Automate This

How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World

By: Christopher Steiner

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

The rousing story of the last gasp of human agency and how today’s best and brightest minds are endeavoring to put an end to it.

It used to be that to diagnose an illness, interpret legal documents, analyze foreign policy, or write a newspaper article you needed a human being with specific skills - and maybe an advanced degree or two. These days, high-level tasks are increasingly being handled by algorithms that can do precise work not only with speed but also with nuance. These "bots" started with human programming and logic, but now their reach extends beyond what their creators ever expected.

In this fascinating, frightening audiobook, Christopher Steiner tells the story of how algorithms took over - and shows why the "bot revolution" is about to spill into every aspect of our lives, often silently, without our knowledge. The May 2010 "Flash Crash" exposed Wall Street’s reliance on trading bots to the tune of a 998-point market drop and $1 trillion in vanished market value. But that was just the beginning. In Automate This, we meet bots that drive cars, pen haikus, and write music mistaken for Bach’s. They listen in on our customer service calls and figure out what Iran would do in the event of a nuclear standoff. There are algorithms that can pick out the most cohesive crew of astronauts for a space mission or identify the next Jeremy Lin. Some can even ingest statistics from baseball games and spit out pitch-perfect sports journalism indistinguishable from that produced by humans.

The interaction of man and machine can make our lives easier. But what will the world look like when algorithms control our hospitals, our roads, our culture, and our national security? What happens to businesses when we automate judgment and eliminate human instinct? And what role will be left for doctors, lawyers, writers, truck drivers, and many others? Who knows - maybe there’s a bot learning to do your job right this minute.

©2012 Christopher Steiner (P)2012 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"Algorithms are affecting every field of human endeavor, from markets to medicine, poker to pop music. Listen to this audiobook if you want to understand the most powerful force shaping the world today and tomorrow." (Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist, MIT; coauthor of Race Against the Machine)

Good overview of changes to how the world works

Great book. Starts off with strong Wall Street focus and then goes broader. Good look at links between human brains and software and big data. I listened at 3 x speed and narration was fine and clear.

Part techno evangelist, part Luddite

Discusses not only how our world has been changed by algorithms but some of the scary stories of algorithms run a muck causing major issues. The story of the trading bot that was making millions of dollars in trades in error due to the breeze from an opening door was funny at one level but also very disconcerting.

the new, re-coded invisible hand

adam smith wrote of the forces of supply and demand acting like an invisible hand on markets. algorithms are not just in more and more individual devices, they are the invisible hand behind more and more services and processes in our lives.

Nice book

Great topic, well organized , good quality of narration . I would have liked a better finish.

Fascinating, threatening, and not enough

What did you love best about Automate This?

I generally listen to nonfiction. I would rate this in the highest category of the books to which I have listened. I try to save "5" for the top 10% rather than 20%. It is a very timely book since the use of algorithms is really picking up steam in our economy. It was a well constructed and fun narrative.

While I found the stories great examples and helpful to understand how algorithms are used a greater number of examples with a bit less time spent on each would have enhanced my experience a bit. Nonetheless, I rated it a 5 on both overall and story.

This is a book for beginners. You don't need a PhD in math to understand the concept that a bunch of PhD quants are trying to replace almost every mental task you perform using computer logic.

It made me realize how visionary Kurt Vonnegut's classic piece of fiction, "Player Piano" really was.

p.s. audible. - I never read the same category of nonfiction twice. Your algorithms should know that and recommend books that are different rather than one I just read, not the same. Hire a better breed of quant. :)

Digitalization for Non-Geeks

This is an illuminating and enjoyable survey of how computers are transforming the way we live. Most importantly, it is written for the layperson--it's free from jargon and takes a balanced, journalistic approach to the subject.

The chapters are alternately frightening (the one showing how computer code can produce music as moving as that of the world's greatest composers) and exciting (the one showing how greatly pharmacies and medical diagnoses can be improved).

Walter Dixon's narration is first-rate: he has an unusually mellow tone that does not prevent him from inflecting every sentence in such a way that you feel he's connected the book to your brain with an invisible cord. I hope to hear him again in other books.

A real peek behind the scenes of a world changing

The World is changing much faster than we are, Only some can see it and have taken advantage. The rest of us are falling hopelessly behind. Is there anything we can do? Tell friends and parents who "don't do computers" to get up and start running. The Cheese has moved!

I will read this again sometime

Would you listen to Automate This again? Why?

Yes- there is a lot of valuable recent history in here that is easy to take for granted.

What did you like best about this story?

Showing how pervasive the use of algorithms has become.

What about Walter Dixon’s performance did you like?

Very good.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

not relevant.

Any additional comments?

This book is a must-read for anyone who thinks that machines cannot run human society.It starts by describing the history of how the stock market has become dominated by algorithmic programs that do most of the trading and evolve themselves without human participation. Then it branches out to other professions (medicine, customer service, music, and so on) to show how algorithms are reaching into the management of those professions too.

Surprisingly Entertaining for Nonfiction

What did you love best about Automate This?

The author of Automate This struck a good balance between technical content, engaging story telling, issues of relevance to understanding our changing world, and topics that are just interesting even if not significant. Topics include automated stock trading, medical diagnoses, musical composition, and others. The performance was so good it never caught my attention, it simply delivered the content to my ears without causing a single distraction.

I got Al's go rhythm ?...wait...

If you could sum up Automate This in three words, what would they be?

One of the best treatise on the impact of technology to modern lives.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The computers and the wizards programmers

What does Walter Dixon bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Incredible insights and the ability to reduce highly techie stuff into thought even I can comprehend

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No - way too dense , a couple chapters at a time was fine?