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.
