The Algorithms Of Life

For decades, scientists have tried to make robots more like human beings by designing computer algorithms that allow them to learn and become smarter. In fact, similar kinds of biological algorithms might exist in people and govern not only how we learn and act but also how our species evolved. That is the firm belief of Professor Leslie Valiant, whose ground-breaking research has been fundamental to the development of machine learning, artificial intelligence and the broader field of computer science. "You think of an algorithm as something running on your computer, but it could just as easily run on a biological organism," said the 67-year-old in an interview in January (2016) with Quanta Magazine, which reports on developments in mathematics and the physical and life sciences. "If one has a more high-level computational explanation of how the brain works, one would get closer to having an explanation of human behaviour that matches our mechanistic understanding of other physical systems."