With each passing day, computer algorithms are increasingly controlling and directing our lives. The big tech companies have developed algorithms that touch every part of our daily activities. They dictate our search results, filter the articles in our news feeds, show us the products we didn’t even know we want (or need), recommend places to go, suggest who our friends are, tell us who we should date, and more.

In theory, all of these computer controlled algorithms are designed to optimize our existence, but what if things go awry? What if the algorithms are wrong? What would happen if they instead made a complete mess of things?

Welcome to Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling.

Is it possible that everything we’ve been taught about nutrition is wrong?

Are the nutrition and health guidelines developed by the USDA and FDA designed to improve our health, or are they contributing to the epidemic of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, dementia, obstructive sleep apnea, autoimmune disease and others?

Are doctors being taught how to prevent sickness or how to treat symptoms?

Are “Big Food” and “Big Pharma” companies looking out for our health or are they more concerned with generating profits for their shareholders?

These are just a few of the questions that Dr. Robert Lustig explores in his book Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine.

The Singularity.

The technological point when a general artificial intelligence becomes more powerful than and uncontrollable by humans. The AI does it by continuously improving itself in faster and faster cycles.

When you read as much science fiction as I do, you run into a lot of books about The Singularity. The reason is obvious. How will runaway artificial intelligence treat humans. Will it serve us benevolently and improve our lives? Or will it see us as resources that need to be optimized, bags of water and organic matter that it can use to meet its objective? Furthermore, is its emergence as inevitable as some make it out to be?

Author Rob Reid explores the topic in his book After On.

Looking for books to add to your reading list in 2022? Here are 10 titles for your consideration. The list is broken into three categories – General Recommendations, Personal Development, and Business. I’ve also included a list of fun reads if my 10 must reads aren’t enough.

As you dive into the list, keep in mind that my tastes lean towards technology and science fiction, so most of the books on the list are from those genres.