Means, Ends and Computers

Means v/s Ends. When people say the means are more important than the ends, they are (usually) talking about ethics and morality. But when it comes to problem solving in the real world, shouldn’t the emphasis be on finding a solution? On finding ‘x’? Shouldn’t how one figures out the solution be irrelevant?

Taken to an extreme, rules and processes often blind us to what is the intended purpose of the whole exercise. Just look at a bureaucracy to see what I mean.

Unfortunately, our education system focuses on the “how”, not the “what”. That is almost always a bad thing, except maybe in one case. Computers blindly execute instructions without having a clue as to what was intended. Maybe our wavelengths match with computers when it comes to following instructions without a care about the ultimate intention, and perhaps that’s why we Indians are so good at IT?!

Comments

  1. KumarMarch 3, 2011 at 7:06 PM

    Your blog is not clearly stating in what way our education system focuses on the "how", not the "what". True, our education system has many faults, and, opinions on the nature of the faults vary. So, people may not understand what you are saying, unless they are already thinking like you do. At least my engineering institution doesn't come under your fault-group, but I don't know what to say about educational institutions of India in general.

    As to bureaucrats' rigid alignment to rules, it seems to be actually a choice made by the babus. They follow rules when they go about tasks with poor efficiency - their routine. In truth our babus would readily come forward to bend any rule (no exceptions more or less)if 1) it suits them, 2) if there is a demand from any higher up, or 3)if bribe is forthcoming! so, your point may be true: the bureaucrats don't give a damn to "what" should go into the system.

    Similar is the fate of the law of the nation and the legal system. The law people can be slaves of rules and may have lower interest in justice. At least they have a reasonable excuse. They can only deal something tangible such as the law, not something which is subtler for real application such as justice.

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