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Finding Genuine Meaning in the Age of AI: Technology, Vulnerability, and the Quiet Work of Staying Human
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Feb 8 2026
Pages: 112
Weight: 0.35
Height: 0.27 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Technology, Vulnerability, and the Quiet Work of Staying Human
By A. M. Hartley
We are living through a time of extraordinary technological change - and a quieter human reckoning.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we work, connect, bank, learn, and relate to one another. It promises efficiency, convenience, and progress. Yet alongside these gains, something else is unfolding: older people struggling in systems that no longer explain themselves, ordinary lives undone by sophisticated digital scams, young people measuring their worth against images that were never real, and workers quietly displaced in the name of optimisation.
This is not a book about fearing technology.
It is a book about what happens when progress moves faster than protection - and when responsibility is quietly shifted onto individuals expected to navigate systems designed without care for human limits.
With compassion and clarity, A. M. Hartley explores:
how trust erodes when reality becomes unreliable
why scams, digital exploitation, and financial harm are escalating
how young people are shaped by algorithms, comparison, and online shame
what work, value, and dignity mean in an age of automation
and how technology can support humanity - when balance is chosen deliberately
Drawing together themes often discussed in isolation, this book offers a thoughtful examination of vulnerability, accountability, and meaning in the age of AI - without alarmism, nostalgia, or false reassurance.
At its heart, it asks a simple but urgent question:
How do we remain human - deliberately - in a world that no longer pauses to protect us?
Grounded, reflective, and quietly hopeful, Finding Genuine Meaning in the Age of AI is for readers seeking depth rather than hype, clarity rather than panic, and a way forward that does not sacrifice humanity in the pursuit of progress.
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