I decided, Sunday morning, to finally solve a Rubik’s cube. Afterall, it has only been 28 years since it was introduced by Ideal Toys. (Oh, and by solve, I don’t mean to disassemble the cube). No, I’ve gone and learned the cube notation and now I think in terms of R’U'R and the like.
I’ve never really tried to solve it. I’ve certainly spent time spinning it around casually. But this time, I virtually pulled out my trusty Wikipedia and started following the cross/top corner/middle edge algorithm documented here.
So yesterday afternoon, while I was re-reading step 3 “Middle edge pieces” for about the 17th time, my wife casually says “so, how come you’re cheating?”
I was astonished at audacity of that comment. Me? Cheating? “Why no”, I said, “I’m simply learning a tactic (I actually said alorithm) to solve the cube”.
“Oh, you’re cheating alright, because you’ve looked up the answer on the Internet”. I tried to argue that if it takes me an hour to get through one step, it isn’t exactly “looking up the answer”…to no avail.
Who knows, maybe I’m just slow. I am determined to solve it however. And I am officially at step 4, “solve remaining edge pieces”.
Using Google certainly reduces the amount of thinking one needs to do for problem solving. But hey, even Einstein said, "Never memorize what you can look up in books". Some interesting commentary on the future of learning in an Internet world is Vernor Vinge's "Fast Times at Fairmont High". I think the Internet is a fantastic tool to help us free up more brain space for thinking and solving problems that haven't already been solved versus memorization and reinventing the wheel.