Yuval Noah Harari should be on top of the world. He has achieved a success few writers ever manage. He has sold more than 45 million books in 65 languages.¹

Yet Harari is glum. In the last decade, he thinks, the world has been "downhill on all fronts". 

His new book Nexus claims, among other things, that "humanity is closer than ever to annihilatingCompletely destroying. itself".

Harari writes from a unique perspective. He trained as a medievalRelating to the Middle Ages. historian. But his books mix centuries of history with ideas from philosophy, science, economics and law. 

His big break came with Sapiens (2011), which argued that homo sapiensThe species to which all modern humans belong. Homo sapiens means "wise man" in Latin. became the world's dominant species because of our ability to coordinate and work together. He thinks we gained this power through imagination.

Sapiens spent 182 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Nexus is expected to be another huge hit. Its topic is information networks and how they shape our world.

Harari asserts that we are on the brink of a crisis. Nations are wracked by wars and plague. DemocracyA system of government based on the idea of rule by the people. is weakening. Climate change is causing floods, faminesTimes of great hunger, when there is very little food. and fires.

He is especially worried that technology will take over. Although AIA computer programme that has been designed to think.  is developed by humans, he considers it an "alien intelligence". It might turn "the universe into a realmKingdom. of utter darkness".

AI holds many dangers. It could replace jobs and make millions unemployed. AI-generated fake words and pictures could distort our sense of reality. And AI could one day become smarter than us - and decide to take over.

Others think that Harari is too pessimisticTending to believe that the worst will happen.. He assumes that AI can easily beat us. He imagines that a bot could pose as a person and trick us. But humans are not passiveAccepting or allowing things to happen, without actively responding or resisting. . If AI starts to threaten us, we will find a way to win.

Is Yuval Noah Harari right?

Yes: The last few years have seen the world take a dark turn. And it seems to be getting darker. Harari's view is bleak. But it is hard to imagine all his problems being solved.

No: Many humans have tried to predict how and why the world would end. NostradamusA 16-century French astrologer and physician whose prophecies earned him fame both during and after his lifetime. These included being credited with predicting the rise of Adolf Hitler, the atomic bomb and the Kennedy Assassination.  thought it would happen in 1999. RasputinA Russian mystic who gained considerable influence over the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family,  claimed 2013. They have all been wrong. Harari might be no different.

Or... Harari's argument is vast. He has thrown so many darts at the wall that some must hit their target. But it is equally difficult to imagine that everything he predicts is correct.