GRAD MARKETING - 400 - 500... WORDS EACH ANSWER

Silver argues that technology is beneficial as a labour-saving device, but we shouldn't expect machines to do our thinking for us. By example of chess computers, Silver discusses heuristics (mental shortcuts) and their role in problem solving. They can both contribute (saving time and resources) AND cause (producing biases and blind spots). According to Silver, "Computers are very, very fast at making calculations. Moreover, they can be counted on to calculate faithfullywithout getting tired or emotional or changing their mode of analysis in midstream. But this does not mean that computers produce perfect forecasts, or even necessarily good ones. The acronym GIGO ("garbage in, garbage out") sums up this problem. If you give a computer bad data, or devise a foolish set of instructions for it to analyze, it won't spin straw into gold. Meanwhile, computers are not very good at tasks that require creativity and imagination, like devising strategies or developing theories about the way the world works."

• How do you think creating a digital strategy is similar to playing chess?

• How can you apply Silver's perspective to make you a more effective marketing strategist?