Zooming out to a level you have no control over is not an algo Knuth ever came up with. He would bring up Herbert Simons Theory of Bounded Rationality and tell

Zooming out to a level you have no control over is not an algo Knuth ever came up with. He would bring up Herbert Simons Theory of Bounded Rationality and tell you to zoom down to a level you do have control over. Satisficing solutions become the norm not optimal solutions.