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Houghton Mifflin
August 2008
On Sale: August 12, 2008
252 pages
ISBN: 0618784608
EAN: 9780618784608
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
An urgent look at how a global math elite is predicting
and altering our behavior -- at work, at the mall, and in bed. Every day we produce loads of data about ourselves simply by
living in the modern world: we click web pages, flip
channels, drive through automatic toll booths, shop with
credit cards, and make cell phone calls. Now, in one of the
greatest undertakings of the twenty-first century, a savvy
group of mathematicians and computer scientists is beginning
to sift through this data to dissect us and map out our next
steps. Their goal? To manipulate our behavior -- what we
buy, how we vote -- without our even realizing it. In this tour de force of original reporting and analysis,
journalist Stephen Baker provides us with a fascinating
guide to the world we're all entering -- and to the people
controlling that world. The Numerati have infiltrated every
realm of human affairs, profiling us as workers,
shoppers, patients, voters, potential terrorists -- and
lovers. The implications are vast. Our privacy evaporates.
Our bosses can monitor and measure our every move (then
reward or punish us). Politicians can find the swing voters
among us, by plunking us all into new political groupings
with names like "Hearth Keepers" and "Crossing Guards."
It can sound scary. But the Numerati can also work on our
behalf, diagnosing an illness before we're aware of the
symptoms, or even helping us find our soul mate. Surprising,
enlightening, and deeply relevant, The Numerati shows how a
powerful new endeavor -- the mathematical modeling of
humanity -- will transform every aspect of our lives.
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