The Numerati

Product Description

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.