Some reads - 2Q2026

April 24, 2026

Here are some books I think will be interesting to read (and I plan to); perhaps you might find them interesting as well. All are about technology and AI, but with wider view from other disciplines (notably the humanities). I think a productive reading of these works could be to take them not as purely critiquing AI/big tech, but as reminders that it might serve us well not to completely devolve all the decision-making for our shared future to entities and groups of individuals that were not set up/share the lived experiences to be able to be completely accountable for the wellbeing and flourishing of each and everyone of us.

◼️ Recht, Benjamin. The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us. Princeton University Press. 2026.… because his writings (the arg min blog), has been very insightful; and a humanistic exploration of the outcomes of control theory from a researcher who teaches control theory has to be a good read.

◼️ Kasy, Maximilian. The Means of Prediction: How AI Really Works (and Who Benefits). University of Chicago Press. 2026… because it always helps to have a sense of the stakeholders of any system.

◼️ Denis, Jérôme, and Pontille, David.The Care of Things: Ethics and Politics of Maintenance. Polity. 2025. & Rubio, Fernando Domínguez, Denis, Jérôme and Pontille, David. Fragilities: Essays on the Politics, Ethics, and Aesthetics of Maintenance and Repair. MIT Press. 2025.… because we live in times where an era of infinite abundance is prophesied to be dawning (and clarion calls are everywhere to accelerate towards this imagined space), an understanding of the micro (such as these fragilities; often paid less heed) could help us see clearer into, and better imagine the possible realities of such a claimed future, and if we may have to refine it.

◼️ Griffins, Tom. The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind. Henry Holt and Company. 2026.… for an appreciation of the decades-long quest of cognitive scientists to systematically study how we perceive, think, plan and act.

◼️ Dorschel, Robert. The Social Codes of Tech Workers: Class Identity in Digital Capitalism. MIT Press. 2025.… because a substantive part of the future that is unfolding originates from the creations of this class.

◼️ Bratton, Benjamin. Konior, Bogna. Greenspan, Anna. Ireland, Amy. (eds) Machine Decision is Not Final: China and the History and Future of Artificial Intelligence. Urbanomic. 2025.… because so much research and innovation on AI is being and will be forged here, yet having been so slightly apart, imagining futures through these lenses will be quite thought-provoking and insightful.