March 13, 2011
the economics of chess
Tyler Cowen on computers, AI, humans, and chess:
6. We used to think that computers would play chess like we did, only “without the mistakes.” We now know that playing without the mistakes involves a very different style from what we had imagined. A lot of human positional intuitions are garbage, and the computer can make sense out of ugly-looking moves. A lot of the human progress since then has involved unlearning previous positional rules and realizing how contingent they are. Younger players, who grew up playing chess with computers, are especially good at this. For older players, it is a good way to learn how unreliable your intuitions can be.
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Thanks Deron, this is great. I have often looked forward to the point at which standard approaches (book moves, in this context) are shown to be one of many unseen paths. I love the idea that other ways of better achieving various things are “right in front of us” if we can dislodge ourselves from our certainties.