The Human Algorithm
The American voting system is a complicated machine, with many gears and levers. One day, it did something it was not supposed to: it handed an Iowa state House seat to Eric Armstrong, who had quit the race in September. I half expect he began to shake.
“But I still have health issues, that’s what I’m struggling with,” he told The New York Times on Wednesday morning.
A story comes to mind that I half expect someone has told. A computer was asked to calculate the probability of a nuclear reactor meltdown. The machine spat out a number, and the scientists asked it to double-check. It spat out the same number. They asked again, and the machine gave up. “I don’t know,” it said, and died.