And if A turns on whenever B is off, and vice versa, that’s a third operation. If A turns on when either B or C is on, that’s another tiny logical operation. (That was his master’s thesis at MIT-the most important master’s thesis of all time.) If transistor A turns on only when transistors B and C are both on, it’s doing a tiny piece of logical reasoning. Claude Shannon, better known as the father of information theory, was the first to realize that what transistors are doing, as they switch on and off in response to other transistors, is reasoning. The second simplest algorithm is: combine two bits. Another bit somewhere in the Social Security Administration’s computers says whether you’re alive or dead. One bit somewhere in your bank’s computers says whether your account is overdrawn or not. The state of one transistor is one bit of information: one if the transistor is on, and zero if it’s off. The simplest algorithm is: flip a switch. Computers are made of billions of tiny switches called transistors, and algorithms turn those switches on and off billions of times per second. If every algorithm suddenly stopped working, it would be the end of the world as we know it.Īn algorithm is a sequence of instructions telling a computer what to do. Algorithms run factories, trade and route goods, cash the proceeds, and keep records. Algorithms schedule flights and then fly the airplanes. Your bank is a gigantic tangle of algorithms, with humans turning the knobs here and there.
They’re not just in your cell phone or your laptop but in your car, your house, your appliances, and your toys. They are woven into the fabric of everyday life. Today, algorithms are in every nook and cranny of civilization. Only a generation or two ago, mentioning the word algorithm would have drawn a blank from most people.
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