The Limits of Humans

Abstract

People are amazing, especially when it comes to creativity and adaptability. Many of the cognitive skills that humans regularly use to solve problems, imagine, play, and create still stump computer scientists to even define, let alone program. Humans are, by evolution, amazing pattern recognizers, including our ability to see patterns not yet formed. However, the cognitive machinery that gives us this breadth also limits our ability to concentrate on a single thought deeply through many, many alternatives. While some people (like skilled planners or chess players) are better at generating and keeping track of numerous alternatives, the number of alternatives that most people can efficiently handle is well below the thousands of alternatives that computers can routinely generate and manage. Additionally, cognitive skills vary across people, are dependent on our genetics and experiences, and tend to degrade as we age.