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Book

Overcomplicated : technology at the limits of comprehension

Call Number

  • 303.483 A6648 (CEN)

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Publication Information

New York, New York : Current, [2016]

Physical Description

x, 244 pages ; 22 cm

Summary

"You don't understand the software running your car or your iPhone. But here's a secret: neither do the geniuses at Apple or the Ph.D.'s at Toyota--not perfectly, anyway. No one, not lawyers, doctors, accountants, or policy makers, fully grasps the rules governing your tax return, your retirement account, or your hospital's medical machinery. The same technological advances that have simplified our lives have made the systems governing our lives incomprehensible, unpredictable, and overcomplicated. In Overcomplicated, complexity scientist Samuel Arbesman offers a fresh, insightful field guide to living with complex technologies that defy human comprehension. As technology grows more complex, Arbesman argues, its behavior mimics the vagaries of the natural world more than it conforms to a mathematical model. If we are to survive and thrive in this new age, we must abandon our need for governing principles and rules and accept the chaos. By embracing and observing the freak accidents and flukes that disrupt our lives, we can gain valuable clues about how our algorithms really work. What's more, we will become better thinkers, scientists, and innovators as a result"--Page [4] of cover.

Contents

  • Welcome to the entanglement
  • The origins of the kluge
  • Losing the bubble
  • Our bug-ridden World
  • The need for biological thinking
  • Walking humbly with technology.

Subjects