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Review: Yuval Noah Harari’s Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (2024)
Yuval Noah Harari’s Nexus is an alarming exploration of how information networks have shaped human societies. Harari’s central argument is that new technologies give rise to new publics, each with unique realities. This idea underscores the transformative power of information dissemination, which can redefine social structures and individual perceptions. Harari uses the historical phenomenon of…
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The Steppenwolf on the beach
The Phi Phi Islands—a name that rolls off the tongue like a wave on the Thai shore. Nestled in the Andaman Sea, these islands are textbook natural beauty, with towering limestone cliffs, vibrant coral reefs, and clear waters. The islands landscapes have been the backdrop for countless postcard visions of paradise including, of course, the…
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Crabby in Krabi
My adventure in Thailand took an unexpected turn during the monsoon season, which disrupted my plans for a ten-day motorcycle journey on the Mae Hong Son loop in northern Thailand. By the seventh day, the nagging rains had turned the roads into dangerous paths, preventing me from taking any side trips. I decided to return…
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Pai in the sky
The ride from Chiang Mai to Pai was a breeze, contrary to my initial apprehensions. The road, slicing through the lush jungle of Northern Thailand, was in good condition. I even saw 18-year-old nubiles on scooters, confidently navigating the many curves in the way to Pai parties. Plus, being in Thailand, there were always pit…
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Thailand afresh
Bangkok is an addictive and chaotic symphony of contradictions. The city has morphed from a 15th-century trading post into a sprawling urban jungle where ancient temples stand shoulder-to-shoulder with horrible shopping malls. The city’s complexity is its charm. You can lose yourself in the labyrinthine of the markets, where every stall offers a consumer overload,…
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Reflecting on Julian Assange: Internet activism and the fight for transparency
I first became aware of Julian Assange in the book Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier by Suelette Dreyfus 1997. I heard a reading of the book in an Internet Café on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. Assange was the character Mendax in the book, although it was not widely known then…
