Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine

The Central Choice

You are accused of a crime? Who would you rather decide your future — an algorithm or a human?

Consistency vs. Human Touch

• Algorithms: always more consistent and far less prone to errors of judgment
• Humans: able to look you in the eye before determining your fate

How much fairness would you be willing to sacrifice for that human touch?

The Age of the Algorithm

We live in an era where the machine rules supreme, telling us what to watch, where to go, even who to send to prison. As we increasingly rely on algorithms to automate big, important decisions — in crime, healthcare, transport, money — they raise questions that cut to the heart of what we want our society to look like.

Broader Questions

• Is helping doctors diagnose patients more or less important than preserving our anonymity?
• Should we prevent people from becoming victims of crime, or protect innocent people from being falsely accused?

What This Book Does

Hannah Fry takes us on a tour through the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of the algorithms that surround us. She:

• Lifts the lid on their inner workings
• Demonstrates their power and exposes their limitations
• Examines whether they really improve on the human systems they replace