[[Nexus -- A Brief History of Information Networks From the Stone Age to AI]] democracy was the most typical political system among archaic hunter-gatherers. In the millennia following the agricultural revolution, and especially after writing helped create large bureaucratic polities, it became easier to centralize the flow of information and harder to maintain the democratic conversation. distributed democratic networks were simply incompatible with large-scale societies. there was simply no way to conduct or sustain a democratic conversation, because the technological means to hold such a conversation did not exist. First, people need to be within hearing range of one another. Second, people need at least a rudimentary understanding of what they are talking about. The only way to have a large-scale political conversation among diverse groups of people is if people can gain some understanding of issues that they have never experienced firsthand. democracy at a scale of millions became possible only in the modern age, when mass media changed the nature of large-scale information networks. Mass media makes democracy possible Mass media are information technologies that can quickly connect millions of people even when they are separated by vast distances. Newspapers that succeeded in gaining widespread trust became the architects and mouthpieces of public opinion. They created a far more informed and engaged public, which changed the nature of politics, first in the Netherlands and later around the world. The political influence of newspapers was so crucial that newspaper editors often became political leaders. Fast-forward a century, and things really picked up speed. For the first time in history, new technologies allowed masses of people, spread over vast swaths of territory, to connect in real time. Large-scale democracy had now become feasible. Millions of people separated by thousands of kilometers could conduct informed and meaningful public debates about the rapidly evolving issues of the day. democracy. Mass media made large-scale democracy possible, rather than inevitable. And it also made possible other types of regimes. In particular, the new information technologies of the modern age opened the door for large-scale totalitarian regimes.