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Find/investigate the limit potential of human intelligence for the purpose of solving complex problems.
Make actual use of human intelligence through the solution of problems that are easy for humans but very difficult for machines (such as interpreting text or understanding facial expressions or choosing/creating better-looking patterns).
Most complex problems can be solved by computers with satisfying results. Some problems however, can’t get a solution that’s “good enough”; these problems need the best solution available. They are solved by computers too, but only because there’s no other plausible alternative… Well, there actually is: human intuition. There are billions of humans on this planet, many of which are capable of developing complex solutions. Getting merely millions of them to think about a single complex problem (over large time span) might yield a result that’s better than that of any computer. Most smart people won’t solve your problems for free, and that’s where we come in: our project would give them a return for their effort: a fun experience. For that purpose, we chose to use the Traveling Salesman problem, and present it as a game. After enough time and effort we ought to know if “breaking the code” (replacing machines with humans) is possible. While we’re at it, we could also throw in constructive activities which we know they (our human users) can handle better than modern computers (see “Secondary goals”) – that part depends on how much time we’d have left to add in new things (see “Clients, sponsorship and restrictions”).
This project is conducted for educational purposes – it’s directed (and required) by a software-engineering course (link to the course git-hub page), in the engineering collage of “Azrieli” (Azrieli Collage of Engineering in Jerusalem, Israel). As of such, the project’s development span is limited to one semester; the working method is conceptualized by the course’s lecturers and carried out by software-engineering students. We do not guarantee the completion of any specific part of this project. All contents are public and free for use.
This project appeals to anyone who’s interested in playing thinking (“puzzle”) games, or distributing them. Few more people may play just for the challenge of surpassing the capabilities of modern computers If it would become popular enough to create social pressure, many more may try our product just because their friends do (that’s a perk of marketing a product as a game).
Under the condition that the project would “find” someone who’d prove “breaking the code” is possible (by solving a complex thinking problem better than a computer), our customer may be anyone (most likely large companies) who would make significant gains by replacing close-to-optimal (computer-made) solutions with slightly-even-better ones (made by humans). (At the beginning, most of our “customers” would be friends and relatives).