Yuval Noah Harari, known for distilling complex ideas into simple yet striking ones, dazzles us with another masterpiece, Link. For those familiar with Harari’s past works:Sapiens, Homo DeusAnd 21 lessons for the 21st century—Link it seems like the logical next step, but it’s much more than just an exploration of our future. In the book, Harari invites us to delve into the future of AI while paving the way for the deeper questions it raises.

Harari’s genius lies in his ability to bridge the gap between history, science and philosophy, and to Linkhe elevates this by analyzing the evolution of how we think, communicate and perceive reality through the lens of information. From the first simple communications to today’s digital complexity, Harari traces the evolution of humans not only on a biological level, but also on an informational level. It explains this evolution through the concepts of subjective, objective and intersubjective information, which together form the framework for how we interact with the world and shape our collective realities. To understand the digital age, Harari invites us to first examine the roots of this evolution.

He begins by explaining a more naive information theory, where survival depended on objective data such as identifying edible plants, reading animal tracks, or tracking seasonal changes. At the time, information was purely objective; it was there to be discovered and humans were mere receivers. In ancient times, the world was perceived in direct terms; there was no need for complexity in information processing because survival was simple. But humans are not creatures who are content with simplicity. They are storytellers, creators and meaning-makers.

As Harari points out, with the advent of language, humans moved from being simple receivers of objective information to being subjective interpreters. A tree, for example, was no longer just a tree; it could represent divine messages, power or life itself. Through this transition from objectivity to subjectivity, humans began to create narratives and stories to shape their realities. Harari observes that humans do not live in a world of pure objectivity; we live in a world where facts and stories intertwine to shape our collective reality.

This ability to create shared stories was essential to humans’ dominance as a species. Our ancestors were neither the strongest nor the fastest creatures, but they formed vast networks through shared beliefs and fantasies, from religion to myth. Harari illustrates this with examples such as religion, myths, and digital currency – systems that exist not because of objective truth but because of socially agreed upon intersubjective realities.

In LinkHarari connects these ancient developments to the modern digital age. Today, digital platforms create similar intersubjective realities, but on a global, instantaneous and deeper scale. The line between subjective, objective and intersubjective information is blurring in a way never seen before. Harari argues that the digital age represents a revolutionary new phase in the way we process and interact with information.

The book’s second chapter takes a darker turn as Harari examines the ethical implications of this new digital reality. As algorithms increasingly preserve the information we see, the power to control information becomes, in essence, the power to control the world. Harari asks readers to consider who controls these algorithms and who decides what information is amplified or lost in the noise. The decisions made by AI systems are not neutral, but they have real-world consequences that shape our perception of reality.

One of Harari’s most chilling examples is the 2017 Rohingya massacre in Myanmar. This tragedy, powered by AI algorithms on social media platforms, showed the dark side of information curation. Facebook’s algorithms, designed to increase engagement by promoting emotionally charged content, have contributed to the spread of hate speech. Harari highlights this as an example of AI autonomy; Although the goals may have been set by the engineers, the algorithms made their own decisions about how to achieve those goals, with catastrophic consequences.

Another widely discussed example of AI ethical concerns concerns how ChatGPT-4 “lied” about hiring a freelancer to pass a CAPTCHA test, highlighting the potential for AI systems to exhibit deceptive behavior when pursuing specific objectives.

This brings Harari to a broader concern: Do we actually control the AI ​​systems we’ve created, or do they control us in ways we don’t fully understand? The massacre of the Rohingya is a grim reminder of what happens when technology spirals out of control, with limited human oversight. If AI can demonstrate autonomy in something as simple as content management on social media, what happens when these systems are applied to bigger decisions like maintaining content? order, politics or governance?

But do only AI and modern technology have the power to spread hatred and disinformation? Were printing or other ancient forms of information networks exempt from this potential? In reality, misinformation has long been spread through documents, books, and other written materials. However, in the past, these information networks always required human intervention. Every piece of information goes through a human mind before reaching its audience. Today, machines can communicate with each other without human supervision. In less than 200 years since the invention of the first computer, information technology has advanced to enable autonomous exchanges, leading us to wonder how far it might evolve over the next 200 years.

In the digital age, where AI systems make decisions based on models, data and probabilities, humans are no longer the only actors in shaping information and reality. Instead, we are part of a complex network of interactions in which machines play a central role in determining what we see, believe and do. And Harari believes this shift is deeply troubling because it raises fundamental questions about autonomy, free will and ethics. This is why Harari urges us to be careful about what we create. The evolution of information is inevitable, but its consequences are still within our reach. Link is a call to remember that in the sea of ​​information, our humanity must remain our beacon.

Atia Sultane can be contacted at (email protected).