Computing algorithms could help combat the messy compromises of real life, says Oliver Burkeman
I wasn’t predisposed to love Algorithms To Live By, a new 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, 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, according to maths, you should marry the first person you meet once you turn 26 who’s better than all previous 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, even computer scientists, and yet, by the end of the book, 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 real, non-Vulcan life.
Computer science, Christian and Griffiths point out, is all about coping with limitation. We ask computers to do a million complex things, and at lightning speed. But they have limited processing power, so it’s always a matter of tradeoffs. When is it better to be fast than accurate, or vice versa? When should a computer stop searching for the perfect solution to some puzzle and use a rough-and-ready one instead? Slightly rephrased, these are the central challenges of life. When do you stop searching for a better partner, flat, group of friends, career path or local pub? You’d like to make the best possible choice, but gathering data comes at a price. Spend your whole life auditioning new spouses, friends or jobs, and you won’t have spent it well.
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