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we're least aware of what our minds do best I'm not sure we are aware of anything. If you ask me: How much is 2x3? I might think: That's easy! I ju

• Sharlin 7y ago
  To be fair, you have been taught what the symbols 2, x, 3, and 6 mean, and what multiplication means, and how it can be thought of as n sets of m items. 2 and 3 are small enough numbers that subitizing kicks in, which does indeed appear to be an evolved, hardcoded mechanism. But what about 7x9? Most of us have either memorized it, or have to break it down into more elementary operations, using an algorithm that has been, again, taught to us. Never mind something like 435x928. It is certainly possible to teach a machine how to reason about algebra from the first principles, allowing it to solve much, much more complex problems than multiplying small integers. The program doesn't know how it is executed, either, but it does have a much better understanding of what multiplying actually is than most humans.