we can easily observe that the democratic information network is breaking down, we aren’t sure why. That itself is a characteristic of the times. The information network has become so complicated, and it relies to such an extent on opaque algorithmic decisions and inter-computer entities, that it has become very difficult for humans to answer even the most basic of political questions: Why are we fighting each other?”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“When his troublesome son Vasily exploited his famous name to frighten and awe people, Stalin berated him. “But I’m a Stalin too,” protested Vasily. “No, you’re not,” replied Stalin. “You’re not Stalin and I’m not Stalin. Stalin is Soviet power. Stalin is what he is in the newspapers and the portraits, not you, no—not even me!”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“The seed of the current revolution is the computer. Everything else—from the internet to AI—is a by-product.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Trusting only “my own research” may sound scientific, but in practice it amounts to believing that there is no objective truth.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“In a well-functioning democracy, citizens trust the results of elections, the decisions of courts, the reports of media outlets and the findings of scientific disciplines because citizens believe these institutions are committed to the truth. Once people think that power is the only reality, they lose trust in all these institutions, democracy collapses, and the strongmen can seize total power.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“fin de cuentas, recitar poemas emotivos acerca de la belleza de la patria no es una de las esencias del patriotismo, como tampoco lo es emitir discursos repletos de odio contra extranjeros y minorías. En su lugar, el patriotismo implica pagar impuestos para que los habitantes de la otra punta del país también gocen de los beneficios de un sistema de alcantarillado, así como de seguridad, educación y atención sanitaria.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“Desde entonces, palomas, ramas de olivo y arcoíris se han convertido en símbolos icónicos de paz y tolerancia.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“It should be emphasized that rejecting the naive view of information as representation does not force us to reject the notion of truth, nor does it force us to embrace the populist view of information as a weapon. While information always connects, some types of information—from scientific books to political speeches—may strive to connect people by accurately representing certain aspects of reality. But this requires a special effort, which most information does not make. This is why the naive view is wrong to believe that creating more powerful information technology will necessarily result in a more truthful understanding of the world. If no additional steps are taken to tilt the balance in favor of truth, an increase in the amount and speed of information is likely to swamp the relatively rare and expensive truthful accounts by much more common and cheap types of information.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Si no queremos ceder el poder a un líder carismático o a una IA inescrutable, primero hemos de entender mejor qué es la información, cómo ayuda a construir redes humanas y de qué manera se relaciona con la verdad y el poder.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“Es probable que en las próximas décadas adquiera incluso la capacidad de crear nuevas formas de vida, ya sea a través de la escritura de código genético o de la invención de un código inorgánico que anime entes inorgánicos.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“Pero, con tanta información circulando a velocidades impresionantes, la humanidad se halla más cerca que nunca de la aniquilación.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“«el Goliat del control totalitario será pronto derribado por el David del microchip»”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“Tactics are considered rational only if they are aligned with some strategic goal, and strategy is considered rational only if it is aligned with some political goal. Even local tactical decisions of a lowly company commander must serve the war’s ultimate political goal.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Hitler ganó las elecciones de 1933 porque durante la crisis económica millones de alemanes llegaron a creerse el relato nazi, en lugar de uno de los relatos alternativos que se les ofrecían. Esto no fue la consecuencia inevitable de que los alemanes persiguieran sus intereses materiales y protegieran sus privilegios; fue un error trágico.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“Some populist movements claim adherence to the ideals of modern science and to the traditions of skeptical empiricism. They tell people that indeed you should never trust any institutions or figures of authority—including self-proclaimed populist parties and politicians. Instead, you should “do your own research” and trust only what you can directly observe by yourself. This radical empiricist position implies that while large-scale institutions like political parties, courts, newspapers, and universities can never be trusted, individuals who make the effort can still find the truth by themselves.
This approach may sound scientific and may appeal to free-spirited individuals, but it leaves open the question of how human communities can cooperate to build health-care systems or pass environmental regulations, which demand large-scale institutional organization. Is a single individual capable of doing all the necessary research to decide whether the earth’s climate is heating up and what should be done about it? How would a single person go about collecting climate data from throughout the world, not to mention obtaining reliable records from past centuries? Trusting only “my own research” may sound scientific, but in practice it amounts to believing that there is no objective truth. As we shall see in chapter 4, science is a collaborative institutional effort rather than a personal quest.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Among humans, the fear of being neglected or abandoned by one’s parents is a template not just for children’s stories like Snow White, Cinderella, and Harry Potter but also for some of our most influential national and religious myths.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“the scientific revolution was launched by the discovery of ignorance.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“It is always tricky to define fundamental concepts. Since they are the basis for everything that follows, they themselves seem to lack any basis of their own.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Strongmen who claim to represent the people may well rise to power through democratic means, and often rule behind a democratic facade.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

“Siempre hay algún aspecto de la realidad que no recibe atención o se distorsiona en cada representación. Así, pues, la verdad no es una representación unívoca de la realidad. Más bien es algo que hace que prestemos atención a determinados aspectos de la realidad, al tiempo que, inevitablemente, ignoramos otros.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“Los chips de silicio pueden generar espías que nunca duermen, banqueros que nunca olvidan y déspotas que nunca mueren.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“Los sistemas democráticos permiten que la información fluya libremente a través de muchos canales independientes, mientras que los sistemas totalitarios se esfuerzan por concentrar la información”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“Los relatos de la Biblia, por ejemplo, fueron esenciales para la Iglesia cristiana, pero la Biblia no habría existido si los burócratas de la Iglesia no hubieran seleccionado, editado y diseminado dichos relatos.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus. Una breve historia de las redes de información desde la Edad de Piedra hasta la IA

“If bureaucrats and artists learn to cooperate, and if both rely on help from the computers, it might be possible to prevent the computer network from becoming unfathomable. As long as democratic societies understand the computer network, their self-correcting mechanisms are our best guarantee against AI abuses.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI