Overcomplicated : Technology at the Limits of Comprehension
Language: English
Published by Current, New York, 2016
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Alhambra Books, Edmonton, AB, CanadaAlhambra Books
AbeBooks seller since May 23, 2003
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 9.83
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
244 pp, index. Dj has light edgewear. Interior unmarked.
Seller Inventory # 047822
- Title
- Overcomplicated : Technology at the Limits of Comprehension
- Author
- Arbesman, Samuel
- Publisher
- Current, New York
- Publication year
- 2016
- Condition
- Very Good
- Dust jacket
- Good +
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1591847761
- ISBN 13
- 9781591847762
- Seller catalogs
- Sciences
Why did the New York Stock Exchange suspend trading without warning on July 8, 2015? Why did certain Toyota vehicles accelerate uncontrollably against the will of their drivers? Why does the programming inside our airplanes occasionally surprise its creators?
After a thorough analysis by the top experts, the answers still elude us.
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.
Lucid and energizing, this book is a vital new analysis of the world heralded as "modern" for anyone who wants to live wisely.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Samuel Arbesman is Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital, a science and technology venture capital firm. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Silicon Flatirons Center of Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado and a Research Fellow at the Long Now Foundation. His writing on science, mathematics, and technology has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. Arbesman's first book, The Half-life of Facts, examines how knowledge changes over time. He lives in Kansas City with his wife and children.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Alhambra Books
Edmonton, AB, Canada
AbeBooks seller since May 23, 2003
Shipping rates from Canada to U.S.A.
| Item | 10 to 15 business days | 6 to 8 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 26.21 | £ 71.15 |
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