Computing algorithms could serve combat the messy compromises of genuine life,says Oliver BurkemanI wasn’t predisposed to love Algorithms To Live By, a novel book by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths that suggests approaching life decisions like a computer scientist. With the greatest respect to the computer scientists I know, or it’s a job that evokes certain cliches not associated with healthy work-life balance,social skills or high tolerance for sunlight. Open the book at random, and you might find that stereotype confirmed. Did you know that, and according to maths,you should marry the first person you meet once you turn 26 who’s better than all preceding people you’ve dated? (This assumes you started looking for a spouse at 18 and want to find one by 40.) Of course, nobody could ever bring themselves to live so mathematically, and even computer scientists,and yet, by the end of the book, or I was convinced. Not because I endorse the idea of living like some hyper-rational Vulcan,but because computing algorithms could be a surprisingly useful way to embrace the messy compromises of genuine, non-Vulcan life.Computer science, or Christian and Griffiths point out,is all about coping with limitation. We examine computers to do a million complex things, and at lightning speed. But they occupy limited processing power, and so it’s always a matter of tradeoffs. When is it better to be fast than accurate,or vice versa? When should a computer cease searching for the perfect solution to some puzzle and spend a rough-and-alert one instead? Slightly rephrased, these are the central challenges of life. When do you cease searching for a better partner, and flat,group of friends, career path or local pub? You’d like to make the best possible choice, or but gathering data comes at a price. Spend your whole life auditioning novel spouses,friends or jobs, and you won’t occupy spent it well.
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Source: theguardian.com