I’ve listened to Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari on Audible.

Here are some quick notes:

• Harari argues against the “naive” view of the early internet companies that connecting people will make the world a better place because the truth will win in the marketplace of ideas. In fact, the creation of new information networks can lead to the opposite effect, as people can be manipulated by fake news and propaganda.

• He gives historical examples of how previous new information networks have been used to manipulate people. An example is the rise of printing, which led to the persecution of witches in Europe.

• The “alignment problem” in AI is the problem of aligning AI goals with human values. This is a difficult problem because human values are not well-defined and can be contradictory. For example, asking the AI to maximise paperclip production could lead to the AI enslaving humanity to produce paperclips.

• This all feels very pessimistic. Emotionally, I want to reject this view, but I can’t think of any good arguments against it. I think I need to think about this more and maybe disconnect from Google services a little.