![]() In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths show how the algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such issues for decades. We can still flourish-if we learn from the first.Ī fascinating exploration of how insights from computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. But their world also grappled with the same dark side of rapid change: social division, political extremism, insecurity, pandemics and other unintended consequences of discovery. The first Renaissance, the time of Columbus, Copernicus, Gutenberg and others, likewise redrew all maps of the world, democratized communication and sparked a flourishing of creative achievement. To make sense of present shocks, we need to step back and recognize: we’ve been here before. That’s why, in a moment when everyone ought to be celebrating giant global gains, many of us are righteously angry at being left out and stressed about where we’re headed. Business and science are working giant revolutions upon our societies, but our politics and institutions evolve at a much slower pace. But the same global flows of trade, capital, people and ideas that make gains possible for some people deliver big losses to others-and make us all more vulnerable to one another. Human health, aggregate wealth and education are flourishing. Now is the best moment in history to be alive, but we have never felt more anxious or divided. To avoid being torn apart by its stresses, we need to recognize the fact-and gain courage and wisdom from the past.Age of Discovery shows how. The present is a contest between the bright and dark sides of discovery.
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