The Numerati
Topiary will sum this book up for you: Very smart foreign-born US math whizzes are analyzing all our output to figure out:-how to make us work harder,
-social groupings and sidelining of workers,
-how to substitute somebody in our job for less pay,
-how to sell us more crap,
-how to predict trends,
-if we are terrorists,
-how to tailor our health insurance costs to our behavior,
-early Alzheimer's by the reduction of complexity of our writings,
-how to match us with partners.
This was a very interesting book and carries the Topiary seal of approval, for the author did quite a bit of work researching his subject and interviewing pertinent people.
"Instead of knocking on our door, data miners break our documents into thousands of components and then sift through them obsessively."..."Tribes are defined not by neighborhood, race, tax bracket; instead, machines analyze our words and drop us into tribes..."
Tribal Topiary, swimming in a data bucket with a bunch of Topiary of various trimmings, what a thought.
Moo!
posted by The Topiary Cow at
11:12 AM
7 Comments:
What's does he suggest you do if you're a terrorist?
Ah Gorilla, always so funny.
The chapter on terrorists was rather slim since obviously the author was not given much info on the use of data mining to search for terror activity.
The chapter instead spent most of its time discussing software which has been developed to safeguard casino profits.
Moo!
Wow, sounds like an interesting read! I'm going to have to check that one out. Thanks for the info!
kinda freaky, makes me want to burn all my papers and wipe myself off the interweb, what if they conclude I'm a threat to society? I do sometimes publicly say things that would suggest that, my damn Sicilian genes just can't stay quiet!
Karen,
Yes, it was interesting book. Makes one think about all the identity trails we are leaving electronically.
Kate,
Yes...hm...sicilian, eh? Ah, that WOULD explain the vegetable garden then? :)
(Cow being very careful what she says about Kate now!!!)
Quiet moo!
i am applying to grad schools thru online applications (by the way this is the most complicated thing i've ever done and am not mastering it. i miss pens and paper.)
anyway, i now have so many different passwords, IDs, access codes, blah, blah, blah. at this point, i'm ready to share ever single piece of information about myself with the whole world and get it over with. i swear, i have nothing to hide.
i know a number of people who've had their identities stolen. imagine, having your identity stolen?
Thanks, I no longer feel so special and unique..
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home