In the 1940s, mathematicians set out to design computers that could act as ideal rational agents in the face of uncertainty. The Irrational Decision tells the story of how they settled on a peculiar mathematical definition of rationality in which every decision is a statistical question of risk. Benjamin Recht traces how this quantitative standard came to define our understanding of rationality, looking at the history of optimization, game theory, statistical testing, and machine learning. He explains why, now more than ever, we need to resist efforts by powerful tech interests to drive public policy and essentially rule our lives.
While mathematical rationality has proven valuable in accelerating computers, regulating pharmaceuticals, and deploying electronic commerce, it fails to solve messy human problems and has given rise to a view of a rational world that is not only overquantified but surprisingly limited. Recht shows how these mathematical methods emerged from wartime research and influenced fields ranging from economics to health care, drawing on illuminating examples ranging from diet planning to chess to self-driving cars.
Highlighting both the power and limitations of mathematical rationality, The Irrational Decision reveals why only humans can resolve fundamentally political or value-based questions and proposes a more expansive approach to decision making that is appropriately supported by computational tools yet firmly rooted in human intuition, morality, and judgment.
Benjamin Recht is professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author (with Stephen J. Wright) of Optimization for Data Analysis and (with Moritz Hardt) Patterns, Predictions, and Actions: Foundations of Machine Learning (快色直播).
"Clear, authoritative, easy to follow, and full of quotable phrases about the folly of giving optimizers and computers the power to govern our lives."鈥擩athan Sadowski, Critical AI
"The Irrational Decision is not a polemic against mathematical rationality in all of its forms, but instead a more precise strike against the dominance of the rational worldview. Recht’s argument, at its core, is that mathematical rationality has become an overextended tool, a hammer asked to not just hammer nails but turn screws and saw boards as well."鈥擩acob Sujin Kuppermann, Reboot
“This book is a relief, a breath of fresh air clearing out the smoke and foggy fantasy that comprise too much of our discussions about tech and AI. In accessible and generous prose, Recht puts computation and data back in their rightful place, showing how they are tools in our toolbox to be used selectively to understand our shared world, not magical oracles to which we should cede authority.”—Meredith Whittaker, President of the Signal Foundation
“Rationalist pundits tell us that humans are predictably irrational and that we should become more like computers. But what do we do in a world where the most powerful machines are irrational and even when they work, we don’t really understand why or what they’re doing? Benjamin Recht has shaped the AI techniques that are reshaping the world. In this wise, deeply sophisticated, and beautifully written book, he explains how machine learning is what we do when we don’t understand, and why human judgment remains indispensable.”—Henry Farrell, coauthor of Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
“Recht takes us on an entertaining and refreshingly insightful journey, explaining why we should use mathematical marvels as mechanisms and not masters. He reminds us that we humans are not computers, and that our lives are not there to be optimized, experimented with, strategized over, or reduced to an amalgamation of data points. At a time when AI’s momentum is blazing hot, The Irrational Decision is a cool-headed call to arms for us to take back control, one we should all heed and act on.”—Matt Jones, Chief Operating Officer, Responsible AI UK
“Our world is speedily turning upside down as the technology maelstrom reshapes everything to please our computer overlords. Benjamin Recht gives us a stylish and gripping account of the key ideas and personalities driving the ‘rationality’ revolution that exposes everything to computer-driven decision. A sparkling reveal of the inner logic transforming so many aspects of our daily lives.”—David L. Donoho, Stanford University
