Why do some societies prioritize controlling information over seeking truth? What can nature teach us about managing the spread of misinformation?
In his book Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari explores how societies control the flow of information through networks of people sharing stories. From coral reef fish to modern democracies, different communities have developed unique ways to balance truth-telling with maintaining social order.
Keep reading to discover fascinating examples of information networks in nature and human society, and learn why finding the right balance between truth and order is crucial for our future.
Controlling the Flow of Information in Society
The world looks different now than it did when there were witch hunts in Europe, but society’s underlying mechanisms for spreading ideas—true and false—are still basically the same. Harari calls these mechanisms “information networks”: They’re a fundamental structure underlying our society, and they’re made up of groups of people who share stories that spread the truth (or circulate misinformation) and create order (or engender chaos).
In managing the flow of information among people, social groups have a choice to make: Do they want to prioritize the spread of truth, or control the flow of information to maintain social order? What we should hope for, Harari explains, is information networks that can help us strike a balance between truth and order. Enabling a flow of information that errs too far on the side of one or the other can have disastrous consequences, as we’ll discuss below.
(Shortform note: Humans aren’t the only species to have complex methods of sharing information: Biologists say whales form intricate information networks too. Research reveals that their communication has an underlying structure and complexity akin to human language, with specific sounds carrying meaning and context. Whales also take part in social behaviors and cultural transmission, such as regional dialects and grieving rituals, which suggests they have highly developed cognitive and social abilities. Some scientists think studying whale communication could provide insights into the nature of intelligence itself and how it might look in other forms, potentially even extraterrestrial ones.)
| How Do Coral Reef Fish Avoid Spreading Misinformation? Societies must strike a delicate balance between propagating truthful information and maintaining social order—and this challenge isn’t unique to humans. Scientists studying wild reef fish discovered one example of how animals naturally regulate misinformation. When one fish flees from a perceived threat, like an aggressive neighbor, it creates visual motion cues that other fish can see. If every fish immediately fled whenever they saw another fish fleeing, false alarms would constantly cascade through the group. Instead, the fish have evolved a clever solution: They adjust how sensitive they are to these visual cues based on their recent experiences. If they’ve seen a lot of sudden movements lately that didn’t signal real danger, they become less likely to react to the next sudden movement. This “dynamic sensitivity adjustment” helps prevent false alarms from spreading widely through the group—essentially creating a natural defense against misinformation. |
What Happens When We Value Truth More Than Order?
As we saw during the Scientific Revolution, human society can flourish when we seek the truth. It pushes human thought forward when we’re open to questioning long-held beliefs and replacing disproven information with updated observations. But, Harari notes, a tradeoff typically occurs: An emphasis on truth comes at the expense of order. The perception that the facts are changing can be destabilizing. For example, Galileo’s discovery of the heliocentric nature of our solar system upended the religious societies of Renaissance Europe. Likewise, Darwin’s theory of evolution threw the Victorian-era understanding of the natural world into chaos.
(Shortform note: The controversy over the CDC’s changing recommendations about masks early in the Covid-19 pandemic illustrates how an emphasis on truth over order can be destabilizing. Some public health officials suggest much of the confusion and erosion of trust during the pandemic could have been avoided if public health authorities had stated up-front that their recommendations were provisional and subject to change as new information about the novel virus emerged. Instead, they presented information—like the initial recommendation that the general public didn’t need to wear masks—as settled science that they then had to walk back, upending past recommendations and diminishing public trust.)
What Happens When We Value Order More Than Truth?
On the other hand, if a society considers order its highest value, it can take control of the flow of information to achieve that end. (If you manipulate the flow of information, you can manipulate what people think and do.) Unlike in a democracy—where information is shared freely with citizens so they can fact-check it and correct errors and falsehoods, even those put forth by the state—a dictatorship doesn’t want open conversation. Authoritarian regimes selectively promote ideas without regard for whether they’re demonstrably true or untrue. The logic goes that if knowledge becomes too freely available, then the stories the regime is built upon could be thrown into doubt and potentially rejected by the state’s citizens.
(Shortform note: While Harari notes that authoritarian regimes suppress dissent by controlling information flows, some political theorists say their core strategy is the manipulation of language itself: defining the meanings of words to construct an artificial reality that serves the regime’s interests, making any divergent perspectives appear insane and false. In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the Party seeks to control not just information flows, but the very meanings of words to define what is “real” and “true” according to their agenda. By dominating language, the Party can determine people’s socio-cultural context and their perception of reality, reducing it to a pseudo-reality manufactured by the regime.)
