Reflections on Nexus #3
The power of information networks for good and evil.
What this crude analysis misses is that human power is never the outcome of individual initiative. Power always stems from cooperation between large numbers of humans. Accordingly, it isn’t human psychology that causes us to abuse power. …The main argument of this book is that humankind gains enormous power by building large networks of cooperation, but the way these networks are built predisposes us to use power unwisely. Our problem is a network problem. Nexus pp. xiii - xiv
Harari’s idea is based on social psychology which has found from many studies that what we call “evil” is a social problem not just an individual phenomenon. The social problem has many characteristics and one of the most fundamental is how information is shared between members of the social system. The information can be true or false, realistic or unrealistic, valued or dismissed, understood or misunderstood.
The interesting aspect of information often not recognized is what is called “metacognition” or what do we know about what we know? Are we aware of the overall point Harari is making in his book, Nexus, that we don’t consider how, as humans, our information networks work and the impact they have on individual and social behavior.
As we observe our American society in 2025 move from a democracy to an autocracy do we understand what the forces are that have brought this development about? What is it about our contemporary information network that is fueling this change?
Many pundits have noted this change in information networks calling the MAGA movement things like “Earth two” while “Earth one” is reality based and Earth two is not. The rise in conspiracy theories and delusional thinking and reality denial are common features of our current information networks.
The interesting question is why do so many people in our contemporary society believe in bull shit? Is it ignorance, gullibility, the desire for power that leads to the pandemic of falsehoods and perpetration of disinformation?
Fear drives the belief in magical powers of charismatic leaders who promise them safety and better days ahead. When fear becomes the driving factor in information networks, outcomes often are harmful to the species and other aspects of life on the planet. The question then becomes how can the level of fear be reduced in a society that is driven to dysfunctional beliefs leading to bad decisions?
To answer the question of how to reduce the level of fear in a population, Harari points us in the direction of the use of power which is a social phenomenon. Who has the power? What kind of power is it? How can it best be utilized? What are the benefits and costs of the power implemented in the social change process?
What are the information networks you participate in? What do you get from them and what do you give to them? To what extent are the information networks you participate in forces for good or evil?
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