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Whether they know it or not, and they probably do, their actual business is replacing individual human decision making with the ultra-optimal decision making of

Whether they know it or not, and they probably do, their actual business is replacing individual human decision making with the ultra-optimal decision making of the cloud. The best metaphor is the Navigate function of Google Maps. Not only does Google Maps know more about real-time traffic patterns than your primitive human senses can access, but it can also best crunch that real-time data into optimal route finding way better than your primitive human brain. Extrapolate from there into all areas of human life. Not saying this extrapolation is technologically straightforward, but this is what is happening. Google isn't the only one in this space obviously. IBM and medical decision making is another big example. Computers can make better decisions than you can. Not yet, but soon.

wsinks 13y ago
Here's a story that recently came to the forefront of my internet feeds: http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm It's about what happens when privately controlled interests use computers to optimize human decisions solely for business purposes. I'm not quite sure what to think of it yet.
_mulder_ 13y ago
The Navigation example is a not a typical 'human decision'. We can't decide to avoid traffic if we don't know it's there, Google provides a method of detecting and analysing traffic that Humans could never do. Admittedly, it does then automatically recalculate the next most optimal route (sometimes). A better example of a human decision would be, which "T-Shirt shall I buy?" or "What shall I have for dinner?". Google can't yet replace this decision making because it doesn't have flare. It can detect patterns and analyse them very well, but it can't be original. Yes, if you have Pizza for dinner every Tues then Google can tell you this, but if you do that every Tues then it's not really a 'decision' that Google is replacing, just highlighting a pattern. But until Google can read minds, or sense and analyse human hormones, it's not going to know if you would rather eat Indian or Mexican for dinner. It could suggest either, possibly based on previous eating habits, but it would just be a suggestion, and a guess at that. As a further side-note, how does replacing human decision making translate into a business model?
- normloman 13y ago
  If Google offered dinner suggestions, it would recommend whatever restaurant bids the highest in AdWords.
- pekk 13y ago
  It doesn't matter that much which t-shirt or which dinner. People choose bad t-shirts and bad dinners all the time. Even when people choose these things well, it isn't because they are "original" but because they are attending to context, e.g.: an automatically generated t-shirt on Amazon referencing rape is not appropriate to wear in public, and if I eat pizza so often I may develop diabetes.

wsinks 13y ago

Here's a story that recently came to the forefront of my internet feeds: http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm It's about what happens when privately controlled interests use computers to optimize human decisions solely for business purposes. I'm not quite sure what to think of it yet.

_mulder_ 13y ago

The Navigation example is a not a typical 'human decision'. We can't decide to avoid traffic if we don't know it's there, Google provides a method of detecting and analysing traffic that Humans could never do. Admittedly, it does then automatically recalculate the next most optimal route (sometimes). A better example of a human decision would be, which "T-Shirt shall I buy?" or "What shall I have for dinner?". Google can't yet replace this decision making because it doesn't have flare. It can detect patterns and analyse them very well, but it can't be original. Yes, if you have Pizza for dinner every Tues then Google can tell you this, but if you do that every Tues then it's not really a 'decision' that Google is replacing, just highlighting a pattern. But until Google can read minds, or sense and analyse human hormones, it's not going to know if you would rather eat Indian or Mexican for dinner. It could suggest either, possibly based on previous eating habits, but it would just be a suggestion, and a guess at that. As a further side-note, how does replacing human decision making translate into a business model?

normloman 13y ago
If Google offered dinner suggestions, it would recommend whatever restaurant bids the highest in AdWords.
pekk 13y ago
It doesn't matter that much which t-shirt or which dinner. People choose bad t-shirts and bad dinners all the time. Even when people choose these things well, it isn't because they are "original" but because they are attending to context, e.g.: an automatically generated t-shirt on Amazon referencing rape is not appropriate to wear in public, and if I eat pizza so often I may develop diabetes.