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Ants and Algorithms

David Sumpter describes the algorithms ruling the world.

What can ants tells us about whether something deserves to be popular? This is a question tackled in David Sumpter’s book – ‘The Ten Equations that Rule the World: And How You Can Use Them Too.’ He tells Tim Harford about some of the algorithms that you see in nature, and those harnessed by tech companies such as YouTube.

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Mon 11 Jan 2021 10:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 9 Jan 2021 02:50GMT
  • Sat 9 Jan 2021 16:50GMT
  • Sun 10 Jan 2021 02:50GMT
  • Sun 10 Jan 2021 05:50GMT
  • Sun 10 Jan 2021 15:50GMT
  • Sun 10 Jan 2021 22:50GMT
  • Mon 11 Jan 2021 10:50GMT

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