How algorithms shape our world @ TED

Kevin Slavin: How algorithms shape our world | Video on TED.com

...complex computer programs determine: espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts, and architecture. And he warns that we are writing code we can't understand, with implications we can't control
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black box trading...also sometimes called algo trading, algorithmic trading.
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(selling or buying large amounts) algorithms to do... break up that big thing into a million little transactions. And the magic and the horror of that is that the same math that you use to break up the big thing into a million little things can be used to find a million little things and sew them back together and figure out what's actually happening in the market.
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What could go wrong is that a year ago, nine percent of the entire market just disappears in five minutes, and they called it the flash crash of 2:45.
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