What should I do first at work? Is it better to park in the first available space or drive further downtown? How many apartments should I look at before deciding to buy? Should we go to a restaurant tonight or eat at home? Where are the same two socks? - Do you recognize your indecision? You're not alone.
Surprising as it may sound, in everyday life we are constantly dealing with the equivalent of the most difficult problems that computer scientists deal with. We don't expect computers to be hesitant, inefficient, or even regretful of bad decisions - so why not use computing to optimize our everyday decisions?
How to use computer algorithms in everyday decision making
Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
Make your decision-making easier with Algorithms for Life, a riveting treatise on how computer algorithms can be used in everyday life. The authors have managed to turn computer science knowledge into strategies for solving many problems in everyday life - from finding a spouse to finding a parking space, from sorting the contents of an email inbox to understanding the workings of your own memory. We all have to make decisions frequently, even as we face uncertainty, time constraints, incomplete information, and a rapidly changing world - and in this entertaining book spanning across scientific disciplines, you'll not only find clearly presented practical advice on how to use time, space, and effort efficiently while doing so, but also understand the interplay between algorithms and the human mind.s of computer science doesn't look so bad after all. Unlike most other advice, this one is backed by evidence."
"Living by the findings of computer science doesn't look so bad after all. Unlike most other advice, this is backed by evidence."
In this witty book you will learn, among other things
What algorithms do we use intuitively and what algorithms should we add to them.
What is worth doing and when to let it go in time.
How to divide your attention.
How much chaos is worth accepting.
To what extent should we explore new things and when should we enjoy the tried and tested ones.
How to solve the mystery of sock sorting.
"We intuitively understand that life is a search for balance between novelty and tradition, between the latest and the best, between taking risks and enjoying the things we know and love. But the question arises: what balance are we actually looking for?"
Excerpt from the book Algorithms for Life
Your stomach's growling. Will you go to the Italian restaurant you already know and love, or the recently opened Thai one? Take your best friend, or call a new friend you'd like to get to know better? It's hard to decide - maybe you'll just stay home. Will you cook a dish using a tried-and-true recipe that's guaranteed to work, or will you try the internet for new inspiration? Okay, never mind, how about you just order a pizza then? Would you ask for the usual one or ask for a special offer? By the time you get to the first bite, you're already exhausted. The thought of putting on some music, watching a movie or reading a book - but what kind? - doesn't seem relaxing at all.
Every day, we are constantly forced to choose between options that vary in a very specific dimension - do we try new things, or do we stick with our favourites? Intuitively, we understand that life is a search for balance between newness and tradition, between the latest and the best, between taking risks and enjoying the things we know and love. But the same question arises here as in the dilemma between seeking and acting in the pursuit of an apartment: what balance are we actually seeking?
In his 1974 classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig dismisses the conversational phrase "What's New?" He notes that if such a question "were answered literally, the answer would be an endless parade of irrelevant trivia and fashions, the debris of tomorrow." He proposes an alternative, which, in his view, is much better: "What's best?"
The reality, however, is not so simple. Keeping in mind that every "best" song and restaurant among your favorites started modestly as something "new" to you, we realize that there are other, as yet unrecognized "bests" in the world. So new things undoubtedly deserve at least some of our attention.
Worn-out sayings and aphorisms describe this tension but do not resolve it. "Make new friends, but keep the old ones; the new are silver and the old are gold" and "There is no life so rich and precious, but another friend may enter it" are certainly true sayings; at least in terms of rhythm they are unquestionable. But they say nothing about the ratio of, say, "silver" and "gold" guaranteeing the best alloy of a fulfilled life. Computer scientists have been searching for this balance for more than fifty years. They even have a name for it: the explore/exploit tradeoff.
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This article was published with the kind permission of of the magazine Sphere
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