Can the principles outlined in the book be used to improve efficiency in everyday life?

Yes, the principles outlined in the book can be used to improve efficiency in everyday life. The book discusses how algorithms, which are essentially a set of rules or processes to be followed, can be applied to various aspects of daily life. For instance, understanding how our brains forget information when it is no longer relevant can help us manage our time and focus more effectively. Similarly, the concept of a word being most likely to reappear right after first being used can be applied to learning and memory retention strategies.

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John Anderson, a psychologist and computer scientist, reexamined Ebbinghaus' work in 1987 to see if he could design computer systems around the human brain. He discovered that our brains forget information when it is no longer relevant to the world around us. Anderson analyzed headlines from The New York Times and found that a word is most likely to reappear right after first being used. The likelihood of seeing it again reduced more over time. Side by side, the appearance of the chart looked nearly identical to Ebbinghaus' data.

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Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

Can computer science teach us the secrets of life? Perhaps not, but they can shed light on how certain everyday processes work and how to exploit them...

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