30 Hannah Fry Quotes for You to Enjoy

Hannah Fry

English Mathematician

Born: 1984

Best Every People Think World You

So my favorite online dating website is OkCupid, not least because it was started by a group of mathematicians. Hannah Fry

Website Group Favorite Online Dating Because Least Mathematicians Started

We're living in an age where new technology offers gigantic upsides - artificial intelligence has the potential to diagnose cancer, catch serial killers and reduce prison populations. Hannah Fry

Technology Age Artificial Intelligence Intelligence Cancer Prison Living Gigantic Potential Catch New Reduce Offers New Technology Artificial Where Serial

The weather doesn't respect political or geographic boundaries: we're all living under the same sky. And so weather prediction has been a marvel not only of technology but also of international cooeperation. Hannah Fry

Technology Respect Political Sky Weather Living Has-Been Only Marvel Boundaries Also Geographic Been Same Prediction International

You can harvest any data that you want, on anybody. You can infer any data that you like, and you can use it to manipulate them in any way that you choose. And you can roll out an algorithm that genuinely makes massive differences to people's lives, both good and bad, without any checks and balances. Hannah Fry

Good You People Differences Algorithm Way Harvest Out Bad Data Both Checks Like Checks And Balances Massive Balances Without Makes Genuinely Infer Roll Any Anybody Want Manipulate Them Good And Bad Use Choose Lives

But for me, true art can't be created by accident. There are boundaries to the reach of algorithms. Limits to what can be quantified. Among all of the staggeringly impressive, mindboggling things that data and statistics can tell me, how it feels to be human isn't one of them. Hannah Fry

Art Me Accident Tell Statistics Data True True Art Boundaries Feels Reach How Limits Impressive Human Them Created Among Things

When designing algorithms as a business owner, your incentive is your profit, something for your business, it's not an incentive to maximise something for the individual. Hannah Fry

Business Profit Something Individual Owner Business Owner Your Incentive Designing

Every criminal-justice system has to find some kind of balance between protecting the rights of innocent people falsely accused of crimes and protecting the victims of crimes. Hannah Fry

Rights Balance People Innocent Every Innocent People Crimes System Kind Find Some Between Protecting Falsely Accused Victims

It's true that you can't take an individual rain droplet and say where it's come from or where it's going to end up. But you can say with pretty good certainty whether it will be cloudy tomorrow. Hannah Fry

Good You Rain Tomorrow Will Say Pretty Pretty Good Individual Take True Come End Up Going Where Cloudy Whether Certainty

I'm writing a book called 'The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus' about the maths of Christmas: how to set up a secret Santa so it's totally fair; how to decorate your tree mathematically; how to win at Monopoly. Hannah Fry

I certainly think there are some skills we'll lose as we hand things over to automation. I can barely remember my own phone number now, let alone the long list of numbers I used to know, and my handwriting has completely gone to pot. Hannah Fry

Alone Phone Remember Long Lose Own Automation Gone Think Phone Number I Can Some Pot My Own Long List Over Know Hand Handwriting List Barely Skills Used Certainly Now Things Number Numbers

Our long-range predictions - especially those which anticipate extreme-weather events - rely on an assumption that the future will be similar to the past. Lose that, and we lose the tools that have allowed us to prepare for such eventualities. Hannah Fry

Future Events Will Lose Past Assumption Tools Our Those Similar Rely Allowed Anticipate Which Predictions Us Prepare

A century ago the Spanish flu confounded scientists and devastated whole regions, but while today's society has air travel and an enormous, heterogeneous population, we also have antibiotics, fantastic communication networks and, perhaps most crucially, more data than ever. Hannah Fry

Today Travel Communication Flu Society Enormous Air Air Travel Data More Networks Devastated Perhaps Most Also Scientists Antibiotics Than While Spanish Confounded Regions Fantastic Century Whole Population Ever

One of the problems maths struggles with is that it's invisible. We haven't got explosions on our side. Hannah Fry

Problems Side Our One Of The Problems Struggles Invisible Got Maths Explosions

The best couples, or the most successful couples, are the ones with a really low negativity threshold. These are the couples that don't let anything go unnoticed and allow each other some room to complain. Hannah Fry

Best Threshold Other Complain Negativity Unnoticed Some Allow Most Couples Go Anything Low Room Really Successful Each

Because for me, equations and symbols aren't just a thing. They're a voice that speaks out about the incredible richness of nature and the startling simplicity in the patterns that twist and turn and warp and evolve all around us, from how the world works to how we behave. Hannah Fry

Nature Me World Simplicity Incredible Out Evolve All-Around About Voice Because Around Equations How Behave Just Patterns Turn Us Warp Richness Speaks Works Thing Twist Symbols Startling

Every time you shop online, every time you sign up for a newsletter, or register on a website, or enquire about a new car, or fill out a warranty card, or buy a new home, or register to vote - you are unwittingly handing over a small clue as to who you are and how you behave. Hannah Fry

Website Buy Time Home You Vote Car Every Every Time Sign Out About Online Small Over New New Car How Up Handing Behave Shop Clue Register Warranty Who Fill Card

History is littered with examples of objects and inventions with a power beyond their professed purpose. Sometimes it's deliberately and maliciously factored into their design, but at other times, it's a result of thoughtless omissions. Hannah Fry

History Result Sometimes Power Design Other Thoughtless Examples Objects Deliberately Inventions Purpose Beyond Times Littered Professed

In every community, there are a number of 'social super-spreaders' among us. Long-suspected and emphatically confirmed by our data, these are people who - through dint of their job, or lifestyle, or perhaps even genetic makeup - would be more dangerous in the instance of a pandemic than the average person. Hannah Fry

People Dangerous Job Community Every Pandemic Our Would Would-Be Data More Through Lifestyle Instance Genetic Perhaps Makeup Than Person Confirmed Social Average Us Average Person Who Even Among Number

We should actively be thinking about what our inventions would look like if exploited by someone with a less of a moral compass and decide if the world would really be better off with them in it. Hannah Fry

The Gottman Institute's study about arguments in long-term relationships concludes that couples with the best chance at long-term success are the ones with a low negativity threshold: if something's wrong, they speak up about it immediately. That's something I've taken on board. Hannah Fry

Imagine life without any algorithms at all, you wouldn't be able to do anything. This is already completely encompassing. We have a habit of over-trusting what mathematics or computer scientists tell us to do, without questioning it, too much faith in the magical power of analysis. Hannah Fry