How to Predict Everything
The Formula Transforming What We Know About Life and the Universe
1st Edition
Published on 6. June 2019
304 pages
978-1-78607-572-7 (ISBN)
Description
How do you predict something that has never happened before?
There's a useful calculation being employed by Wall Street, Silicon Valley and maths professors all over the world, and it predicts that the human species will become extinct in 760 years. Unfortunately, there is disagreement over how to apply the formula, and some argue that we might only have twenty years left.
Originally devised by British clergyman Thomas Bayes, the theorem languished in obscurity for two hundred years before being resurrected as the lynchpin of the digital economy. With brief detours into archaeology, philology, and overdue library books, William Poundstone explains how we can use it to predict pretty much anything. What is the chance that there are multiple universes? How long will Hamilton run? Will the US stock market continue to perform as well this century as it has for the last hundred years? And are we really all doomed?
There's a useful calculation being employed by Wall Street, Silicon Valley and maths professors all over the world, and it predicts that the human species will become extinct in 760 years. Unfortunately, there is disagreement over how to apply the formula, and some argue that we might only have twenty years left.
Originally devised by British clergyman Thomas Bayes, the theorem languished in obscurity for two hundred years before being resurrected as the lynchpin of the digital economy. With brief detours into archaeology, philology, and overdue library books, William Poundstone explains how we can use it to predict pretty much anything. What is the chance that there are multiple universes? How long will Hamilton run? Will the US stock market continue to perform as well this century as it has for the last hundred years? And are we really all doomed?
Reviews / Votes
'Thoroughly entertaining reading and it's not hard to foresee a future in which readers everywhere will find it impossible to put down.' * <i>E&T Magazine</i> * 'a fun and energetic romp through a mishmash of philosophical and cosmological ideas... an engagingly written foray.' * The Inquisitive Biologist * 'A fascinating sweep through so many interesting and important insights into how we can understand our future, masterfully knitted together.' -- Bobby Duffy, author of <i>The Perils of Perception</i> 'One of the best science writers of our time has taken on one of the most interesting and important subjects of all time - how to predict the future under great uncertainty... A gripping read.' -- Michael Shermer, author of <i>Heavens on Earth</i> 'A very interesting and definitive book on this subject.' -- J. Richard Gott, astrophysicist and author of <i>The Cosmic Web</i>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
File size
1,63 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-78607-572-7 (9781786075727)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
William Poundstone
How to Predict Everything
The Formula Transforming What We Know About Life and the Universe
Book
06/2019
Oneworld Publications
€36.08
Article not available at the moment
Person
William Poundstone is the author of fourteen books, including the international bestseller Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? He lives in Los Angeles.
Content
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Diana and Charles
- Part I: Consider the Lemming
- How to Predict Everything
- Riddle of the Sphinx
- The Minister of Tunbridge Wells
- A History of Grim Reckoning
- Twelve Reasons Why the Doomsday Argument Is Wrong
- Twenty-Four Dogs in Albuquerque
- Baby Names and Bomb Fragments
- Sleeping Beauty
- The Presumptuous Philosopher
- Tarzan Meets Jane
- The Shooting Room
- The Metaphysics of Gumball Machines
- Part II: Life, Mind, Universe
- The Simulation Hypothesis
- The Fermi Question
- The Princess in the Tower
- Two Questions for an Extraterrestrial
- Pandora's Box
- Life and Death in Many Worlds
- 1/137
- Summoning the Demon
- You Are Here
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Sources
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- Y
- Z
- About the Author
