Applying arithmetic to issues needing humanity; the wrong formula. Algorithms determine prison sentences, hence turning life into data points. Corporate formulae estimating reasonable deaths, cost-benefit analysis where some deaths cost less than recalls.
Formulas enthrall us; in shaky countries, they offer clarity. Formulas for success, formulas for happiness, relationship formulas. Follow these guidelines, get these results. Life, though, fights against prescribed solutions. The method that served your friend falls apart for you. Context counts; formulas ignore it.
Standardized tests assessing limited intelligence and grading systems lowering learning to letters are among the erroneous equations education employs often. Medicine uses diagnostic formulations on specific bodies, thereby omitting whatever does not conform to patterns.
The erroneous formula keeps on since altering calls for acknowledgement of previous errors. Institutions invested in formulas shield them against facts. Always have we done it this way; formula becomes dogma, then religion. Sometimes no formula exists. Some challenges demand improvising, instinct, wisdom that cannot be simplified to procedures. Abandoning formulas entirely might be the correct response.
