Poundstone W. The Doomsday Calculation: How an Equation that Predicts the Future Is Transforming Everything We Know About Life and the Universe

New York, USA: Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2019. — 320 p. — ISBN: 978-0-316-44071-4.From the author of Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?, a fascinating look at how an equation that foretells the future is transforming everything we know about life, business, and the universe.
In the 18th century, the British minister and mathematician Thomas Bayes devised a theorem that allowed him to assign probabilities to events that had never happened before. It languished in obscurity for centuries until computers came along and made it easy to crunch the numbers. Now, as the foundation of big data, Bayes' formula has become a linchpin of the digital economy.
But here's where things get really interesting: Bayes' theorem can also be used to lay odds on the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence; on whether we live in a Matrix-like counterfeit of reality; on the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum theory being correct; and on the biggest question of all: how long will humanity survive?
The Doomsday Calculation tells how Silicon Valley's profitable formula became a controversial pivot of contemporary thought. Drawing on interviews with thought leaders around the globe, it's the story of a group of intellectual mavericks who are challenging what we thought we knew about our place in the universe. The Doomsday Calculation is compelling reading for anyone interested in our culture and its future.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
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