We can split the atom but not distinguish truth. Our information is failing us | Yuval Noah Harari

“Why is it that the quality of our information did not improve over thousands of years? Why is it that very sophisticated societies have been as susceptible as stone age tribes to mass delusion and the rise of destructive ideologies?”

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We belong to a world that is more interconnected, and yet more volatile than ever before. The masses of information that make this connectivity possible present the largest and most pressing threat to humanity, says historian and the best-selling author of 'Sapiens' ‪@YuvalNoahHarari‬.

Sitting down with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin ‪@92NY‬, Harari discusses the way our information systems are flawed, and how, despite our leaps in technology over the past centuries, we still remain as susceptible to deception and delusion as our ancestors were thousands of years ago. Harari says that if we don’t fix the flaws in our information systems, they could drive us to total disaster.

In an exclusive hour-long interview, the Nexus author discusses truth, AI, fears, our possible future, and key ideas from his new book 'Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI'.

Timestamps:
0:00: Who is the arbiter of truth?
0:59: Low-quality information
6:16: Objective physical reality and cooperation
11:29: GPT-4 deception
18:11: Alien intelligence
22:30: Democracy and information
30:23: Setting information free
34:44: Algorithmic fear
38:36: The power of curation
46:49: The annihilation of privacy
53:26: Israel and Palestine
1:04:02: Human-AI relationships
1:09:52: The enormous potential of AI

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-t...

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About Yuval Noah Harari:

Prof. Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, the series Sapiens: A Graphic History and Unstoppable Us, and Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI. His books have sold over 45 Million copies in 65 languages, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today.