Finding Wisdom in a World of AI

Bridging Seven Decades of Technology and Human Insight

Information Technology Senior Lecturer Kathiravelu Ganeshan is a passionate advocate for better health and educational outcomes for all. With a career spanning six countries, he has authored over 60 academic publications in IT and education, alongside books on diverse topics from Linux to Indian classical music.

Inspired by the recent surge in Artificial Intelligence—a field he first explored in his 1984 master's thesis—Ganeshan has published four new mini-books aimed at helping others improve their lives and navigate the AI revolution.

A Trilogy for a New Future

At the core of his writing is a trilogy that challenges the outdated systems governing our lives and offers a blueprint for a more empowered future:

• The Two Foundations: A work connecting the deepest lessons of our past to the urgent need for an educational paradigm fit for an AI-driven world.
• The Boy on the Coconut Tree: A memoir that exposes a healthcare system often leading to poorer outcomes and issues a manifesto for patient empowerment.
• The Wall and the Water: A guide that debunks the "study, earn, retire, decline" model, revealing how to make your later years your richest.

Ganeshan poses a pressing question: Why are we navigating the tsunami of Artificial Intelligence with the thinking of the steam age? He argues that our obsolete systems in education, economics, and governance are not just outdated but actively destructive, perpetuating inequality and undermining a just society.

His Latest Work: Finding Wisdom in a World of AI

This question finds its ultimate expression in his timely new memoir, Finding Wisdom in a World of AI: What an Island Paradise Can Teach Us About Happiness and Our Future.

In this work, Ganeshan synthesises his unique journey—from an idyllic childhood in the 1950s on the island of Karainagar, Sri Lanka, to the vanguard of the digital revolution. His island community lived the ancient parable of the Mexican Fisherman, where life was not a race for more, but a practice of "enough."
With the keen eye of an engineer and the soul of a storyteller, this book is a field guide for the 21st century, exploring:

• How the "Mexican Fisherman" model provides a radical alternative to the burnout of the modern rat race.
• Why a tactile, grounded education—he first learned to write in the flickering light of a kerosene lamp—can forge a stronger cognitive foundation than today's fragmented digital learning.
• How we can harness AI as a tool for human flourishing, programmed with values of sustainability and community.

Finding Wisdom in a World of AI is a passionate plea to use our most advanced intelligence to reclaim our most essential human values. It is the story of a boy who learned his first lessons traced in sand, now guiding us to see that the strongest foundation for the future lies not in the silicon of our chips, but in the wisdom of our past.

Explore his trilogy on life, education, and healthcare at Amazon.com: Kathiravelu Ganeshan.