54 Quotes by Brian Christian

Effective algorithms make assumptions, show a bias toward a simple solutions, trade off the costs of error against the cost of delay, and take chances.

It's a familiar, if not exactly inspiring, message: in the face of slim pickings, lower your standards. It also makes clear the converse: with more fish in the sea, raise them. In both cases, crucially, the math tells you exactly by how much.

Look-Then-Leap Rule: You set a predetermined amount of time for “looking” – that is, exploring your options, gathering data – in which you categorically don’t choose anyone, no matter how impressive. After that point, you enter the “leap” phase, prepared to instantly commit to anyone who outshines the best applicant you saw in the look phase. We.

Even the best strategy sometimes yields bad results – which is why computer scientists take care to distinguish between “process” and “outcome.” If you followed the best possible process, then you’ve done all you can, and you shouldn’t blame yourself if things didn’t go your way.

Learning self-control is important, but it’s equally important to grow up in an environment where adults are consistently present and trustworthy.

Sorting something that you will never search is a complete waste; searching something you never sorted is merely inefficient.

So explore when you will have time to use the resulting knowledge, exploit when you’re ready to cash in. The interval makes the strategy.

No choice recurs. We may get similar choices again, but never that exact one. Hesitation – inaction – is just as irrevocable as action. What the motorist, locked on the one-way road, is to space, we are to the fourth dimension: we truly pass this way but once.

We say “brain fart” when we should really say “cache miss.