Our Philosophy Café series features wide-ranging group discussions, led by Ingo Farin. This will be our first Philosophy Café of 2025, and here’s what Ingo has to say about this latest one:

Yuval Noah Harari’s new book Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI raises a number of questions concerning the nature of “information” and information networks throughout history. Harari also reviews the role of information-gathering bureaucracies and the role of grand narratives in societies from antiquity to the present day. His main emphasis, however, is on the impact of AI in the present and the future, especially on the political level. Although Harari avoids an outright alarmist tone, he is sketching out various scenarios where AI could become a dominant actor in history with potentially disastrous consequences for human intelligence and life.

After a brief summary of the book, I will touch on some theoretical weaknesses in the book, such as, for instance, the curiously underdeveloped notion of “information” and the surprisingly naïve presupposition of a merely “instrumental role” of technology in modern societies. The Philosophy Café is a discussion forum and I will keep my remarks short to leave enough time for a debate about the issues raised in Harari’s book.

As always, everyone is welcome.

This event is free, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged.