Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms

One where the arrogant, dictatorial algorithms that fill many of these pages are a thing of the past. One where we stop seeing machines as objective masters and start treating them as we would any other source of power. By questioning their decisions; scrutinizing their motives; acknowledging our emotions; demanding to know who stands to benefit; h

This is all Bayes’ theorem does: offers a systematic way to update your belief in a hypothesis on the basis of the evidence.30 It accepts that you can’t ever be completely certain about the theory you’re considering, but allows you to make a best guess from the information available.

As computer algorithms increasingly control and decide our future, ‘Hello world’ is a reminder of a moment of dialogue between human and machine. Of an instant where the boundary between controller and controlled is virtually imperceptible. It marks the start of a partnership – a shared journey of possibilities, where one cannot exist without the o

Here’s how Kasparov puts it: ‘When playing with the assistance of computers, we could concentrate on strategic planning instead of spending so much time on calculations. Human creativity was even more paramount under these conditions.’2