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  • Published: 6 June 2023
  • ISBN: 9780141995045
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $26.99

How to Stay Smart in a Smart World

Why Human Intelligence Still Beats Algorithms




An essential guide to navigating our data-driven world, from one of the most influential psychologists of the twenty-first century

Is more data always better?
Do algorithms really make better decisions than humans?
Can we stay in control in an increasingly automated world?

Drawing on examples from all spheres of life - media literacy, online dating, self-driving cars, the justice system, health records - Gerd Gigerenzer shows how, when it comes to data and decision making, more isn't always better: when dealing with uncertainty, the elegant and nuanced simplicity of human reasoning beats complex algorithms time and time again.

Filled with practical examples and cutting-edge research, How to Stay Smart in a Smart World examines the growing role of AI at all levels of daily life with refreshing clarity. This book is a liferaft in a sea of information and an urgent invitation to actively shape the digital world in which we want to live.

  • Published: 6 June 2023
  • ISBN: 9780141995045
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $26.99

About the author

Gerd Gigerenzer

Gerd Gigerenzer is Director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and former Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books on heuristics and decision-making, including Reckoning with Risk.

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Praise for How to Stay Smart in a Smart World

Using personal anecdotes, cutting-edge research and cautionary real-world tales, Gigerenzer deftly explains the limits and dangers of technology and AI

Chen Ly, New Scientist

Compelling . . . over many years, Gerd Gigerenzer has provided evidence that humans are smarter than economists. Now he shows that they are (where it matters) smarter than computers

John Kay, co-author of Radical Uncertainty

One of the world's most eminent psychologists

Spectator

Enlightening, impassioned, powerful . . . exposes the hunger for autocratic power, the political naivety and the commercial chicanery that lie behind the rise of AI

Simon Ings, The Times

A fascinating invitation to keep thinking for ourselves... Vital reading for a world populated by algorithms

Konstantinos Katsikopoulos, Professor of Behavioural Science, University of Southampton