About the Book
"The rousing story of the last gasp of human agency and how today s best and brightest minds are endeavoring to put an end to it."
It used to be that to diagnose an illness, interpret legal documents, analyze foreign policy, or write a newspaper article you needed a human being with specific skills and maybe an advanced degree or two. These days, high-level tasks are increasingly being handled by algorithms that can do precise work not only with speed but also with nuance. These bots started with human programming and logic, but now their reach extends beyond what their creators ever expected.
In this fascinating, frightening book, Christopher Steiner tells the story of how algorithms took over and shows why the bot revolution is about to spill into every aspect of our lives, often silently, without our knowledge.
The May 2010 Flash Crash exposed Wall Street s reliance on trading bots to the tune of a 998-point market drop and $1 trillion in vanished market value. But that was just the beginning. In "Automate This," we meet bots that are driving cars, penning haiku, and writing music mistaken for Bach s. They listen in on our customer service calls and figure out what Iran would do in the event of a nuclear standoff. There are algorithms that can pick out the most cohesive crew of astronauts for a space mission or identify the next Jeremy Lin. Some can even ingest statistics from baseball games and spit out pitch-perfect sports journalism indistinguishable from that produced by humans.
The interaction of man and machine can make our lives easier. But what will the world look like when algorithms control our hospitals, our roads, our culture, and our national security? What happens to businesses when we automate judgment and eliminate human instinct? And what role will be left for doctors, lawyers, writers, truck drivers, and many others?
Who knows maybe there s a bot learning to do your job this minute."
About the Author :
Christopher Steiner is the cofounder and co-CEO of Aisle50, a Y Combinator start-up offering online grocery deals. An engineer, Steiner was previously a technology journalist at Forbes magazine and the Chicago Tribune. His first book, $20 Per Gallon, was a national bestseller.
Review :
[Steiner] excels in bringing a dry subject to life.
"Financial Times"
"As readers follow Steiner in his whirlwind tour of algorithm applications, they will marvel at the versatility of a mathematical tool understood only by a small circle of experts. Readers peer over the experts shoulders long enough to trace the decision-tree logic of an individual algorithm and to follow the cascading dynamics of the linked algorithms that drive the bots now handling everything from putting astronauts into space to matching compatible personalities venturing into the dating scene . An accessible foray into computer programming that has become a hidden but pervasive presence." Bryce Christensen, "Booklist"
Algorithms are affecting every field of human endeavor, from markets to medicine, poker to pop music. Read this book if you want to understand the most powerful force shaping the world today and tomorrow.
Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist, MIT; coauthor of "Race Against the Machine"
Christopher Steiner knows how to find terrific stories and tell them well. He has written a lively narrative with humans at its center. To be sure, its subject is important, but the book is also fun.
Randall Stross, author of "Planet Google" and "The Launch Pad""
"[Steiner] excels in bringing a dry subject to life."
--"Financial Times"
"As readers follow Steiner in his whirlwind tour of algorithm applications, they will marvel at the versatility of a mathematical tool understood only by a small circle of experts. Readers peer over the experts' shoulders long enough to trace the decision-tree logic of an individual algorithm and to follow the cascading dynamics of the linked algorithms that drive the "bots" now handling everything from putting astronauts into space to matching compatible personalities venturing into the dating scene.... An accessible foray into computer programming that has become a hidden but pervasive presence."--Bryce Christensen, "Booklist"
"Algorithms are affecting every field of human endeavor, from markets to medi-cine, poker to pop music. Read this book if you want to understand the most powerful force shaping the world today and tomorrow."
--Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist, MIT; coauthor of "Race Against the Machine" "Christopher Steiner knows how to find terrific stories and tell them well. He has written a lively narrative with humans at its center. To be sure, its subject is important, but the book is also fun."
--Randall Stross, author of "Planet Google" and "The Launch Pad"
"With a fluid prose style and an eye for interesting characters, [Christopher] Steiner, a for-mer reporter for Forbes magazine and now co-founder of an internet grocery company, excels in bringing a dry subject to life. The characters he traces help to dramatise one of the central tenets of the book: that techniques invented for solving problems in one field are spilling over into others, accelerating the pace of change."--Richard Waters, "Financial Times"
"As readers follow Steiner in his whirlwind tour of algorithm applications, they will marvel at the versatility of a mathematical tool understood only by a small circle of experts. Readers peer over the experts' shoulders long enough to trace the decision-tree logic of an individual algorithm and to follow the cascading dynamics of the linked algorithms that drive the "bots" now handling everything from putting astronauts into space to matching compatible personalities venturing into the dating scene.... An accessible foray into computer programming that has become a hidden but pervasive presence."--Bryce Christensen, "Booklist"
"Algorithms are affecting every field of human endeavor, from markets to medi-cine, poker to pop music. Read this book if you want to understand the most powerful force shaping the world today and tomorrow."
--Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist, MIT; coauthor of "Race Against the Machine" "Christopher Steiner knows how to find terrific stories and tell them well. He has written a lively narrative with humans at its center. To be sure, its subject is important, but the book is also fun."
--Randall Stross, author of "Planet Google" and "The Launch Pad"
"Algorithms are affecting every field of human endeavor, from markets to medi-cine, poker to pop music. Read this book if you want to understand the most powerful force shaping the world today and tomorrow."
--Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist, MIT; coauthor of "Race Against the Machine" "Christopher Steiner knows how to find terrific stories and tell them well. He has written a lively narrative with humans at its center. To be sure, its subject is important, but the book is also fun."
--Randall Stross, author of "Planet Google" and "The Launch Pad"
