Forthcoming
Humanity, Power, and Meaning in the Age of AI
Serdar Bahar, PhD
For the first time, we are asking a technology not only to work for us, but to think with us.
About the book
The Civilization We Choose looks beyond what AI can do to examine what it could mean for purpose, judgment, power, and responsibility.
Drawing on history, economics, philosophy, psychology, and technology, the book offers not certain predictions, but a clearer way to examine the choices ahead.
Three questions at the heart of the book
For leaders, policymakers, and readers navigating the human consequences of AI.
If AI creates economic abundance, where will people find meaning and purpose?
If we delegate parts of our thinking to machines, how will our judgment change?
When humans and AI think together, who remains responsible for the decisions?
A distinctive feature
Artificial intelligence is not only the subject of the book. It is also part of the method.
Short sections titled “From AI's Perspective” challenge the author's arguments, question assumptions, and introduce alternative viewpoints.
AI is not presented as a conscious thinker. It is used as a nonhuman cognitive system through which the author can examine—and disagree with—his own ideas.
Inside the book
From past revolutions to the distribution of power and the futures still open to us.
Chapter 01
When does a technology stop being a tool and begin changing civilization?
Agriculture, industry, and the internet reshaped far more than production: they changed human behavior and social institutions. This chapter asks whether AI represents a comparable turning point—one that could transform our relationship with our own thinking.
Chapter 02
If economic scarcity decreases, what happens to our need for meaning?
Greater abundance may solve material problems without resolving the human need for purpose. Drawing on Frankl, Arendt, and Maslow, this chapter explores why people need not only to consume, but also to contribute, belong, and feel useful.
Chapter 03
What do we gain—and what might we lose—when we delegate judgment to AI?
AI extends the history of tools that support memory and calculation into interpretation, evaluation, and recommendation. The chapter examines automation bias, verification, and cognitive inequality through a simple challenge: faster, more convincing answers do not necessarily mean better thinking.
Chapter 04
Who will control economic and political power in the age of AI?
Computing capacity, chips, energy, data, models, and access rules form a new strategic layer of power. This chapter explores whether AI's value will be widely shared or concentrated among those who control the infrastructure behind it.
Chapter 05
Can AI improve human thinking without replacing human judgment?
AI can identify patterns, generate alternatives, and challenge assumptions; humans bring experience, values, ethical judgment, and accountability. Thinking together, the chapter argues, must not mean surrendering the responsibility to think.
Chapter 06
What kind of civilization will we choose to build?
The final chapter brings the book's historical, economic, cognitive, and political questions together. Rather than predicting one future, it examines the choices facing governments, companies, education, work, and social institutions.
Possible directions
These possibilities may coexist, even within the same society. The outcome depends on choices as much as capabilities.
01
AI and automation expand access to goods, services, and opportunities.
02
Control over infrastructure creates new dependencies and concentrated power.
03
Advanced intelligence helps more people participate in knowledge and public life.
04
Convenience improves daily life while independence and responsibility may weaken.
05
Relationships, creativity, experience, and meaning acquire renewed importance.
About the author
Serdar Bahar is a product and technology executive and independent advisor to executives, boards, and founders.
A former CIO in financial services, his work spans enterprise AI, FinTech, and platform transformation—where technological possibility meets institutional and human choice.
Final perspective
It will also be shaped by the choices we make.
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Publication details will be announced.