Since ancient times, algorithms have been one of several definitions of rules, but by no means the only or even the most prominent one. Lorraine Daston’s 2022 book, Rules: A Short History of What We Live By, traces the rise of rules of algorithms in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This event is a discussion of the book, prefaced by a brief introduction to its themes, with special emphasis on the rule-as-algorithm and its alternatives.