The Master Algorithm

“O LORD our God, other masters besides You have ruled us; But through You alone we confess Your name.” (Isaiah 26:13 NAS95)

I recently read The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos. He seems very smart about this stuff, and I confess that I didn’t understand many details about learning algorithms that are quickly developing. He details 5 different “tribes” of learning algorithms, and predicts that one day soon, combining the best aspects of each tribe, there will be a Master Algorithm, a mature learner, that will examine data far faster than humans, making far better decisions, and equipped then to learn and decide even more.

Perhaps the main point about this Master Algorithm is that it will know you better than you know yourself. We know ourselves as we would like to be, or as we would want other people to see us. But the Algorithm knows you by your actions, your movements, and your choices. It knows you, not by your good intentions, but by your actual practices. Now that’s a little bit scary.

Further, the Master Algorithm, as a continuous learner, sees what choices work for you, and what doesn’t. It has no trouble admitting mistakes and bad judgments, and corrects accordingly. We are not so good at that. We sometimes make the same mistakes over and over again. We could really use some help.

As I read this book, I realized that, as followers of Jesus, we already have something much better than a master algorithm. We are children of God. We would all agree, wouldn’t we, that our heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves? The author suggests that a real, human person in the future will actually consult his/her Master Algorithm about a key decision that he/she is making, realizing that the bot has more information and insight available. But haven’t Christians been doing that for centuries, consulting God about any number of decisions through the course of a day?

Our God makes no mistakes. But we do. And our God allows us to do so. God is not a continuous learner, because He knows all, but He expertly, wisely, and graciously guides our steps so that we learn, so that we come to know Him better, so that we become more like Him.

Our God works for our good, always. There is nothing sinister. And He is One, not just one competing bot vying against a host of other “competitor” bots.  “Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, .. So our eyes look to the LORD our God,” Psalm 123:2