Algorithms and the Changing Frontier
We first summarize the dominant interpretations of the "frontier" in the United States and predecessor colonies over the past 400 years: agricultural (1610s-1880s), industrial (1890s-1930s), scientific (1940s- 1980s), and algorithmic (1990s-present). We describe the difference between the algorithmic frontier and the scientific frontier. We then propose that the recent phenomenon referred to as "globalization" is actually better understood as the progression of the algorithmic frontier, as enabled by standards that in turn have facilitated the interoperability of firm-level production algorithms. We conclude by describing implications of the advance of the algorithmic frontier for scientific discovery and technological innovation.
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Copy CitationHezekiah Agwara, Philip Auerswald, and Brian Higginbotham, "Algorithms and the Changing Frontier," NBER Working Paper 20039 (2014), https://doi.org/10.3386/w20039.
Published Versions
Algorithms and the Changing Frontier, Hezekiah Agwara, Philip Auerswald, Brian Higginbotham. in The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, Jaffe and Jones. 2015