I must admit that I read this article about twice before the concept really sunk in and then it got me thinking.

What if one could use Simulated Annealing or a variation thereof as a mechanism within an application so it inherently develops a kind of “smart” ability.

Take for example an e-commerce site. There would typically be 3 types of users to a platform. Those who sell, those who buy, and those who sell and buy.

Now as a first time user I would probably first start by buying a couple of things as to evaluate the legitimacy/reliability etc. of the site, then maybe gradually start to sell some unused/unwanted items here and there.

Now say by comparing my selling/buying habits, wouldn’t it make sense to use this data and by means of an “annealing algorithm” translate that in to a system which predetermines which functions/sections I would most likely use to make my experience as enjoyable and simplistic as possible.

The same could go for a blogging platform I guess. If your user is more a reader, or a poster, wouldn’t it make sense to gear your site towards the preference of the user using his “habits” as parameters in your algorithm.