Writing in the March 1, 2023 issue of online
Wired.com, Lucy Liu, a Harvard University Ph.D. student in applied mathematics, wondered if she could formally optimize her daily life by using an algorithm that she herself had sketched out. She described it as a rough translation of a simple reinforcement learning algorithm called Q-Learning that a human could easily follow.
In her article “I Asked an Algorithm to Optimize My Life,” Lucy actually doubted that the algorithm would truly improve her life and decision-making. She recalls: “But the optimization framework, backed up by mathematical proofs, peer-reviewed papers, and billions in Silicon Valley revenues, made so much sense to me. How, exactly, would it fall apart in practice?”
IMAGE CREDIT: REPRODUCTION OF ARTWORK ACCOMPANYING THE WIRED.COM ARTICLESo, right from 8:30 a.m. of Day 1, Lucy meticulously recorded her decision-making process and activities in detail all the way up to 1:50 a.m. the following day. By that time, she recalls, she lay in bed “sweating and panting and swearing my way through a headache and a too-fast heartbeat and the itchy, angry red flush that had crept over my skin. ”
Wryly Lucy concludes: “It was exactly the feeling I always promised myself I would never feel again, suboptimal in every way.”
Read Lucy Liu’s “I Asked an Algorithm to Optimize My Life” in full in the Wired.com website now!
