As I begin something new, venture into unknown territories, there is a sense of purpose and great motivation. This motivation is a drive to learn the process, understand the details and eventually say something worthwhile. The process has kept me busy the last couple years.
As I have waded through waters, shallow and deep, an understanding about "the process" has emerged. There are struggles when you start out and its not easy. There are a few gifted people who can make it seem easy but they have put in the effort too (and made mistakes).
The process always starts out with great excitement and you understand the precursory details. The initial focus is on getting the first idea (or project or product) out. Sometimes in haste, I have missed on deep thought and analysis of various facets, possible impediments and pitfalls in the process. The planning stage is critical for it lays the foundation and the precedent for future work. It is worthwhile to take some time, relax and get to a drawing board. Initially, it is very hard to keep track of all the facets and how they connect, this however changes with practice. As I see repeated patterns, I have been getting quicker at processing it and analyzing the pitfalls.
The execution stage is equally important, planning is for nothing if I botch up the execution. The major impediments to execution are: lack of skills, time and money. These three are somehow interrelated and only the right optimization will yield in good results. During execution time, uncertainty on any of three parameters cause a lot of stress. It is important never to be overwhelmed. The best idea is to take it one step at a time, baby steps as I remember it. It is better to take the time, learn the skill or find more money to get the execution right. Of course this does not mean "get it perfect", although I have obsessed on perfection it is unwise and an unending saga. The project should be good enough and the focus should be on the details. Taking the small extra step to add in details makes your end product stand out. The most important principle to rely on during execution is KISS (keep it simple, stupid).
21 October, 2013
17 September, 2013
The memory versus experience riddle
There is this famous TED talk by daniel kahneman on experiences and memory - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgRlrBl-7Yg. The "experiencing self" as he calls it, makes me think of a machine which stores a likely state of the present situation. It stores the context (the state of present situation) and then the "remembering self" comes into effect and passes this context through a "filter" to "decide" if it would be worth retrieving it in the future.
This analogy sounds simple to reason, but are there only two selves? Quite funnily, I think the answer would be a unanimous NO. Well then why does the reasoning here, of the two selves, seem sound? The reason could be because of the way the question was presented, "had it ruined the experience of the event or the memory of it?" The question no doubt is very interesting, do we have a probabilistic matching scheme where we generate predictions, for a finite state, and decide to make error corrections based on the feedback. The prediction of spending money on a concert, is to have a pleasant experience. This matching is violated if we have an unpleasant experience. Does this change if we did not have to pay for the concert? Does this change if the concert was inexpensive? Does it change if the artist dies right after the concert?
In such a probability matching mechanism it would be highly pertinent to store this feedback when it was completely valid and more pertinent when it was negative. (you know to make better predictions) The higher the deviations from the prediction the higher the probability the event should be stored. Of course, we run into capacity constraints, processing bottlenecks and plain random chance. These factors make the process inefficient and reduce the feedback effects for the matching. This said I think it's pertinent to investigate what events bypass one system completely (of the two identified) and go into the next. Can we remember without experience and can we experience without remembering? Can we improve the experience without improving the memory? Can we improve the memory without improving the experience? Can we reduce the experience and still improve the memory?
The bigger question becomes what other projective selfs are evident in such weird defects? Is there a action self, which tries to predict action in unlikely scenarios (say you were hit by a tornado or an earthquake). What information is used in this situation? Do we create false experiences to rely on? Do we freeze in a processing bottleneck?
What other processing selfs can we think of: save your soul self, don't be stupid self, oh no she didn't self!!
This analogy sounds simple to reason, but are there only two selves? Quite funnily, I think the answer would be a unanimous NO. Well then why does the reasoning here, of the two selves, seem sound? The reason could be because of the way the question was presented, "had it ruined the experience of the event or the memory of it?" The question no doubt is very interesting, do we have a probabilistic matching scheme where we generate predictions, for a finite state, and decide to make error corrections based on the feedback. The prediction of spending money on a concert, is to have a pleasant experience. This matching is violated if we have an unpleasant experience. Does this change if we did not have to pay for the concert? Does this change if the concert was inexpensive? Does it change if the artist dies right after the concert?
In such a probability matching mechanism it would be highly pertinent to store this feedback when it was completely valid and more pertinent when it was negative. (you know to make better predictions) The higher the deviations from the prediction the higher the probability the event should be stored. Of course, we run into capacity constraints, processing bottlenecks and plain random chance. These factors make the process inefficient and reduce the feedback effects for the matching. This said I think it's pertinent to investigate what events bypass one system completely (of the two identified) and go into the next. Can we remember without experience and can we experience without remembering? Can we improve the experience without improving the memory? Can we improve the memory without improving the experience? Can we reduce the experience and still improve the memory?
The bigger question becomes what other projective selfs are evident in such weird defects? Is there a action self, which tries to predict action in unlikely scenarios (say you were hit by a tornado or an earthquake). What information is used in this situation? Do we create false experiences to rely on? Do we freeze in a processing bottleneck?
What other processing selfs can we think of: save your soul self, don't be stupid self, oh no she didn't self!!
08 June, 2013
On Travel and company
It is quintessential to travel once a while, preferably without laptops, cellphones, tablets, phablets, kindles, stopwatches and gps. Leaving all these behind and exploring the world with amenable folks is a treasure. On this note, I am hoping to make such travels more possible and frequent; at least once a year. Given the hectic schedules of work and study, the pressures of social life and keeping up with the vapid news how much vacation time is the right vacation time.
The right time seems to be between a week and 3 weeks: anything more or less than this seems dull and effortful. Then there is also the problem of finding things to do on vacations, I have faced problems where I am on a vacation but the rest of the world is working. This makes scheduling and setting up events painful. The second prospect of vacationing is to find the right company to vacation with. Exploring the Jungles of India, the sights of new york, the california beaches or the italian culture each comes with certain requirements and constraints. The right people who can satisfy these requirements and constraints add pleasure to the vacation and make it memorable.
My most recent visit to India has alerted me to possible situations where difficulties arise: inclement weather, medical emergencies and bad planning top the list. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip thanks to the efforts of my close friends and family, but a little planning could have gone a long way.
The right time seems to be between a week and 3 weeks: anything more or less than this seems dull and effortful. Then there is also the problem of finding things to do on vacations, I have faced problems where I am on a vacation but the rest of the world is working. This makes scheduling and setting up events painful. The second prospect of vacationing is to find the right company to vacation with. Exploring the Jungles of India, the sights of new york, the california beaches or the italian culture each comes with certain requirements and constraints. The right people who can satisfy these requirements and constraints add pleasure to the vacation and make it memorable.
My most recent visit to India has alerted me to possible situations where difficulties arise: inclement weather, medical emergencies and bad planning top the list. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip thanks to the efforts of my close friends and family, but a little planning could have gone a long way.
07 April, 2013
The pleasures of sentient beings
This weekend, from among the many past, has been warm. In fact it has warranted yours truly to venture out in shorts and a sports jacket. Despite the fading schoolboy charm I love the shorts. It is a means of expressing your freedom and showing off the hairy beast within. The pleasures of a warm weekend are innumerable.
The ability to bike with minimal drag, speed up at will, practice manoeuvres of acrobatic abilities (read reverse pedaling and ledge dangling). It also means its time for ice creams without worrying about sore throats or colds. This also means the ability to run without layers of warmth. The cherry on top are the colorful folks lazing around parks and ambling outside cafes. This treasured change in aerodynamic superiority, visual perception and enhanced social adventures bring cheer and mirth.
The extended daylight gives you the innumerable hangouts that were once out of reach (maybe basketball at 7, bike to the lakes). This whole plethora of opportunities are only curtailed by the vast expanse of pending work and procrastination. This being said, I am off to finish running my experiment and biking home (time to get productive y'all)
In the words of my good friend Mr Pickles - "Spring is in the Air!!"
The ability to bike with minimal drag, speed up at will, practice manoeuvres of acrobatic abilities (read reverse pedaling and ledge dangling). It also means its time for ice creams without worrying about sore throats or colds. This also means the ability to run without layers of warmth. The cherry on top are the colorful folks lazing around parks and ambling outside cafes. This treasured change in aerodynamic superiority, visual perception and enhanced social adventures bring cheer and mirth.
The extended daylight gives you the innumerable hangouts that were once out of reach (maybe basketball at 7, bike to the lakes). This whole plethora of opportunities are only curtailed by the vast expanse of pending work and procrastination. This being said, I am off to finish running my experiment and biking home (time to get productive y'all)
In the words of my good friend Mr Pickles - "Spring is in the Air!!"
14 January, 2013
On Aspirations
Every person has a dream and vision for life. As a kid I aspired to be a lawyer, I always liked talking and arguing listlessly. Growing up I inculcated the habit of writing. I was impressed by what my mind could fathom, stories and poems, limericks and ballads, the potential to have my name etched in history like Hemingway and Tolstoy. Time passed further and my late teens got me interested in computers. Amazing machines which can let you work out complex problems, communicate with people across the world and play games. I did not know what
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