Reinvent The Self!

Like natural resources, technology, now the data is making countries powerful. It’s not that data was not there all the time. It only means, we discovered the true power of data, in shaping the world affairs! Data motivates an aspect of Curiosity within all of us. And in turn, Curiosity changes the form of Data! I always treat data as God, who is formless, raw! Yet, He always has the answers for all the questions we have. And as He is everywhere, the answers we need are also everywhere! Just ask Him! This SAS’s theme, suits perfectly to my convictions and ideals. SAS’s Vision is “To transform a world of data into a world of intelligence!”. And curiosity plays the most crucial role in getting us to the answers (Intelligence) from the world full of Data. Intelligence is a form.

Curiosity has two dimensions in dictionary. Firstly, it’s the inquisitiveness to learn more.  That is, to capture the certainty, thereby expanding the knowledge about the Universe. This is the knowing aspect.

Secondly, it is also defined as, a fact or object, that is interesting because it is rare and unusual. Now what is unusually rare and unique? This very moment! To me, this moment carries the highest curiosity value in her. This is the appreciating aspect. Agree?

AI captures the inherent certainty in any problem in as much extent as it could. Can AI be explainable? Of course, no, but AI has such a curiosity to explain itself! Like the true bliss or enlightenment is when the Awareness becomes Aware of Itself! The true pinnacle of AI is when AI is able to explain Itself! XAI! However, can the things with higher curiosity values be described? For example, we can all see the sunrise or sunset at beach. Can we describe it?  No. Does that make it unreal? No. We are just curious to experience and explain this moment even if we know it couldn’t be explained fully! We are not interested in knowing that moment! So, there’re clear limitations to the knowing aspect. However, appreciating aspect is limitless!

Data is everywhere, and data is everything! All beings and non-beings are ultimately data. Perhaps that’s why AI can explain and predict everything, every phenomenon in life and universe! We are all numbers after all!

Statistical modeling could be like honoring the God. Describing Him (descriptive statistics) is praising the God by means of hymns (key statistics), isn’t it?

Curiosity is independent. It doesn’t care about our interests, problems, or goals. It is with us when our purpose is to enjoy the process and not to attain certain goal. Curiosity thrives on randomness. Many radical discoveries happened just because we were curious and not because we wanted them to happen. I treat these discoveries, a pleasant gift from curiosity! We say we cannot leave anything to chance. However, when it comes to curiosity, chance plays a critical role in shaping up our future. True wisdom lies not only in accepting but also appreciating this fact.

If we refer history, the discoveries of penicillin, X rays, radioactivity, pulsars, and the cosmic microwave background radiation were all attributed to Serendipity. Serendipity was also behind the discoveries of many drugs and medical treatments including vaccination, insulin to treat diabetes.

In a nutshell, curiosity keeps me humble, yet energetic.  It is the input (when with humility) as well as the output (when with appreciation).

We will never be able to employ the Intelligence for our petty gains. In fact, Intelligence chooses us to sustain life and Universe! We need to just be Curious to witness the Intelligence and Data unfolding in the form of a marvellous dance! To me, Curiosity is the Mother of all innovations. Residuals! The cause of dancing error bars! That’s why errors or residuals are also called innovations! By the way, residuals are remainders. That remain throughout. Residuals are also the payment made to a performer for every repeat performance. In that way, curiosity is the basis of residuals we get for being innovative!

It is our attitude towards being curious that really changes the world. We should forever be curious to know how certainly and consistently, our present beliefs are shattered, again and again by the omnipotent data, we call uncertainty! Curiosity is the natural state of a pure intelligence. It’s not Bayesian. It’s always new! That always remains like a residual to be learned. And is always available to us. Forever!