“While hard to precisely define, an algorithm is generally an automated set of rules or a “blueprint” leading a series of steps or actions resulting in a desired outcome, and often stated in the form of a series of “If → Then” statements. Algorithms are best known for their use in modern computing, but are a feature of biological life as well. For example, human DNA contains an algorithm for building a human being.” – Shane Parrish
An algorithm is a certain sort of formal process that can be counted on—logically—to yield a certain sort of result whenever it is “run” or instantiated. Algorithms are not new, and they were not new in Darwin’s day.
The idea that an algorithm is a foolproof and somehow “mechanical” procedure has been present for centuries, but it was the pioneering work of Alan Turing, Kurt Gödel, and Alonzo Church in the 1930s that more or less fixed our current understanding of the term. Three key features of algorithms will be important to us, and each is somewhat difficult to define.
(1) Substrate neutrality
(2) Underlying mindlessness
(3) Guaranteed results
– Daniel Dennett
Source:
Shane Parrish’s Farnam Street Mental Model Guide
https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/mental-models/
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Philosopher Daniel Dennett’s Book Intuition Pumps
