Have We Quickly Lost Our Way With Modern Algorithms?
How we may be eroding our learning and problem-solving skills
Algorithms, rooted deeply in mathematical precision, are diminishing our capacity to navigate and understand the world.
Many algorithms are designed as purely a mathematics endeavour — with a focus solely on efficiency and optimization.
The human brain is an algorithm-generating machine that solves problems in an adaptive way, which is not in the same way as a computer algorithm.
Therefore, optimal algorithm design would seem to lie at the intersection of mathematical formulas and the adaptive nature of human thought.
But few algorithms are designed in this in-between space. I know this from my own PhD research.
So this brings up a logical question. If computer algorithms have been replacing the human algorithms that we used to compute in our minds, does this erode our thinking?
Let me explain by first differentiating between computer algorithms and human algorithmic thinking, and then by presenting an example of where we lost our way.
