Anybody who has come face to face with a 30-ton lorry on a narrow country lane knows exactly what I’m talking about. Throughout the book, Fry stresses the importance of sustaining an ability to think critically when confronted by the results of an algorithm. Hannah Fry sets out her stall early on in the book, with a brilliant example of how blind faith in algorithms can lead us literally over a cliff. The first chapter also explains what an algorithm is and how they have evolved through the years. The book opens by explaining how algorithms wield power how they can include or exclude. For a given topic, Hello World looks at the potential flaws of commonly used algorithms and examines how these flaws can be mitigated. The book is broken down into several broad sections and explains how algorithms are used in a particular facet of society such as driving or crime.

It also goes some way to explaining what algorithms can’t do, and how humans can be a little too slavish in following an algorithm’s results.

Written by Hannah Fry, Associate Professor in mathematics at UCL, Hello World tries to demystify exactly what an algorithm is and explain how useful they are. It’s a super-accessible overview of how algorithms are used in our everyday lives. It examines the good and bad of machine learning and asks important questions, such as should a computer be in charge of clinical diagnosis or criminal sentencing, and can an algorithm be an artist? What is Hello World? Hello World by Hannah Fry is a fascinating look at the algorithms that govern our lives. In Hello World she lifts the lid on their inner workings, demonstrates their power, exposes their limitations, and examines whether they really are an improvement on the humans they are replacing.This week, following on from my review of Sarah-Jayne Blakemore’s Inventing Ourselves, I’m looking at another popular science paperback. Hannah Fry takes us on a tour of the good, the bad and the downright ugly of the algorithms that surround us. So how much should we rely on them? What kind of future do we want? Welcome to the age of the algorithm, the story of a not-too-distant future where machines rule supreme, making important decisions - in healthcare, transport, finance, security, what we watch, where we go even who we send to prison. Yet a human can look you in the eye before passing sentence. Who would you rather determined your fate - a human or an algorithm?Īn algorithm is more consistent and less prone to error of judgement. 'One of the best books yet written on data and serves a place on the bestseller charts.' (The Times) Click here to purchase from Rakuten Kobo _

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