Description
Book SynopsisOutnumbered is a journey to the dark side of mathematics, from how it dictates our social media activities to our travel routes. Algorithms are running our society, and as Facebook''s Cambridge Analytica scandal has revealed, we don''t even realize how our data has been used against us. David Sumpter investigates whether mathematics is crossing dangerous lines when it comes to what we can make decisions about.
Our increasing reliance on technology and the internet has opened a window for mathematicians and data researchers to gaze through into our lives. Using the data they are constantly collecting about where we travel, where we shop, what we buy, and what interests us, they can begin to predict our daily habits, and increasingly we are relinquishing our decision-making to algorithms. Are we giving this up too easily?
Without understanding what mathematics can and can''t do it is impossible to get a handle on how it is changing our lives.
In this book, Da
Trade Review
Sumpter's [...] expertise and sceptical approach are brought alive with fascinating examples including Banksy and Space Invaders. * Financial Times *
[David Sumpter] reckons with the sheer scales of the systems that manage much of our digital lives. Step by step he details the maths that underpins each of these systems, laying out the straightforward, if advanced, calculations that govern their outcomes – and their limitations. * Guardian *
An important message. * Popular Science *
As millions slowly wake up to the pitfalls of handing over their digital lives, Sumpter combines engaging hands-on demonstrations with stories from insiders to shed light on precisely how data alchemists seek to persuade and predict us, and whether their almighty algorithms are all they're hyped up to be. -- John Burn-Murdoch, data journalist, Financial Times
You've heard about these algorithms that run your life and you want to know two things: how exactly do they work? And how much should I worry? With a refreshing mix of in-depth knowledge and personal honesty, David Sumpter answers both those questions. * Timandra Harkness, writer, comedian and broadcaster, and author of Big Data *
A stellar book about the application of mathematics to the real world. Each chapter tells a fascinating story, and David's warm and witty style demonstrates that a mathematician can be so much more than just a machine for turning coffee into theorems. A riveting read. -- Kit Yates, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath
Table of Contents
PART 1: ANALYSING US Chapter 1: Finding Banksy Chapter 2: Make Some Noise Chapter 3: The Principal Components of Friendship Chapter 4: One Hundred Dimensions of You Chapter 5: Cambridge Hyperbolytica Chapter 6: Impossibly Unbiased Chapter 7: The Data Alchemists PART 2: INFLUENCING US Chapter 8: Nate Silver vs the Rest of Us Chapter 9: We ‘Also Liked ’ the Internet Chapter 10: The Popularity Contest Chapter 11: Bubbling Up Chapter 12: Football Matters Chapter 13: Who Reads Fake News? PART 3: BECOMING US Chapter 14: Learning to be Sexist Chapter 15: The Only Thought Between the Decimal Chapter 16: Kick Your Ass at Space Invaders Chapter 17: The Bacterial Brain Chapter 18: Back to Reality Notes Acknowledgements Index
