The fear index
His name is carefully guarded from the general public but within the secretive inner circles of the ultra-rich Dr Alex Hoffmann is a legend - a visionary scientist whose computer software turns everything it touches into gold.Together with his partner, an investment banker, Hoffmann has developed a revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that tracks human emotions, enabling it to predict movements in the financial markets with uncanny accuracy. His hedge fund, based in Geneva, makes billions. But then in the early hours of the morning, while he lies asleep with his wife, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of their lakeside house. So begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as Hoffmann attempts, with increasing desperation, to discover who is trying to destroy him. His quest forces him to confront the deepest questions of what it is to be human. By the time night falls over Geneva, the financial markets will be in turmoil and Hoffmann's world - and ours - transformed forever.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
6mentions
5people
2016–2023years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Other good books by Robert Harris: The Ghost; The Fear Index; The Second Sleep.
- 1. Imperium/Conspirata/Dictator [Cicero Trilogy] - Robert Harris (excellent)
2. The Fear Index - Robert Harris (good)
3. 1776 - David McCullough (good)
4. Sharpe's Eagle - Bernard Cornwell (good)
5. Star Wars: Thrawn - Timothy Zahn (okay, fun if you read original Thrawn books)
6. Star Wars: Alliances - Timothy Zahn (okay, not as fun as above)
7. Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn (fun!)
8. Star Wars: X-Wing series books by Aaron Allston (fun!)
9. Art and Fear - Bayles & Orland (not that impressed)
So I rediscovered Star Wars stuff I enjoyed a lot as a kid and re-read them as well as some newer SW stuff which was all right but not the same as encountering it at 13 years old.
Discovered Robert Harris this year, he's great. Going to keep reading more of his stuff.
I was re-reading some of the Hornblower books by C S Forester (amazing stuff) and branched out to Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe. It was good fun. Going to read more of that large series.
- Some brain junk food, I am very much enjoying thus far.
https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Index-Robert-Harris/dp/030794811...
- The Fear Index by Robert Harris, 2011
- This article appears to have been removed from the frontpage despite the points to support it.
just making an observation, I had to go back into my browser history to find this when it was recently in the top list and visible.
I think making API calls available for reasons why an algorithm has done this would be helpful in understanding why and how decisions are made.
in relation to this article, I am observing an algorithm making a decision for me that I think I disagree with and I am not delighted about it.
[edit] : to extrapolate on this further, whether either of them is 'right' or 'wrong' I think this is an important conversation to have and design effective means of review now, before we have built complex systems using this foundation and lose understanding of why a machine may make a decision like liquidating all hedges in a hedgefund (read "The Fear Index") or causing a car to turn into oncoming traffic to avoid a deer, being able to have the information readily available for review and improvement is necessary to discuss now... not later.
a horrible analogy I am coming up with now is that the cause of climate change does not matter right now, it is having an immediate impact on people around the globe and we need to take action immediately. (it has impacted my ability to obtain home insurance, I have been denied by every single one except a small one that was recently purchased by geico -- the reason as quoted has been "home is within three miles of the coast line" -- I am on the east coast)
- 1. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
2. One L by Scott Turow
3. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
4. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
5. Believer: My Forty Years in Politics by David Axelrod
6. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
7. Augustus: First Emperor of Rome by Adrian Goldsworthy
8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (re-read)
9. I, Claudius by Robert Graves
10. Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
11. The Fear Index by Robert Harris
12. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (re-read)
13. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (re-read)
14. Hannibal by Thomas Harris (re-read)
15. Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (re-read)
16. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (re-read)
17. Claudius the God by Robert Graves
Re-reads take hardly any time at all, so I'm not sure whether to count them. If you're not, then 11 books read so far.
