Blog Archives
The Paradox of Progress: Book 2: The Roses and Thorns of Artificial Intelligence
Michael M. Karch’s The Paradox of Progress is a thoughtful and personal exploration of artificial intelligence and the tangled web of benefits and risks it brings to modern life. The book is framed around the central idea that progress never comes without a price. Each chapter highlights a paradox, such as self-driving cars that promise safety yet pose new dangers, batteries that drive clean energy but scar the environment, and AI in war that might save lives but could also escalate conflicts. Karch skillfully balances the roses with the thorns, using vivid historical parallels, personal anecdotes, and contemporary case studies to show how every leap forward reshapes society in both hopeful and unsettling ways.
Karch’s writing feels conversational, even playful at times, yet it never loses sight of weighty ethical questions. I especially liked how he wove his own experiences into the narrative. The self-checkout story, his Ironman accident, and his work as a surgeon with AI-driven tools. These moments gave the book texture and heart, reminding me that discussions about AI are not just technical but deeply human. The prose is clear, free of jargon, and sprinkled with humor, which makes even the most complex topics easier to digest.
What I liked most was the author’s mix of optimism and unease. His fascination with AI’s potential is genuine, but so is his fear of its misuse. I shared his awe at the possibilities. Medical breakthroughs, global problem-solving, and smarter systems that could ease human suffering. And I shared his anxiety about the darker flipside. Bias in algorithms, surveillance, widening inequality, war machines that act faster than human conscience. The book stirred both excitement and caution in me, sometimes within the same page. It left me reflecting not just on AI, but on human nature, since at its core, this isn’t a book about machines. It’s about us, our flaws, our hopes, and our choices.
I think The Paradox of Progress is a book best suited for readers who are curious about AI but not looking for a technical manual. It’s written for people who want to think, not just learn facts. I’d recommend it to policymakers, students, teachers, and anyone who has felt both wonder and dread at the pace of change around us. It’s not a book that will tell you what to believe about AI. Instead, it invites you into a bigger conversation, one that we all need to be having before the thorns outgrow the roses.
Pages: 236 | ASIN : B0FNDN4FYY
Transcend: Unlocking Humanity in the Age of AI
Faisal Hoque’s Transcend is a thoughtful, refreshingly human-centered look at our relationship with artificial intelligence. It doesn’t scream “tech hype” or drown in dystopian doom. Instead, it calmly, methodically—and honestly, kind of beautifully—asks us to reflect on what makes us human in the first place. Through two core frameworks, OPEN and CARE, Hoque offers practical tools for using AI responsibly, while never losing sight of ethics, purpose, and connection. It’s part guidebook, part philosophical journal, and part wake-up call.
What really stood out to me is how Hoque doesn’t treat AI like a gadget or a trend. Right from the introduction, where he likens AI to the philosopher’s stone—a tool that could elevate or destroy us—he grounds this tech in the context of ancient spiritual and philosophical ideas. It’s bold, but it works. He isn’t afraid to talk about topics attributed to a person’s soul—truth, love, wonder—even while explaining neural networks and machine learning.
The writing isn’t always breezy. Some chapters do feel like they’re straddling a TED Talk and a philosophy lecture. But I appreciated that Hoque never talks down to the reader. He assumes we can handle nuance. The section about AI and value judgments, especially the part referencing the Bhagavad Gita, was surprisingly moving. It’s a powerful reminder that doing nothing is still a choice
Another thing I appreciated was the frameworks. OPEN (Observe, Probe, Engage, Navigate) and CARE (Consciousness, Awareness, Responsibility, Ethics) are not just acronyms. They’re practical, adaptable, and surprisingly not corny. In Chapter 10, when Hoque applies them to government and business settings, it really clicked how scalable these ideas are. He’s not just preaching mindfulness to individuals—he’s arguing for systems-level transformation. And he does it without sounding preachy or naive. It’s idealism with boots on the ground.
Transcend is a thoughtful, sometimes poetic, always grounded take on AI that’s more about people than code. It’s not a book full of hacks or hot takes. It’s more like a long conversation with someone who knows a lot, cares a lot, and wants to help the rest of us figure it out, too. I’d recommend this book to anyone feeling overwhelmed by the AI wave, especially leaders, educators, or just regular folks trying to make sense of it all.
Pages: 312 | ASIN : B0DSWM4L5L
LITERARY TITAN 