© 2025 New Hampshire Public Radio

Persons with disabilities who need assistance accessing NHPR's FCC public files, please contact us at publicfile@nhpr.org.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Win a $15k travel voucher or $10k in cash. Purchase your Holiday Raffle tickets today!

Our Digital Lives, Monitored By A Hidden 'Numerati'

Most people generate an immense amounts of digital data during a single day — often without a second thought. But Stephen Baker, a senior writer at BusinessWeek, warns that the information generated by e-mail messages, credit card purchases, cell phones calls and Internet shopping is being monitored by a group of entrepreneurial mathematicians, who are poised to use it to control human behavior.

Baker's new book, Numerati, examines the "mathematical modeling" of humanity — and its potential consequences.

Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

Related Content

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.