Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

Democracy is a system of government in which power is vested in the people, who exercise it either directly or through elected representatives. It upholds free and fair elections, equal participation in decision-making, protection of individual rights and freedoms, and the rule of law. In a democracy, the government is accountable to the people, and political authority is distributed to ensure checks and balances. In Nexus, however, Harari presents an alternative definition of democracy, which is defined by the presence of self-correcting mechanisms and the decentralization of information, allowing for checks and balances against the government’s power.

A dictatorship is a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in the hands of a single leader or a small group. The dictator typically rules without the consent of the people, and political opposition is often suppressed. In a dictatorship, the ruler or ruling party controls key institutions such as the military and media, and citizens have limited or no influence over government decisions. Dictatorships often lack democratic processes, such as free elections and the protection of individual rights. In Nexus, Harari cites historical examples of dictators such as Hitler and Stalin to illustrate the dangers of concentrating immense power in a single, supposedly infallible individual.

A self-correcting mechanism is any means by which flaws in a given system can be identified and addressed. In Nexus, Harari presents the concept of a self-correcting mechanism as vital for the flourishing of a democracy. Information systems that have self-correcting mechanisms are much less prone to corruption, he suggests. The Bible, as an infallible holy book, contains no self-correcting mechanisms, while the United States Constitution offers self-correcting mechanisms in the form of amendments.