The Age of Algorithms
The Age of Algorithms
Gilles Dowek, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris
Algorithms are probably the most sophisticated tools that people have had at their disposal since the beginnings of human history. They have transformed science, industry, society. They upset the concepts of work, property, government, private life, even humanity. Going easily from one extreme to the other, we rejoice that they make life easier for us, but fear that they will enslave us. To get beyond this vision of good vs evil, this book takes a new look at our time, the age of algorithms. Creations of the human spirit, algorithms are what we made them. And they will be what we want them to be: it's up to us to choose the world we want to live in.
- The authors, both eminent computer scientists, avoid simplistic analysis, avoiding both technophile enthusiasm and apocalyptic technophobia
- Examines issues raised by algorithms, in particular work, property, government and privacy, from technical, philosophical, and societal perspectives
- Explains complex and technical issues in terms everyone can understand
Reviews & endorsements
'... written by two computer scientists offering a most accessible view on both what algorithms are (the book starts with a clearest analogy between algorithms and recipes) and how algorithms are severely changing human life.' Simona Chiodo, Metascience
'This short and interesting book provides a non-technical introduction to the age of algorithms. The book is worth reading many times even by those unfamiliar with algorithms or computer science.' S.V. Nagaraj, The SIGACT News
Product details
April 2020Paperback
9781108745420
166 pages
216 × 140 × 10 mm
0.22kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Algorithms intrigue, algorithms disturb
- 2. What is an algorithm?
- 3. Algorithms, computers, and programs
- 4. What algorithms do
- 5. What algorithms don't do
- 6. Computational thinking
- 7. The end of employment
- 8. The end of work
- 9. The end of property
- 10. Governing in the age of algorithms
- 11. An algorithm in the community
- 12. The responsibility of algorithms
- 13. Personal data and privacy
- 14. Fairness, transparency, and diversity
- 15. Computers and ecology
- 16. Computer science education
- 17. The augmented human
- 18. Can an algorithm be intelligent?
- 19. Can an algorithm have feelings? 20. Time to choose.
