Do algorithms amplify or erode our humanity?
In 2015, a group of scientists published an unusual study regarding the accuracy of cancer diagnoses. In order to assess the breast cancer risk, 16 testers were provided with touch-screen monitors and asked to sort through breast tissue images. The pathology samples were obtained from women whose breast tissue had been harvested by biopsy, sliced thinly and stained with chemicals to highlight the blood vessels and milk ducts in red, purple, and blue. In order to determine whether the cancer was lurking among the cells, all the tester had to do was examine the pattern in the image. They were put to work immediately after a brief training period, resulting in impressive results. Based on their independent assessments, 85 percent of samples were correctly classified. However, they then noticed something interesting. The accuracy rate increased to 99 per cent when they gathered the answers from all the testers and combined their votes. In this study, the testers’ skills were not what was truly remarkable, it was their identity. These plucky lifesavers were neither oncologists, pathologists nor nurses. They were not even medical students. They were pigeons.
