Fine Structure

The new year brings all sorts of interesting retrospectives, many about the internet since it has come such a long way (the entire way, one might say) in the last twenty years. One such question is from Edge (an "intellectual club" for which membership is hopefully based on interest in intellectual discussion rather than some arbitrary measurement like IQ, for example, but I digress...) about how the internet has changed the way you think. Many of the answers seem to be more creative with the topic; they seem to be answering how the internet has changed the way they live and work as well as think.

My own answer would probably be about problem solving. Every time I have a problem with some complex computer issue (installing some OS or updating some piece of software) I search for an answer on the internet. Computers are obviously incredibly complex and have a huge range of different configurations that they can be forced to take. But for the most part, problems that I've had are not unique to me. Of all the number of issues that I'll have with some obscure piece of software, most of them fall within the range of something that someone has seen before. It helps me solve problems whereas twenty years ago, I'd have to go find someone who's an expert on it or learn a lot of stuff that isn't critical for whatever project I'm working on.

I'd like to see this extend to science in the near future. Problem solving on computers is a natural extension since the very medium is made up of computers. Searching for instructions on how to solve a difficult math problem or finding a particular biological result is much more difficult. Perhaps part of the problem is missing terminology or search that is optimized for different kinds of results. I'm not going to pretend that I have all the answers, but it's something that has changed the face of computers - anyone can easily learn about complex topics - and it could change science in the near future.