Algorithms at Work
About this book
In this highly intoxicating original series, researchers Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, authors of the best-selling smash hit, Algorithms to Live By, tackle some of the biggest ideas in computer science today—and, in the process, illuminate cutting-edge ways of understanding how we live, work and play.They take us inside a tomato factory where no one has a job title to shed new light on decentralized network structures; visit an Olympic fencer to explore the game theory of when to make the first move; and tour the birthplace of the internet, a buzzing laboratory on the border of France and Switzerland, to examine the true—and truly human—limits to what a network of nearly one million machines can achieve.Along the way, they interview key figures in the world of computer science—from Google's Vice President of Infrastructure Eric Brewer to ‘the godfather of distributed systems’ Leslie Lamport—plus preeminent neuroscientists, sociologists, and even the co-founder of Instagram.Algorithms at Work is a playful and deeply inquisitive exploration of the overlapping questions of computer science and society. The result is six episodes that examine the world in unexpected and memorable ways.