Taylor algorithms (fiction)

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The Taylor algorithms are a set of fictional mathematical algorithms that allow intelligent programs or agents in a simulated reality to determine the true nature of their environment, and even to change it.^[1] They were introduced by science fiction author Greg Bear in his novel Eternity, set in the fictional universe of the Way. Within the historical background of the story, the algorithms were developed by a team of Hexamon investigators led by Doria Fer Taylor. The algorithms were determined to be a potential danger if they were to fall into the wrong hands, and so they were classified.

The algorithms were eventually discovered by police investigator Olmy ap Sennon, who later came to recognize signs of their use by a captured alien mentality known as a Jart.