The Sovereign Mind
Reclaiming Agency in the Age of Algorithmic Intelligence
Every day, algorithms decide what you read, what you buy, what you believe, and increasingly, what you think. The convenience is real. So is the cost. When AI drafts your emails, summarizes your reading, and makes your recommendations, what happens to the cognitive muscles you stopped exercising?
The Sovereign Mind is for professionals who see the value of AI tools but refuse to let them do their thinking for them. Catherine Merritt draws on cognitive science, technology criticism, and practical philosophy to map the specific ways algorithmic intelligence erodes independent thought, then provides concrete practices for maintaining your cognitive autonomy. This is not a Luddite manifesto. It is a field guide for using AI without being used by it.
In an age where outsourcing thought is the path of least resistance, choosing to think for yourself is the most valuable skill you can cultivate.