Originally Published: May 28, 2026
What is one of the verbs we spend most of our lives doing? When I pause to think about it, the act itself seems to be the answer: Search.
We search for good food, meaningful entertainment, peaceful rest, and relaxation. We search for good deals on a car or a house, or simply while shopping. We also search for a good college and a major to pursue, for a nice company to start or build a career, for skills to achieve, for a dream, and for ways to make it come true. And when we do, we continue to search for… other things. We need to search for paths to go and return. If we feel the search is not enough, we re-search by looking at the insights of those who searched before us!
When we can't do it all by ourselves efficiently, we rely on a search engine.
Today, life relies on AI. In the era of AI, searching is one of the primary underlying algorithms. Early AI researchers viewed almost all problem-solving as a form of state-space search.
In my days of classical study, the fundamental truth of artificial intelligence was search: pathfinding, as seen in classic games like Chess and Checkers, which in turn rely on… search trees! AI was about defining a problem as a "graph" or "tree" of possibilities and searching for the optimal path to reach a goal. Even in our world of airline flight scheduling, delivery routes, and factory configurations, AI "searches" through a massive combination of variables.
Search algorithms support AI in its logic, planning, and optimization capabilities. One might say: What about neural networks and pattern recognition? But to me, recognizing a pattern sounds like a deeper kind of searching, too.
It's safe to say searching cannot be totally skipped in the "superhuman" strategy of AI.
Given my super-limited knowledge of AI, I find "searching" going on anywhere I go. And before I go out of scope, I just want to share this reflection from the memoir:
... A game based on AI can trick an opponent to win. This may not have been the original strategy of its writer, but the AI manages to teach itself—and that is precisely why empathy is vital in everything we do…
— Chapter 19: Secret Thoughts and Personal Messages, Conclusion
What we need, want, or look for already exists in certain forms, as parts or as a whole. Yet we might miss a lot of things that are already right in front of us, nearby, or around us.
I like to take a moment to stop searching for the past or future and just focus on the present. May we recognize the things we're grateful for, listen and observe what's truly behind the words and behaviors that used to bother us…, and now realize that they may be opportunities to nurture empathy.
Warmly,
Voice for Empathy
Voice for Empathy — Building bridges through understanding.
Powerful Empathy — Exploring the foundational story behind the mission.