Beyond Homo Sapiens: A brief history of information networks from the Stone Age to the AI ​​era

Introduction

Over the past 100,000 years, we, Homo sapiens, have accumulated tremendous power. However, our constant invention and conquest have also pushed us into an existential crisis. The global ecology is on the verge of collapse, and false information is rampant. We are plunging headlong into an era of artificial intelligence composed of new information networks that may destroy us.

Why do humans, who are so intelligent, tend to self-destruct? Why have we reached the brink of ecological and technological suicide? When non-human intelligence threatens human survival, how can humans make wise choices?

From stories passed down orally to written language to artificial intelligence, "Sapiens" tells the story of how information networks have shaped us and our world through the long lens of big history, inviting us to think about the complex relationship between information and truth, myth and bureaucracy, wisdom and power, and exploring the key dilemmas faced by different social structures when trying to build information networks.

If we broaden our perspective and look at how humanity’s information networks have developed over the past few thousand years, we may be able to better understand what is happening today and in the future.