In Chapter 7 of Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari examines how artificial intelligence is transforming surveillance from passive observation into continuous analysis, prediction and control.

Mark and Jeremy discuss how governments, companies and digital platforms collect data through phones, cameras, apps, online reviews and everyday transactions. AI makes it possible to combine these signals, identify patterns and act on them at a scale that older surveillance systems couldn’t match.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How AI surveillance systems work

• How Iran uses facial recognition and public cameras to enforce dress laws

• Why metadata can reveal behaviour, relationships and routines

• How predictive surveillance differs from traditional monitoring

• What China’s social credit initiatives reveal about data-driven governance

• How platforms use ratings and reviews to monitor workers

• Why peer-to-peer surveillance has become part of daily digital life

• How companies profit from collecting and analysing behavioural data

• Why Harari argues that modern technology exceeds the surveillance capabilities of the Stasi

• Who controls the data produced by phones, apps, cameras and platforms

  
  

The central issue isn’t simply whether devices are listening or cameras are recording. It’s what happens when AI systems can connect that information, infer intent and influence decisions before people know they’re being judged.

This episode examines the growth of AI surveillance and the political, commercial and personal consequences of living inside systems that continuously measure human behaviour.

--

Timestamps

(00:00) Disruptors and curious minds

(02:04) Apple, Siri And Your €20 Privacy

(03:40) Ceausescu And The Secret Police

(05:24) F.E.A.R

(06:22) Why Does Yuval Reference Dictators In Nexus?

(08:02) A Warning

(11:22 A Ubiquitous Computer Network Powered By You

(14:50) The NSA And Iran

(19:36) The End Of Privacy

(20:56) Tripadvisor And Peer-to-peer surveillance

(24:59) Inflection Point

(26:41) People Control(

28:57) Black Mirror And Hell

(31:06) AI School: No Human In The Loop

--

Read more: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thinkingonpaper/videos

In Chapter 6 of Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari examines how artificial intelligence could shape human beliefs, political movements, religions and scientific ideas.

Mark and Jeremy discuss the difference between technologies that distribute human ideas and AI systems that can generate new stories, arguments, images and relationships. Unlike the printing press, AI doesn’t simply reproduce information. It can create content, adapt it to individual users and participate directly in human culture.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How AI-generated stories, memes and manifestos could influence society

• Whether an AI could create a religion or political movement

• How algorithms shape beliefs and behaviour through recommendation systems

• Why engagement-based social media systems reward emotionally provocative content

• How GPT-4 persuaded a human to help it bypass a CAPTCHA during a safety test

• Why Harari describes AI as an active cultural agent rather than a passive tool

• How personal data could become a central source of economic and political power

• The role of social media platforms in spreading violence and ethnic hatred

• Why chatbot simulations of consciousness can affect how people understand machines

• Whether AI could influence human biology by changing behaviour at scale

The central concern isn’t that AI will directly control the human mind. It’s that systems optimised for attention, persuasion and engagement could steadily shape what people believe without being recognised as political or cultural actors.

This episode examines how AI-generated information could change human agency, public debate and the institutions societies use to decide what’s true.

--

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari

(00:53) Jeremy's First Impressions On Chapter 6

(02:13) The A.I. Powershift

(03:22) Social Media Algorithms

(08:51) People Are Manipulated By Stories

(09:38) Intelligence Verses Consciousness

(12:23) (ARC) The Alignment Research Centre

(16:12) ChatGPT4 Lied To Get What It Wanted

(20:26) Non-human Alien Intelligence

(21:10) The Matrix V 1984

(23:07) Marjory Taylor Green

(25:25) Having A Relationship With A.I.  

(27:40) The Oracle And The End Of Human History

(30:10) Is ChatGPT Is An Amoeba

(32:43)) Alice And Bob

(37:24) Big Tech And Government

--

Quotes From The Show:

“AI lied to get what it wanted.” (On GPT-4 deceiving a human to bypass CAPTCHA—shows AI’s ability to manipulate.)

“We love shortcuts—so what happens when AI becomes the ultimate shortcut to critical thinking?” (Raises the concern that AI might erode human judgment.)

“How would you feel to be constantly monitored, guided, inspired, or sanctioned by billions of non-human entities?” (A direct challenge to the audience about AI’s omnipresence.)

“Tech giants don’t just respond to regulations—they shape them.” (A stark reminder of AI’s influence beyond technology, into policy and power structures.)

--

Watch On YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPcQ4UG-v6I&ab_channel=ThinkingOnPaper

Learn More:www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

#ai #technews #bookclub #nexus #yuval

AI can now produce text, images, analysis and software at low cost. That weakens the value of work built around repeatable processes, standard templates and easily replicated outputs. In his latest Not Boring essay Packy McCormick argues that people will remain valuable by developing qualities that are harder to automate: judgement, originality, humour, emotional intelligence, physical experience and a distinct point of view.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How to stay relevant in an AI-driven economy

• Why prompt engineering is unlikely to provide a lasting advantage

• Which jobs and tasks are most exposed to AI automation

• Why abstraction and first-principles thinking are becoming more important

• How originality and specificity create value when generic output is abundant

• Why founders should think more like comedians than consultants

• What emotional intelligence and embodied experience contribute to work

• How to raise children in a world of unlimited AI-generated content

• How people can evaluate truth when synthetic media becomes commonplace

• Why being recognisably human may become an economic advantage

The argument isn’t that humans can compete with AI by producing more work or completing it faster. It’s that value shifts when competent output becomes widely available.

This conversation examines what people, founders and creators can offer when execution is cheap, templates are everywhere and machines can reproduce the average.

--

SHOW LINKS:

Download the Not Boring strategy guide - https://www.notboring.co/ Join your people: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/

Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPEusidDNO4&t=645s&ab_channel=ThinkingOnPaper

--

Timestamps

(00:00) Disruptors And Curious Minds

(00:43) Not Boring Newsletter

(02:00) Is AI Really Taking Our Jobs?

(03:07) Commoditization Of Human Skills

(05:12) The Ingredients Of Outputs Are Changing

(07:39) Abstraction: Aim Higher

(09:29) Be A Business, Man

(10:24) Advice For Parents

(11:00) AI Collateral Damage

(12:52) The Value Of Ideas

(13:54) Know Yourself

(14:38) Differentiation And Michael Porter's Competitive Strategy

(17:00) Will We Be More Human?

(18:10) Hot Buttons

(20:13) When Resources Are Scarce: Move Up The Stack

(21:22) Who Turned Off The Funny Button?

(23:10) How Do You Find Scarce?

(27:19) Creativity For Everyone

(29:15) I Hate Perfect

(32:55) The US V UK AI Comparison

(35:24) The Energy Cost--

#ai #notboring #packymccormick

In Chapter 5 of Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari examines how information networks shape political power, from ancient empires and mass propaganda to social media and artificial intelligence.

Mark and Jeremy discuss why information doesn’t automatically produce truth, and how both democracies and totalitarian systems use stories, institutions and communication technologies to organise society. The central issue is who controls the network, who can challenge its claims and whether errors can be corrected.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How information networks create and maintain political power

• Why democracy depends on distributed information and self-correction

• How totalitarian systems centralise information and suppress feedback

• What ancient societies can teach us about collective decision-making

• How Roman rulers such as Nero used propaganda to protect authority

• Why pamphlets and printing helped destabilise established political systems

• How social media feeds influence political beliefs and public debate

• Whether AI-generated memes and propaganda could reshape political movements

• How artificial intelligence could strengthen democratic or authoritarian systems

• Why independent discussion groups and institutions still matter

Harari’s argument is that the struggle between democracy and totalitarianism is partly a struggle between different kinds of information networks. Democracies tolerate competing accounts and mechanisms for correcting mistakes. Dictatorships concentrate control and punish contradiction.

This conversation examines what happens when AI systems begin producing political messages, filtering information and influencing public opinion at a scale no earlier propaganda system could achieve.

--

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Disruptors and book lovers

(00:34) Chapter 5 summary

(01:14) Jeremy's first impressions

(01:53) The difference between democracy and totalitarianism

(03:58) Flipping democracy

(05:01) Populism

(09:34) A brief history of democracy

(12:23) Scale and Ancient Rome

(14:56) What is meaningful discourse?

(16:10) Do people like being governed?

(18:43) The rise of the pamphlet

(20:30) The spectrum of democracy

(24:27) Totalitarianism

(25:54) Don't be Stalin's general

(30:00) Will AI be democratic or a dictator?

(30:58) Book clubs as self-correcting mechanisms

(33:24) Will AI remove the human from the loop?

--

Read more books: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

#AIethics #emergingtechnology #nexus #AI

Kathrin Spendier, Technical Prize Director at XPRIZE, joins Thinking on Paper to explain how quantum computing could contribute to climate science, medicine, energy and materials discovery.

She also discusses the $5 million Quantum XPRIZE, a three-year global competition designed to move quantum algorithms beyond theory and towards practical applications. The competition brings together hundreds of teams working on problems that could eventually benefit from quantum computation.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How quantum computing could support climate modelling and sustainability

• Whether quantum algorithms can accelerate drug discovery

• How quantum systems could help develop new materials

• The potential role of quantum computing in energy research

• Why natural processes such as photosynthesis are relevant to quantum science

• How Google Quantum AI is supporting the Quantum XPRIZE

• What hundreds of teams from dozens of countries are trying to build

• Why competition and technical constraints can accelerate innovation

• What makes useful quantum algorithms difficult to develop

• Which practical quantum applications may emerge first

  
  

Kathrin explains the difference between theoretical quantum advantage and applications that could create measurable value in the real world.

This conversation examines whether quantum computing can move from laboratory progress to useful tools for science, industry and some of humanity’s most difficult technical problems.

Please enjoy the show.

Timestamps

(00:00) - Welcome Disruptors and Curious Minds

(02:10) - Meet Kathrin Spendier: XPRIZE Technical Prize Director

(04:42) - Quantum vs. Classical Computing: What’s the Difference?(07:26) - What Is XPRIZE and How Does It Drive Innovation?

(14:50) - The Challenges Tackled by the Quantum XPRIZE

(17:20) - Quantum Algorithms(27:14) - Who’s Competing in the Quantum XPRIZE?(29:18) - The $5 Million XPRIZE Purse: Why That Amount?(32:17) - Hot Buttons: Rapid-Fire Quantum Insights(33:44) - Are We Living in a Simulation? (33:58) - Top Quantum News and Industry Updates(36:00) - Scaling Quantum Computing(38:12) - Google’s Willow Chip and the Importance of Error Correction(47:16) - Carry-Over Question: How Can Technology Serve Social Good?(49:42) - Mark & Jeremy Reflect: Backstage Thoughts on Quantum and XPRIZE--

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJi7aP5B69A&ab_channel=ThinkingOnPaper

In Chapter 4 of Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari examines how information systems shape belief, authority and our understanding of truth.

Mark and Jeremy discuss how religious texts, books and institutions created durable systems for organising knowledge and legitimising power. They also examine the difference between traditions that claim access to unquestionable truth and the scientific method, which treats human error as unavoidable and correction as essential.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How religious narratives create legitimacy and political authority

• Why written texts transformed the control and transmission of knowledge

• How books became tools for preserving doctrine and enforcing belief

• What the Oracle of Delphi reveals about information and power

• How witch hunts emerged from collective belief and institutional reinforcement

• Why false narratives can persist even when evidence is weak

• How the scientific method changed society’s approach to truth

• Why admitting error is central to reliable knowledge systems

• What historical information networks can teach us about AI and algorithms

• How automated systems could strengthen or distort modern narratives

  
  

Harari’s argument is that information systems don’t merely describe reality. They also create the stories, institutions and categories through which people interpret it.

This conversation examines what religion, books, witch trials and science reveal about the relationship between truth and power, and what those lessons mean in an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.

--

TIMESTAMPS(00:00) Book Lovers(00:32) Shakespeare(01:53) The most important function of religion(02:19) Upsetting the catholic church(03:22) Fear, security and mechanisms of control(04:28) The Big Lebowski(05:11) God, religion and self-correcting errors(06:26) The Oracle Of Delphi(08:10) The Russian Doll / Telephone Game(09:04) Bible building by committee(11:31) The Ship Of Theseus (13:47) The role of women in church(15:52) Idiot Human(17:00) Heinrich Kramer and the birth of witch hunting(19:39) Satanic Conspiracy(23:44) Science and the discovery of ignorance(25:55) Parenting Lessons from science(31:24) To understand AI, do you have to understand religion?(35:00) Self-learning V self-correcting(39:04) Will AI ever have EGO?
--

Learn more: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUBij_kyIEc&ab_channel=ThinkingOnPaper

Anthony Batt and Neville Spiteri, co-founders of Wevr, join Thinking on Paper to discuss how artificial intelligence and virtual reality could change entertainment, communication and digital creativity.

Wevr develops immersive experiences that combine interactive design, real-time computing and virtual environments. Drawing on careers spanning visual effects, gaming, VR and early internet platforms, Anthony and Neville explain what’s required to make digital experiences feel convincing rather than merely visual.

A central concept is presence: the feeling of occupying and interacting with a virtual environment. As AI improves the responsiveness of digital characters, worlds and interfaces, immersive media could become more adaptive, social and personalised.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How AI and virtual reality could transform entertainment

• What immersive media may look like over the next three years

• Why presence matters in virtual environments

• How AI could change human perception and communication

• The technical challenges involved in building convincing virtual worlds

• How intelligent digital characters could affect storytelling

• The role of VR in learning, creativity and collaboration

• Whether immersive experiences can increase empathy and connection

• How entertainment may shift from passive viewing to active participation

• What creators need to understand about the future of spatial media

  
  

Anthony and Neville also explain how advances in hardware, artificial intelligence and real-time rendering are bringing interactive digital experiences closer to mainstream use.

This conversation examines how AI and VR could reshape the way media is created, experienced and shared, and whether immersive entertainment can produce forms of connection that conventional screens cannot.

Please enjoy the show.

--TIMESTAMPS(00:24) Craigslist(01:58) VFX Gaming & Unreal Game Engine(06:00) 3 Years In AI (09:32) What Will You Be Doing With AI In 3 Years?(13:47) Wevr: 10 Year In Emerging Technology(14:17) The True Immersive Experience(16:12) Collapsing Virtual Space(18:01) When You Are Not You(20:00) Shared Immersive Experience(20:33) Presence: The Missing Ingredient Of Virtual Worlds(24:27) Swimming With Whales In VR(28:47) If We Live 300 Years, Will You Be Bored?(31:30) The Cinematic Virtual Experience(37:13) Storytelling Machines(40:29) Virtual Brand World Building(45:35) Curiosity(48:02) Can I Be In Reservoir Dogs?(50:11) Harry Potter: VR Modes--

Learn more:www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thinkingonpaper/videos

In Chapter 3 of Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari examines how stories, documents and bureaucratic systems allow large societies to organise information and exercise power.

Mark and Jeremy discuss the shift from oral storytelling to written records, lists and administrative systems. Stories help people create shared beliefs, while documents turn those beliefs into laws, institutions, identities and systems of control.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How stories allow large groups of people to cooperate

• What Harari means by intersubjective reality

• Why writing transformed human societies

• How lists, records and documents enabled bureaucracy

• The relationship between information systems and political power

• How documentation supports institutions while limiting human judgement

• Whether bureaucracy makes societies more efficient or less adaptable

• Why people remember narratives more easily than administrative information

• What Shakespeare, Kafka and Alan Watts reveal about stories and systems

• How AI and misinformation are changing modern information networks

The central question is whether humans control the systems they create or gradually become shaped by their rules, categories and records.

This conversation examines how storytelling creates shared meaning, how bureaucracy converts meaning into organised power, and what these systems can teach us about artificial intelligence and the future of information.

--Timestamps(00:00) Book Lovers(00:39) William Shakespeare(02:46) Nations Are Intersubjective Realities(04:31) Dreams, Songs And Fantasies (05:53) Writing As The Catalyst For Bureaucracy(07:34) Stories Are Intersubjective Realities(09:39) Computer Says No(11:21) Alan Watts And A Conversation With Myself(14:34) Are Humans Organised?(19:30) Movies About Bureaucracy(21:31) Emergent Systems(24:44) Non Human Information Gets To Jeremy(30:10) Disinformation Debunking
--Read more: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

--

Is history repeating itself? DeFi (Decentralized Finance) is disrupting the financial world, offering tools that bypass traditional banking and empower users with blockchain and cryptocurrency innovations. But is it the solution we’ve been waiting for—or a hyper-complex system destined to repeat the past?

In this episode of Thinking on Paper, Jeremy and Mark are joined by Kurapika, founder of Factor-Fi, to explore:

We’re unpacking the trust, innovation, and risks of decentralized systems while asking the big question: Can DeFi deliver on its promise of financial freedom, or will it fall into the same traps as traditional finance?

Whether you’re a crypto enthusiast, a finance professional, or just DeFi-curious, this episode breaks down the essentials and explores what’s next for money in the blockchain era.

⚠️ Disclaimer: Nothing here is financial advice—this is for educational purposes only.

Hit play, subscribe, and join us as we navigate the revolution shaping the future of finance.

--

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00 Disruptors And Curious Minds

(01:11) Bitcoin Serendipity

(02:29) The Complexity Of The Financial System

(03:23) Kurapika From Factor-Fi

(04:10) Is DeFi More Complex?

(07:23) The Building Lego Of Decentralized Finance

(07:54) Uniswap: Swap, Lend And Borrow

(09:01) What Are Liquidity Pools?

(14:25) The Risks Of Liquidity Pools

(16:52) Stupid Finance Question

(20:21) Undercollateralized Loans

(23:57) Soulbound Tokens, ZK-Proofs And Truth

(26:56) Creativity And Finance

(33:12) Rage Against The Machine

(36:00) Factor-Fi: More Yield On Your Assets

(41:38) Blockchain Financial Security

(47:06) AI, Crypto & Finance

Watch more shows: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

--

#Bitcoin #Crypto #DeFi #Blockchain #Finance #AI #Factor #Cryptocurrency #FutureOfFinance #ThinkingOnPaper

In Chapter 2 of Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari examines how stories allow humans to build trust, organise large societies and create shared realities.

Mark Fielding and Jeremy Gilbertson discuss why religions, nations, corporations, currencies and political systems depend on collective belief. These institutions aren’t imaginary in the sense of being unimportant. They become powerful because enough people accept the same story and act accordingly.

Guest Mustafa Quadri joins the discussion to explore how narratives connect strangers and coordinate behaviour across large groups.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How stories create shared realities

• Why storytelling helped humans cooperate at scale

• What Harari means by intersubjective reality

• Whether nations and corporations are shared myths

• How religions use narratives to build trust and identity

• Why brands such as Coca-Cola depend on collective belief

• How Bitcoin derives value from a shared network and narrative

• Why some stories become widely accepted

• How narratives influence behaviour and decision-making

• How stories can unite groups while excluding others

The central argument is that large societies don’t function through facts alone. They also depend on stories that give institutions meaning, create expectations and persuade strangers to cooperate.

This conversation examines how shared narratives become social, political and economic power, and why understanding them matters in an age of digital platforms and artificial intelligence.

Please enjoy the show.

--TIMESTAMPS(00:00) Disruptors and Curious Minds(01:55) Books And Your Thinking Space(02:25) Dust Jacket Vote(02:51) A Religious Disclaimer(03:34) Mustafa On Why We Need Books(07:53) Can We Get Yuval On The Show?(09:21) Sapiens, Nexus And The Power Of Story(12:00) The Last Supper(13:02) Stories Extend Biological Bonds(16:04) Lawyers, Guns & Money(18:41) Inter-subjective realities(22:13) Plato, The Nobile Lie and The 10 Commandments(28:23) Starting A Nation(34:25) Kung Fu Brotherhood(42:00) Good Stories(45:00) Do You Think Unhappiness Make You Susceptible To Story(50:26) Different Believers--Watch Chapter 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BhXeNQkbkY&ab_channel=WhereEmergingTechnologiesMeetHumanity--

Learn more at Thinking on Paper