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posted by Fnord666 on Monday November 19 2018, @07:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the who-watches-the-watchers dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

We Need an FDA For Algorithms

In the introduction to her new book, Hannah Fry points out something interesting about the phrase "Hello World." It's never been quite clear, she says, whether the phrase—which is frequently the entire output of a student's first computer program—is supposed to be attributed to the program, awakening for the first time, or to the programmer, announcing their triumphant first creation.

Perhaps for this reason, "Hello World" calls to mind a dialogue between human and machine, one which has never been more relevant than it is today. Her book, called Hello World, published in September, walks us through a rapidly computerizing world. Fry is both optimistic and excited—along with her Ph.D. students at the University of College, London, she has worked on many algorithms herself—and cautious. In conversation and in her book, she issues a call to arms: We need to make algorithms transparent, regulated, and forgiving of the flawed creatures that converse with them.

I reached her by telephone while she was on a book tour in New York City.


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  • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday November 20 2018, @01:03AM

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 20 2018, @01:03AM (#764103) Homepage Journal

    The big question is that of bias. Are the algorithms that determine what you get to see biased in some significant and not widely known manner? I mean, if I connect to a search site about category theory, and it shows me social media posts about category theory, that might be OK. But if I connect to a general news site and ask about the Aswan dam and it shows me nothing but category theory, I would suspect I'm getting biased news.

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