Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari
What is information, how is it transferred, and what does it mean? What stories do we tell as a society? Who decides what is fact or fiction? How has all this information influenced humanity's history, and how will it impact our future? Yuval Noah Harari, a philosophical historian, explores these themes in his book Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI.
The book offers much to inform how we experience the world today, particularly in parsing fact from fiction. I found it especially interesting as a reflection of our current political and social environment.
Harari begins by defining “information” and its relationship with truth. Information doesn't represent anything; it's neither truth nor lies. It can only be valued and assessed once we assign it meaning.
Finding and making meaning in the nexus
The nexus, however, is the space between agents of information (humans, documents, computers, etc.). It’s here that we find and make the real meaning of information. In this nexus space, we weave various pieces of information into stories that make sense of our lives and define shared realities.
Harari notes that the nexus is a space where we create new concepts, which he calls “intersubjective realities,” that become focal points for culture, humanity, and civilization. Intersubjective realities are concepts like money, law, or nations that exist only as ideas shared between people. In short, they exist only because "if everyone says so, it must be true."
Intersubjective realities, like democracy, can be the foundation for civilized progress. Yet we also know that the principle of "if everyone says so, it must be true" doesn’t always serve us well. Numerous studies show that if we tell a fictional story often enough, people start to believe it. Truth and facts are not as resonant or as powerful as we might wish them to be.
Fiction is more powerful than truth
Throughout civilization, humans have understood stories best. This frequently leads to comfort with fiction and fantasies over truth, especially when that truth is complicated.
Fiction has two advantages over truth. First, it is simpler. Humans often accept fiction over truth because the whole truth is too complicated. While truth is burdened by depth and complexity, fiction can be as simple as needed to connect with the humans it is directed toward. There is no need to expend significant effort or resources to prove fiction’s validity.
Second, truth is often more disturbing and painful, while fiction is highly malleable, so we can make fiction as comforting and happy as we wish.
Harari’s full conversation on Armchair Expert about the book is worth a listen, but this excerpt specifically touches on humans’ innate tendency to struggle with truth.
The uncomfortable truth that we need to lie
This should inform how we communicate important ideas. Humans need stories to understand things. Because the truth is often too complicated, we need a modified version, which frequently includes fables, fiction, and lies (or at least omitting relevant truth).
As parents, we lie to our children all the time. We tell them oversimplified versions of the truth and even bold-faced lies (like about the existence of Santa Claus and the tooth fairy) for simplicity, to create magical experiences, to strengthen connection, to protect them, and more.
We all know there’s a time and place for white lies. Movies like Liar, Liar, and The Invention of Lying highlight how the absolute truth doesn’t always serve society well.
Asking our leaders to lie?
It is an uncomfortable truth that fiction and storytelling are necessary to create a shared reality for humanity. Lies and material omissions make certain information accessible to our minds and hearts. The narratives and intersubjective realities our collective fables create are the shared fabric that keeps human societies together. They become common knowledge, keeping us in the same perceived reality.
I hate that the truth isn’t always the best foundation for building society, but I know Harari is right.
The recognition of the value of lying feels especially poignant after an election in which a man who unabashedly spews disgusting lies nearly every time he speaks appealed to more Americans than a woman running on an agenda much more committed to truth.
Politicians often have to be liars or truth omitters, at least to some extent, because discussing the whole truth is too difficult for humans to comprehend. They must imagine and convey simple, fictional realities to get a meaningful cohort of citizens behind their platform.
Notably, that doesn't mean we have to rewrite history. We can rely on selective references to our past that propel us toward a better future. A complete and honest critique of history is too painful and complex for an entire population to digest and will not inspire.
Instead, we can ask our leaders to create fictional depictions of the future that humans can understand and follow. Obama did this well, and it’s likely the reason for his resounding success at the polls. He helped Americans envision a hopeful, fictional future that never came to be in full but inspired hearts and motivated minds.
Trump also tells stories (and plenty of bold-faced lies) about the future he plans to create for our country, albeit in a much darker manner. He’s used both the forward-looking fables and the "if everyone says so, it must be true” lies to attempt to rewrite history and cast a vision of the future attractive to many Americans, even if it’s not possible or plausible in truth.
Simplicity > Truth
For some time, the Republican party has committed to simple, consistent messaging (i.e., storytelling) that is not particularly tied to the truth. They stick to emotional engagement and steer clear of technical details or policy deep dives that are hard to understand and not always actionable. This approach is serving them well.
There are autopsies ad nauseam about why Harris and the Democrats did not perform well in the 2024 elections. I’m not an expert, nor are the autopsies worth rehashing here. But among many reasons for a disappointing performance against a Republican political party richly infused with hatred, outrage, division, contempt, and no shortage of moral failings, Democrats leaned too much toward the painful, complex truth. And it didn’t connect with voters.
While stories can be bastions of lies, they can also become the foundation for new concepts that exist only because we agree on them. The Founders of the United States didn’t create democracy; iterations have existed throughout human civilization. But enough Founders told a story, created a future vision of self-governance for the United States (which had no basis in historical truth), convinced citizens to trust in it, and made it real. It's been the foundation of our governmental institutions for nearly 250 years, primarily because people believe it.
If Democrats want to compete with Republicans in future elections, they need to lie more… or at least tell fiction and fables about what we might become. They must dream up visions of a future that appeals to most Americans and tell the story repeatedly.
Democrats must create intersubjective realities that resonate with human emotion. They must acknowledge and operate knowing that people connect better through shallow fictional stories than long, enumerated documents of whole and complicated truths.
Not abandoning truth entirely
I’m not suggesting worthy politicians abandon truth entirely. But we can amass power and influence by finding the right mix of truth and storytelling. This mix inspires humans to agree on a path forward and follow leaders who can communicate a shared vision of prosperity.
Importantly, systems like democracy and science have self-correcting mechanisms. They have decentralized sources of information that challenge each other in constant pursuit of the truth and better options. As long as democracy and science are part of our shared fabric, these mechanisms reinforce that lies, fables, and fiction stay in check and serve collective prosperity. Self-correction tools and habits ensure stories are the threads that gently weave together our shared fabric of humanity, not the swords that shred it apart.
I’m not a fan of lies, but I understand that humanity needs stories that simplify and connect. White lies serve a purpose. Fictional literature encourages empathy and shows us the world through other people's perspectives. Storytelling pulls at our heartstrings and brings us together. Imaginative narratives help us see what we might not otherwise envision. The omission of imperfections helps us focus on the good in others.
In a world where AI and weak morals feel like they’re blurring the line between fact and fiction, and the value of truth seems to plummet with each passing day, it feels blasphemous to promote the power of fables. It’s scary to think we should strive for anything but truth. But absolute truth is exhausting, and a complete commitment to the truth is unsustainable.
Simplified truth and storytelling are powerful features of human civilization that we can’t ignore. We need good storytellers to drown out the suspect ones. We need fables with happy endings to inspire instead of dramas filled with corruption to create fear. We need a continued, self-correcting search for truth, sewn together by stories that help us make sense of the world and mend the fractures we’re facing.
Let’s chat
I’d love to hear from you. Have you read Nexus? What do you think about humanity’s relationship with the truth? What value is there in white lies and fictional tales wading through our shared reality? Promoting anything but honesty and truth feels uncomfortable. Yet, I’m not sure the reality of human civilization allows us to ignore the power of a few tales and truth omissions.
This was a fascinating, slightly disturbing read. It should be required reading for all those trying to find a way through.