I just read an article on Slashdot about the “power of algorithms” (really about involving both humans and machine learning in solving problems, which is a far cry from theoretical study of algorithms, but the article just demonstrates that most people can’t distinguish between the two). My first thought is that the growing awareness that the article summarizes arrived approximately a year and a half too late for me, as the root cause of my problems with graduate schools (both regarding admissions and independent learning opportunities) last year seems to stem from my choice of algorithms as a (“cold”) field of study.

The tide of increased awareness arrives at a perfect time for me to obtain a very cushy job in industry after obtaining my doctorate. Unfortunately, this is (a) not going to be a problem for me in any case, and (b) not really my goal. I want to do good science and creatively solve the big problems. Unfortunately, despite demonstrating considerable talent in the areas I want to go into (of course; I wouldn’t choose them otherwise), I haven’t been able to receive the slightest modicum of institutional training in those fields. In fact, I’ve met active resistance while attempting to procure such training. Autodidacticism is good, but it only goes so far, especially for a verbal learner such as myself.

And I still maintain that the research community is slighting a very powerful field that still has much room to expand.