Ben Recht on efficient algorithms, the ETH, and how complexity theory lost the plot
beenwrekt · x · 2026-10-30
Berkeley professor Ben Recht publishes a technical essay on arg min tracing the history of failing to rigorously define efficiency in CS.
- Starts from Jack Edmonds' 1965 max-matching algorithm, which forced him to coin "good algorithm" in a "Digression" section for lack of language to describe efficiency
- Threads through the Exponential Time Hypothesis and the rise of complexity theory
- Core critique: applied mathematicians build scaffolding that spawns new puzzles; dozens of follow-up papers solve the puzzles while forgetting the original problem — complexity theory being the best example
- Continues his recent technical series following the Fourier transforms piece
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