The Hindu Business Line : Reasoning beyond intuition

Likening the universe to a mathematical carpet which is perceived by creatures looking at it through imperfect glasses, Clifford A. Pickover suggests that computers may yet allow humanity to perfect those glasses. The beauty and importance of computers lie mainly in their usefulness as a tool for reasoning, creating, and discovering, he writes in The Loom of God: Tapestries of mathematics and mysticism (www.landmarkonthenet.com). “Computers are one of our most important tools for reasoning beyond our own intuition.”

Citing examples such as multi-digit postal codes, social security numbers, credit card identification, and phone numbers, the author observes that we live in a civilisation where numbers play a role in virtually all facets of human endeavour.

And to those who fret that the ubiquitous digits can make our lives dry, he shows a source of satisfaction in the pages of scientific journals with complicated-looking equations, saying that the human mind, when aided by numbers and symbols, is capable of expressing and understanding concepts of great complexity.

“Ever since ‘visionary' mathematical and physical relations trickled like rain onto the rooftop of 20 {+t} {+h}-centruy humans, we have begun to realise that some descriptions of nature lie beyond our traditional, unaided ways of thinking.”

While the expression of complicated relations and equations is one magnificent step, insight gained from these relations is another, Pickover explains. “Today, computers with graphics can be used to produce representations of data from a number of perspectives and to characterise natural phenomena with increasing clarity and usefulness… Cellular automata and fractals — classes of simple mathematical systems with exotic behaviour — are beginning to show promise as models for a variety of physical processes.”

He also finds that computer calculations help radically change how scientists pursue and conceptualise problems; so much so, of all the changes in scientific methodology, probably none is more important than the use of computers. In some cases, there is just no alternative to using computers for comparisons and calculations, especially when faced with the sheer volume of data generated by experiments.

An example in this regard is the uncovering of massive DNA sequences, with scientists trying to reconstruct messages and patterns in DNA strands, mathematical progressions, and a range of natural phenomena, ‘not unlike the search for extraterrestrial signals from space.'

The author postulates that if the properties we assign to the natural world are partly expressions of the way we think and our capacity for understanding, then the introduction of new tools such as the computer will change those properties. For, “the computer, like a microscope, expands the range of our senses. The world made visible by the computer seems limitless.”

For a contemplative study.

Mashed faces in a Harvard truck

In Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires (www.landmarkonthenet.com), you can catch up with not only ‘the founding of Facebook' but also ‘sex, money, betrayal.' For instance, in chapter 10, titled ‘November 25, 2003,' you'd read about ‘a vanlike bus that travelled between the Harvard campus and a half dozen of the nearby all-girl schools – as well as a few of the more liberal-minded coed party campuses – shuttling kids back and forth, most often on weekends.'

Let us move to chapter 3 to meet Tyler Winklevoss, along with his ‘mirror identical' twin brother, Cameron. Then, at the breakfast table across, there is Divya Narendra, the son of two Indian doctors from Bayside, Queens, ‘mostly hidden behind a copy of the Crimson, the school newspaper,' with ‘an untouched bowl of oatmeal beneath the newspaper.'

The author lets you into the ‘somewhat secret project' that the trio is working on; “a sort of side venture in their lives, one that had slowly begun to take on more import – ironically – the busier their lives became.”

Cameron reminds them that any launch would be possible only after they found a programmer, to replace Victor Gua who was out, ‘a great asset – a computer whiz who'd understood what they were trying to build.'

“The project was called the Harvard Connection, and it was a Web site that was going to change life on campus… ”

The story opens with Eduardo Saverin, a budding businessman with a hedge fund focusing mostly on oil futures, who made ‘a few good hurricane predictions that the rest of the market hadn't quite picked up on.' Welcoming him to the ‘jungle' is Mark Zuckerberg, a sophomore whose reputation had preceded him.

“He had also made a name for himself at Exeter when, after he had honed his coding skills creating a computerised version of the game Risk, he and a buddy created a software program called Synapse, a plug-in for MP3 players that allowed the players to ‘learn' a user's preferences and create tailored playlists based on that information… Rumour was, Microsoft had offered Mark between one and two million dollars to go work for them – and amazingly, Mark had turned them down.”

Fast-paced.

Grow your money by avoiding financial leakages

Be it buying a car or settling a hospital bill, booking an airline ticket or shopping online, you, as a customer, run a ripe chance of getting ripped off.

A simple insurance against such risks can be David Bach's Fight for Your Money (www.landmarkonthenet.com). The great truth about money is that in order to keep it and grow it, you have to fight for it, he says in the introduction.

“It doesn't matter what you earn, it is what you keep that determines whether you will be financially free. Yet each year our money has become harder and harder to keep… Until you fight for your money, you will overpay for almost everything you buy.”

The book cites, for instance, a 2007 study conducted by Bankrate.com which found the average service fee charged by an Internet bank in the US to be roughly a quarter of what a traditional bank charged, while interest rates were more than eight times higher than what you get from brick-and-mortar banks.

The author's advice, therefore, is to switch to a bank that allows you to monitor your account balances online and through ATMs. “Some banks also allow consumers to sign up for alerts by email or text messages on their mobile phones to let them know if their account balance drops below a certain level.”

However, his counsel is that you shouldn't depend entirely on your computer. “Record all cheque and electronic transactions when you make them, and as boring as it may be, reconcile your chequebook with your monthly statements. Review those statements carefully, and notify your bank immediately if you see a transaction you did not authorise.”

A chapter on ‘identity theft' – the number one consumer complaint – debunks a popular myth about cyberspace as the culprit. Contrary to popular belief, in cases where victims knew how their data was stolen, online identity-theft methods (such as phishing, hacking, and spyware) only represented 12 per cent of fraud cases, reads a finding of Javelin Strategy & Research's 2008 study.

“The report goes on to say that a huge 79 per cent of known identity-theft cases occur through traditional methods when a criminal makes direct contact with the consumer's personal identification – including stolen or lost wallets, chequebooks, or credit cards, ‘shoulder surfing' (when someone looks over your shoulder at the ATM or cash register), and stolen mail from unlocked mailboxes.

And still another 17 per cent report ‘friendly theft' – when friends, family, or in-home employees steal your personal data.” While there is a general awareness about online ‘phishing' scams, a scam dubbed ‘vishing' has increased from 3 per cent of identity theft in 2006 to 40 per cent in 2007, reports Bach.

In the ‘shopping' chapter, there are valuable tips on making online purchases. Look for the ‘Buy Safe' seal, Bach instructs.

A ready takeaway in the ‘travel' chapter is that it is cheaper to buy one ticket at a time. The author mentions, as example, how the American Airlines web site quoted a fare of $619 when searching for four tickets for a July 2008 trip from Los Angeles to New York. “When I searched for just one, the price for the same flight came up at only $344.”

Educative reference.

dmurali@thehindu.co.in

Tailpiece

“To prevent employees from being distracted all the time, we have insisted…”

“That they wear blinkers?”

“Also, to answer mobile phones only after an email alert or twitter request to that effect!”

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