11.7

Machine Learning is the new Algebra

Algebra is a problem solving tool. In the same way that language is a system for expressing ideas, algebra is a system for finding solutions. If I sell hotcakes for 5 dollars each and it costs 3 dollars to make them, how much money will I generate? These kinds of questions need solving all the time in everyday life, and even if you taste blood every time you see the letters x and y, you’re probably not aware that you’re using Algebra all the time. Any type of work with money such as budgeting, any scaling of images, all types of logistical planning for events like weddings, pretty much anything that has anything to do with excel; it’s all based algebra functions.

Like algebra, machine learning is just another tool for solving problems. It’s a blanket term for a process that is supposed to solve all of our problems by eventually replacing the need for human work.

As for computer work fundamentally changing the nature of human work, that’s going to happen, though it will take longer than you might think, perhaps on the order of thousands of years. And anyways, tbh, it’s likelier that we’ll torch ourselves long before we arrive at that happy moment.

I’m not going to dig into the implementation details of machine learning, because that’s not what you need to know. Machine learning engineers are already happily plugging away at the problems they think you are going to want solved, and soon will be shipping these custom packed solutions straight to your devices.

What you need to know is this: In the next decade, a machine learning app will hit the market, a new excel for our new algebra. Its implementation will change the way that humans think about and solve problems, just as algebra before. Everyone will have access, and if you prepare yourself now (perhaps by doing just a little reading) you may find yourself on the crest of this next great wave of human understanding.

Germaine

November 7th, 2019