It's August 1961 and in the Las Vegas casino a middle-aged man looks across at his partner in crime between them they've devised a system for . beating the house and a device to help them do it a device that will change the way the world communicates this isn't about money it's about beating the establishment a stand against those greedy capitalist casinos their new device was developed in a lab because they're academics , self-confessed Geeks but the safety of those familiar surroundings now feels long way away , in the heart of mob run Vegas they're risking everything including their lives on one final spin of the wheel in front of his friend there's a growing pile of chips growing at an impossible rate they always knew there was one big mistake they could make not knowing when to quit if they . get busted their reputation will be in tatters but because they're in Vegas that would be the least , of their worries it's January 1st 1960 the dawn of a new decade and America is buzzing after 15 , years of sleepy postwar Evolution it's time for a revolution technology is bringing the future every household has a taste of it televisions and portable radios washing machines and microwave ovens to the average Joe the world is suddenly moving forward at an incredible Pace but for one . man in Cambridge Massachusetts things are moving far too slowly the man is a 44-year-old scientist , he's already proven himself to be decades ahead of his time publishing his findings in the mid 1930s the manga carta of the information age that he knows one day will make the impossible possible , Paving the way for telecommunications the internet and artificial intelligence but today he's ready . for a different kind of breakthrough one that will push him out of his comfort zone and eventually , face to face with real world danger he's Restless bored a crackpot Professor who already a legend . has earned his right to sit in Daydream so he ask himself a question how can I use technology to , achieve the impossible today and the answer starts with computers as far as the average household is concerned they barely exist belonging in big academic institutions only as room size , Mega computers which take hours to complete the smallest of tasks like the cuttingedge yet . painfully slow IBM 704 housed where he sits bored at MIT the Massachusetts Institute of Technology supposedly the most Progressive academic institution in the world but what use exactly is a . computer confined to a lab his mission is to take computers into the outside world the question is , how the professor's name is Claude Elwood Shannon and his happy place is at home a three-story wooden house he shares with his wife Betty because down in the basement it's a gadgeteers , paradise with a $100,000 worth of mechanical and electrical components Motors transistors switches , pulleys gears condensers Transformers and so on at his heart he's an inventor like Leonardo . da Vinci or Nicola Tesla Doc Brown and Willie Wonka an eccentric mad Professor who who loves to , build the future so he can use it himself right now here when he's not juggling unicycling or , Tyro walking he's making gadgets some just for fun such as flame-throwing trumpets rocket powered . Frisbees and a machine which does only one thing when you switch it on switches itself off again , but others so he can achieve the impossible a coin flipper that always lands on whatever you tell it to heads or tails styrofoam shoes that allow him to walk on water and a robotic , Mouse which can learn to solve a maze to claw nothing is impossible except coming out with his own new idea that could change the world now with computers until he meets Edward o Thorp Edward . Thorp is a mathematician and just like Claude he's based at MIT he loves mixing things up he's . fresh from revolutionizing blackjack with a card counting system that enabled him to beat Vegas and in September 1960 he tells Claude about another idea in the spring of 1955 while finishing my second year of graduate physics at UCLA I thought thought about whether it was possible to beat the roulette will in fact he'd been thinking about it since he was a kid but there and then they agreed , to work on the idea together to use science math and computers whatever the two inventors need to call upon to beat roulette it's a crazy plan and their wives are not happy of all the most widely played games played in casinos Across America up until this time roulette had consistently offered , the worst odds it first appeared as we know it in 1796 where it become the favored High States game of the Rich and Royal people who only got excited by winning big because they could always afford . to lose because when it comes to a rig game like roulette you will lose today a European Roulette will has 37 Pockets whilst an American one has 38 numbered 1 through 36 plus a zero and a double . zero if the game was fair picking the right single number would get you a payout of 38:1 but it . doesn't you get paid 35 to1 this difference gives a cons knows an edge of 5.26% you might , think if you bet on red or black and win the payout is even so you double your stake but again , because of those two extra greens you're actually being under rewarded but the main problem is luck .

because unlike most card games where there's at least some skill involved and a good player can , give themselves an edge over rivals or minimize the edge held by the house roulette is in theory , completely random and that's where Claude and Edward start they say that actually it's not random they think fate doesn't dictate where the ball ends up physics does and that's part , one of their plan using physics to wipe away the casino's unfair Advantage Edward recalls how , a favorite High School teacher described a trip to Vegas where the orbitting ball of a roulette , wheel reminded him of a planetary system and of a pendulum that's gradually dissipating energy . inspired they head to Reno and by a roulette will it sets them back $1500 already they're pushing themselves to the Limit with modest academic salaries and mouths to feed they'll need to work after hours to get the job done and they do so down in claude's basement lab working into the night 20 hours a week running test after test and recording their work until eventually they have a system it works like this in moulette the wheel with its numbered pockets is spun in One . Direction usually clockwise while the ball is launched in the other along the outer edge of the . wheel's Rim initially centripedal Force maintains the ball's circular path but as it's slowed by . friction and Gra gravity it loses momentum and eventually falls off the track into the middle . section before settling into a numbered pocket on the spinning Rotor at the bottom breaking it down first they must predict when and where the orbit and ball will leave the outer track they do this by measuring the time it takes to complete one revolution by hitting the switch to record its start and end next they must predict the time the ball would take and the distance it , would travel across the middle section and further recordings make this possible too once the ball , get to the pockets its movements are more random but the results are still recorded with a system , for recording this key info in place part two of their plan is to create a device which can . enable them to exploit it namely a computer something which can receive their data process it using algorithms they've devised and calculate a useful output in April and May 1961 their work . intensifies the project must be finished before September when Edward moves to a new job in La . they also to do some field work in Vegas noticing that some wheels are tilted back in the lab they discovered that this contributing gravity creates less Randomness than a flat wheel and decide . that a half chip tilt equal to put in a coin half the thickness of a casino chip under one of , the three feet of the wheels is ideal and then at the end of June 1961 they have their computer a computer small enough to take anywhere a computer which passes their Benchmark for Success if the , computer predicts a number the ball just needs to within a range of 16 neighboring numbers around , it in order for them to have an edge in fact they're consistently accurate within a range of 10 neighboring numbers they've come up with a system to predict physics and a gadget which no . one has seen to process that information and help them beat the house but will it work in the chaos of the real Casino they're ready to find out it's 1961 now and Claude and Ed have dedicated a year , of their lives to project roulette if it fails they not only lose all the time and the thousands of dollars that they've invested but they'll also face academic humiliation and if they cross the wrong people serious trouble as they settle into a journey in hotel rooms though with their wives bet and Vivian there's a holiday mood if before head out to find the casino they'll visit the next day settling on the one with the right tilt of the wheel and the nicest Ambiance and then they go for dinner where Claude asks Ed what makes you tick is a semi-serious question the two have driven . themselves towards the crossroads once they step over the threshold and really do this it changes . everything but it's also a joke a reference to how the world's first wearable computer actually works the next day the four head into the casino where they pretend to be strangers clawed Betty and Vivan nervous and they're right to be the mafia riddled gaming industry is not something . to mess with Edward though is calm he's beating casinos already and he thinks what's the worst . that can happen maybe is about to find out their system requires a Twan team Claude is the Observer . he wears the transmitting computer made of two units each the size of a packet of cigarettes each , fitting uncomfortably inside his shoes there the data logging the movement of the wheel and the , ball is entered with Mercury switches operated by his big toes click transmitted by radio waves . using equipment modified from a model airplane to a receiver worn around the waist of the B Ed ultra , thin stainless steel wires painted a flesh color then run up his body and are delicately solded to an earphone which plays a variety of coded musical tones telling him what to do to distract . the dealer and Casino security meanwhile Claude holds a little notepad and writes down the winning . number after each roll just like another doomed to fail system player they sett at a table sitting .

far apart Bessie and Vivian keep watch making sure no one's getting suspicious the creier gives the wheel a push Claude presses a big toe down click and they on the way each time the computer tells Edward which one of the eight groups of five adjacent numbers to bet on is a common roulette strategy with the French calling such a group a Vonage or neighborhood the zero and dou Zer appear , twice because they're 38 numbers on the board but the 5times 8 groups total 40 a normal player who bets on all five numbers in one of those eight neighborhoods is a 1 in8 chance of winning . with the house maintaining a 5.26% advantage using the computer though Gord and Edward win one in . five times because they're sure the ball will land in one of the five octons not the other three giving them an extraordinary 44% Edge based on the signals he's receiving from Claude . Ed starts betting cautiously betting just 10 cent chips within a few spins the computer works its magic turning a few dimes into a heap as yet another bet scores but it's late summer in Vegas , the electrical thrum of the casino adds to the temperature as do the ner NES and before long the . inevitable happens Ed gets hot and uncomfortable and those ultra thin wires start to break their night is over and so they head back to their rooms to get the solder out and plan again at least they , got away with it for now the next day the for are back at it this time placing bigger bets and again , it works the 44% Edge that they proved in The LAB Works in Vegas and the chips start to pile up . again though the wires keep breaking it's a disaster back they go to the room in a hurry sold , her out then back on the tables as quick as they possibly can to cheat success at gambling you need . to multiply your money fast before the inevitable heat comes un strong you bet your stake and win . then you add a percentage of your winnings to create a bigger stake win and so on every time . they return to their RSO they lose momentum the stress is getting to everyone Claude and Edward are academics to them it's essential that they complete their EXP experiment and that means , demonstrating consistent returns but the trouble they're cting could end their careers and their wives know it Panic is setting in and they want out eventually under pressure from their wives they agree to return to the roulette will just one final time one final time to go big with one final . game and then they'll get out it's a plan and Cal is restored after all they haven't actually been . caught yet the following morning they sleep late when they rise they eat and then they pack ready to leave and then as the night falls on Vegas and the city comes alive in all of its filth and Glory , they begin it's the Moment of Truth the chips start to pile up once more the bets get bigger . and so do the winds it's working just keep going just a little longer it is though impossible to ignore the vultures are circling winning attracts attention most of all from Casino security Betty . and Vivian or an edge convinced that something bad is coming one wrong move one malfunction and . everything could come crushing down and then it happens a woman sitting next to Ed turns to him and then suddenly her eyes widen in horror his earpiece and wire are clearly poking out she wants . to speak to say something but what and to whom Edward leaves the table fast heart pounding he heads to the restroom to fix the wire they should leave now they know they're walking a fine line , but they just want one more win so he heads back to join Claude at the wheel trying to stay calm , breathe everything everything is normal nothing to see and he carries on those fragile wires need , to hold up one last time he locks eyes with Claude the wheel spins click the calculations are made , transmitted and received an Octon is BET on all in one final time the ball drops and finally settles . exactly as predicted they've done it and now it's time to get away Claude Shannon and Ed Thorp , leave Vegas not as millionaires but as pioneers and friends we got along well because because from . an early age science was at play for both of us tinkering and Building Things was part of the fun . as was letting our curiosity range freely so could two self-confessed Geeks build the world's first . wearable computer and prove that with science and maths they could outsmart a rig game to beat the . big guy and win the answer is yes although they keep the system Under Wraps until Edward mentions , it in his book Blackjack beat the dealer the pair donate the hardware to the MIT Museum it's all EXP explained in a paper titled the invention of the first wearable computer published in 1998 laying the groundwork for the wearable tech worn by billions of people around the world today from . Google Glass to Apple watches in the years that follow Claude Shannon returns to his academic work , cement in his legacy as the father of information Theory Paving the way for the internet and , digital communication his work on Computer Learning predates artificial intelligence Ed Thor meanwhile leaves Vegas and Academia behind as he takes on the greatest casino on Earth Wall Street , check out the next video and see what happened

The Man Who Beat Roulette With Computer Science