TED: The state of modern viruses and algorithms

Two very cool and sobering TED talks have recently been released that are worth checking out: Mikko Hypponen: Fighting viruses, defending the net and Kevin Slavin: How algorithms shape our world. Hypponen's presentation in particular is one of the best I've seen in a while.


It's been 25 years since the first PC virus (Brain A) hit the net, and what was once an annoyance has become a sophisticated tool for crime and espionage. Computer security expert Mikko Hyppönen tells us how we can stop these new viruses from threatening the internet as we know it.


Kevin Slavin argues that we're living in a world designed for -- and increasingly controlled by -- algorithms. In this riveting talk from TEDGlobal, he shows how these complex computer programs determine: espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts, and architecture. And he warns that we are writing code we can't understand, with implications we can't control.