Archive for the ‘Alphazero’ Category
AI Could Learn a Thing or Two From Rat Brains – The Daily Beast
Have you noticed that when you open a new chat with ChatGPT, it has no memory of your previous chats? Or that your self-driving car keeps making the same mistake every time it passes through the tunnel?
Thats because modern AI systems do not yet learn continuously as they go. Retraining only occurs manually with human oversight; engineers collect and clean incoming data, retrain the system, and meticulously monitor its performance before sending it back into the world.
Modern artificial neural networks suffer from what is known as the problem of catastrophic forgetting: when you teach them new things, they tend to forget old things. Other limitations include lack of common sense and fine motor skills.
Billions of dollars are being spent on trying to solve these challenges. But we are late to the game. Nature discovered solutions to these problems over 100 million years ago in the brains of the first mammals. All modern mammals solve these problems effortlesslyeven a small rat.
A rat acquires new information without forgetting old information, exhibits exquisite common sense, has fine motor skills that surpass even the most sophisticated robotic arms, and can plan its routes through a complex maze better than any modern robot.
How do rats do it? In your brain (just as in all mammal brains) there are two systems of thinking; one in which you pause to perform some mental operations, and the other in which you automatically make choices. This duality shows up in AI research, psychology, and neuroscience: in psychology these are called System 2 versus System 1 (after Daniel Kahnemans famous book Thinking Fast and Slow); in neuroscience they are called goal-directed decision making and habitual decision making; and in AI research they are called model-based and model-free.
One of the crucial things missing in modern AI systems is this slower version of thinking. This inner world model is the basis of our imaginationwhat enables us to close our eyes and plan how we want to get to work, or what we want to say in a speech, or how to place our fingers on our guitar to play a specific chord. It is what gives us common sense and enables us to incorporate old information without disrupting new information.
Some AI systems can simulate possible futuresGoogle maps can chart a path and AlphaZero can play out possible future moves when playing chess. But AlphaZero and other AI systems still cant yet engage in reliable planning in real-world settings, outside of the simplified conditions of a board game or a map. In real-world settings, simulating possible plans requires dealing with imperfect noisy information, an infinite space of possible next actions, and ever-changing internal needs, all feats rats perform effortlessly.
Because of these limitations, the recent success of large language models has taken many AI researchers, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists by surprise. It turns out that if you scale up a model-free, habitual, System 1 artificial brain with a lot more neurons and a lot more data, it starts being capable of many of the feats that many researchers thought would only be possible with a model-based, goal-oriented System 2 brain. GPT-4 answers commonsense questions surprisingly well despite the fact that it never pauses to render a simulation of the external world; indeed, it has never seen our world, it has only ever learned from words. GPT-4 can also explain its own reasoning with an eerie level of coherence, despite the fact that we know it did not pause to think about how it reasoned about a prior answer. GPT-4 is an incredible feat of fast thinking.
The goal of AI is not to recreate the human brain, which has its own portfolio of flaws, but to transcend it.
However, if we just continue to scale up these systems with more data and more neurons, they are likely to remain brittle, frozen in time, and risk making mistakes in unpredictable ways that we cannot explain. They may never acquire the fine motor skills we want them to have. Should they achieve human-level performance, it will suggest they do so while working in a very different way than our own brains, which means we will be rolling dice that they will not spontaneously start making mistakes in ways we did not anticipate.
The goal of AI is not to recreate the human brain, which has its own portfolio of flaws, but to transcend it. To take the good and re-engineer out the bad. But the current approach of ignoring the human brain entirely, of barreling forward with scaling up neural networks by giving them more neurons and more data, may risk missing a crucial aspect of human intelligence that we will want to see in our AI systems.
The human brain evolved over a long period of time through a long process of incrementally acquiring intellectual faculties, each stacked on top of another. Modern AI systems are missing past breakthroughs that occurred in brain evolution. If we slow down to make sure we add them, the AI systems we will end up creating will be safer, more robust, and better equipped to fulfill AIs promise. Or at the very least, we will tip the odds in favor of a good outcome in this new, odd, scary, and possibly utopic world of AI we have now entered.
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AI Could Learn a Thing or Two From Rat Brains - The Daily Beast
Episode What sets great teams apart | Lane Shackleton (CPO of Coda) – Mirchi Plus
About Brought to you by EppoRun reliable, impactful experiments | VantaAutomate compliance. Simplify security | EzraThe leading full-body cancer screening companyLane Shackleton is CPO of Coda, where hes been leading the product and design team for over eight years. Lane started his career as an Alaskan climbing guide and then as a manual reviewer of AdWords ads before becoming a product specialist at Google and later a Group PM at YouTube. He also writes a weekly newsletter with insights and rituals for PMs, product teams, and startups. In todays conversation, we discuss: Principles that set great PMs apart Rituals of great product teams The fine line between OKRs and strategy, and why it matters Two-way write-up The story of how skippable YouTube ads were born and lessons learned How to gauge personal career growth Tim Ferriss Day and its impact on Codas history How Lane bootstrapped his way to CPO from the bottom of the tech ladderFind the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Todays transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT.Where to find Lane Shackleton: X: https://twitter.com/lshackleton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laneshackleton Substack: https://lane.substack.com/Where to find Lenny: Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com X: https://twitter.com/lennysan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Lanes background(04:03) Working as a guide in Alaska(07:32) Parallels between guiding and building software(09:12) Why Lane started studying and writing about product teams(12:49) How Lane came up with the career ladder and guiding principles(14:10) The five levels Codas career ladder(16:30) Principles of great product managers(21:06) The beginners-mind ritual at Coda(24:05) Two rituals: cathedrals not bricks and proactive not reactive(27:46) How to develop your own guiding principles(31:17) Learning from your oh s**t moments(36:03) Rituals from great product teams: HubSpots FlashTags(42:15) Rituals from great product teams: Codas Catalyst(47:01) Implementing rituals from other companies(49:48) How to navigate changing vs. sticking with current rituals(53:02) Tag up and why one-on-one meetings are harmful(55:27) Lanes handbook on strategy and rituals(57:10) How skippable ads came about on YouTube(1:01:46) Lanes path to CPO(1:07:02) Advice for aspiring PMs(1:10:53) Tim Ferriss Day at Coda(1:13:24) Using two-way write-ups(1:19:30) The fine line between OKRs and strategy, and why it matters(1:21:41) Lightning roundReferenced: Endurance: https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing/dp/0465062881 Bret Victors talk Inventing on Principle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGqwXt90ZqA Jeremy Britton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremybritton/ Comedian on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/60024976 The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership: https://www.amazon.com/Score-Takes-Care-Itself-Philosophy/dp/1591843472 The Creative Act: A Way of Being: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Act-Way-Being/dp/0593652886 AlphaZero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaZero Antoine de Saint-Exupry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exup%C3%A9ry Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling: https://www.amazon.com/Storyworthy-Engage-Persuade-through-Storytelling/dp/1608685489 The Moth: https://themoth.org/events Seth Godins website: https://www.sethgodin.com/ The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph: https://www.amazon.com/Obstacle-Way-Timeless-Turning-Triumph/dp/1591846358 Tony Fadells TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uOMectkCCs FlashTags: A Simple Hack for Conveying Context Without Confusion: https://www.onstartups.com/flashtags-a-simple-hack-for-conveying-context-without-confusion How Coda builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-coda-builds-product 100-dollar voting ritual: https://coda.io/@lshackleton/100-dollar-voting-exercise Pixars Brain Trust: https://pixar.fandom.com/wiki/Brain_Trust Lanes product handbook: coda.io/producthandbook The rituals of great teams | Shishir Mehrotra of Coda, YouTube, Microsoft: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir-mehrotra-coda-youtube-microsoft/ Principle #4: Learn by making, not talking: https://lane.substack.com/p/principle-4-learn-by-making-not-talking Phil Farhi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philfarhi/ How to ask the right questions, project confidence, and win over skeptics | Paige Costello (Asana, Intercom, Intuit): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-ask-the-right-questions-project-confidence-and-win-over-skeptics-paige-costello-asana-intercom-intuit/ Chip Conleys website: https://chipconley.com/ Jeff Bezos Banned PowerPoint in Meetings. His Replacement Is Brilliant: https://www.inc.com/carmine-gallo/jeff-bezos-bans-powerpoint-in-meetings-his-replacement-is-brilliant.html Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595 Dory and Pulse: https://coda.io/@codatemplates/dory-and-pulse Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great: https://www.amazon.com/Turning-Flywheel-Monograph-Accompany-Great/dp/0062933795/ Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion: https://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636024 The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance/dp/0679778314 Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Strategy-Bad-Difference-Matters/dp/0307886239 The Last Dance on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80203144 Full Swing on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81483353 Stephen Curry: Underrated on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/stephen-curry-underrated/umc.cmc.23v0wxaiwz60bjy1w4vg7npun Arrested Development on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/70140358 Shishirs interview question clip on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lennyrachitsky/video/7160779872296652078 The Ultimate Reference Check Template: https://coda.io/@startup-hiring/reference-checks-template SwingVision: https://swing.tennis/ Waking Up app: https://www.wakingup.com/Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at http://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe More Episodes Episode Building Anchor, selling to Spotify, and lessons learned | Maya Prohovnik (Spotifys Head of Podcast Product)
Brought to you by SidebarCatalyze your career with a Personal Board of Directors | Wix StudioThe web creation platform built for agencies | LinkedIn AdsReach professionals and drive results for your businessMaya Prohovnik is currently Spotifys Head of Podcast Product. She was employee #1 at Anchor, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019 and now powers more than 80% of all new podcasts created in the world. In 2023, Maya was named one of the Most Important People in Podcasting by The Hollywood Reporter. In todays episode, we discuss: How Maya operationalizes dogfooding How to balance data-driven decision-making and intuition Strategies for preserving startup culture in a large organization Tactical tips to improve at public speaking How Radical Candor and the Eisenhower matrix transformed her approach to managing people Whats next at Spotify for PodcastersFind the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Todays transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT.Where to find Maya Prohovnik: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@mayafish LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayaprohovnik/Where to find Lenny: Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com X: https://twitter.com/lennysan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Mayas background(04:34) Spotifys podcasting platform(06:24) Mayas personal podcasts(11:36) The importance of dogfooding(13:24) How Maya operationalizes dogfooding(16:31) How to balance data-driven decision-making and trusting your gut(21:38) Building Anchor 2.0(26:24) The beginning of Anchors hockey stick growth(28:08) How Anchor utilized interns to make the Apple Podcasts integration magical(35:36) Anchor and Spotifys successful integration(37:50) Maintaining a startup culture within a large organization(39:20) Transitioning from a startup to a large company(42:02) Challenges brought on by the acquisition(48:49) How Mayas leadership approach is guided by Radical Candor(51:53) The Eisenhower matrix for prioritization and task management(52:46) Productivity tips(55:10) How to get better at public speaking(59:38) The future of Spotify for Podcasters(1:00:58) Lightning roundReferenced: What is Dogfooding?: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/business/dogfooding.html The Derry Connection: A Stephen King Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ixSiYlj3A9NqEXZDBgycf Blood on Their Hands: A Big Brother Fancast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4VP16lTL8sUniQXCFeBInv Time Share: A Children of Time Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/38yhl2lNOUajccfsdluh5j The End of the World as We Know It: A First-Time Parenting Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TUr0LxcueYo2nvnyR5rML Forgotify (stream Spotify songs that have never been played): https://forgotify.com/ Michael Mignano on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mignano/ Lessons from scaling Spotify: The science of product, taking risky bets, and how AI is already impacting the future of music | Gustav Sderstrm (Co-President, CPO, and CTO at Spotify): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/lessons-from-scaling-spotify-the-science-of-product-taking-risky-bets-and-how-ai-is-already-impacting-the-future-of-music-gustav-soderstrom-co-president-cpo-and-cto-at-spotify/ Radical Candor: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375 What is the Eisenhower matrix?: https://www.figma.com/resource-library/what-is-the-eisenhower-matrix/ Todoist: https://todoist.com/ Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563/ Spotify for Podcasters: https://podcasters.spotify.com/ Children of Time: https://www.amazon.com/Children-Time-Adrian-Tchaikovsky/dp/0316452505 It: https://www.amazon.com/Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1982127791/ Poker Face on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/poker-face Barbie on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Margot-Robbie/dp/B0CB1TMKR6 Deadly Games: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096741/ 1-800 Contacts: https://www.1800contacts.com/ Lovevery: https://lovevery.com/ CoopCrate: https://www.coopcratechickens.com/Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at http://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
Brought to you by PendoThe all-in-one platform for product-led companies building breakthrough digital experiences | Wix StudioThe web creation platform built for agencies | MasterworksInvest in blue-chip artNilan Peiris is Chief Product Officer at Wise, one of the fastest-growing (and profitable) tech companies in the world. Wise allows anyone to send money in more than 60 currencies to over 160 countries at low cost, and throughout its history has grown primarily through word of mouth. In todays episode, we discuss: Tactical advice on driving word of mouth (WOM) Strategies for measuring WOM How NPS surveys helped Wise determine their growth and product strategy How Wise incentivizes teams to do the hard things The small change that generated a 3x increase in referrals How Wise structures its product and growth teamsFind the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Todays transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT.Where to find Nilan Peiris: Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/nilanp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nilanpeiris/Where to find Lenny: Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lennysan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Nilans background(03:27) A brief overview of Wise(06:11) How word of mouth is measured(07:56) Why Wise leaned into WOM(10:21) Why Wise built their WOM motion using the NPS method(16:13) How WOM solves trust problems(19:16) How to get to 9 or 10 on the NPS scale(21:06) Determining what will wow users(22:12) Common missteps companies make when trying to drive WOM(24:05) Using the working backward method at Airbnb(26:26) How Wise is able to offer drastically lower money transfer fees(28:41) The three costs associated with moving money(32:43) Rational vs. irrational reasons behind recommendations(34:52) Prioritizing customer happiness(37:07) How Wise builds conviction(42:41) How Wise approaches experimentation(46:53) Thoughts on performance reviews and general analysis(48:48) How Wise provides a 10x better banking experience(52:39) Advice on how to approach word-of-mouth marketing(54:28) Building a culture of doing hard things(56:40) The macrostructure of international banking and where Wise fits in(1:01:57) How Wise solves for local regulations in their onboarding flow(1:03:17) How Wise structures teams(1:04:07) The small change that generated a 3x increase in referrals(1:08:42) Nilans philanthropic endeavors(1:09:55) Lightning roundReferenced: Wise: https://wise.com/us/ Henry Chen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-h-chen/ About NPS: https://www.productboard.com/blog/the-power-of-nps-in-your-product-strategy/ How Snow White helped Airbnb prove that storytelling is the most important skill in design: https://uxdesign.cc/how-airbnb-proved-that-storytelling-is-the-most-important-skill-in-design-15d04ac71039 Seth Godin: This Is How You Create a Remarkable Product: https://www.businessinsider.com/seth-godin-this-is-how-you-create-a-remarkable-product-2012-10 Discover the Spotify model: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/agile-at-scale/spotify Beam: https://beam.org/ Affinity: https://affinityghana.com/ Crime and Punishment: https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishment-Volokhonsky-Translation-Classics/dp/0679734503 Midnights Children: https://www.amazon.com/Midnights-Children-Modern-Library-Novels/dp/0812976533 Barbie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517268/ Arc browser: https://arc.net/Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at http://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
Brought to you by EzraThe leading full-body cancer screening company | VantaAutomate compliance. Simplify security | LinkedIn AdsReach professionals and drive results for your businessItamar Gilad is a career coach, author, and speaker with over two decades of experience in senior product roles at Google, Microsoft, and various startups. He is also the author of Evidence-Guided: Creating High-Impact Products in the Face of Uncertainty and publishes a popular product management newsletter. In todays episode, we discuss: What it means to be evidence-guided How to think about your KPIs as metric trees How to prioritize ideas using the confidence meter The GIST model for roadmapping Common mistakes with ICE Advice for using evidence to challenge gut-driven foundersFind the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Todays transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT.Where to find Itamar Gilad: Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ItamarGilad LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itamargilad/ Website: https://itamargilad.com/Where to find Lenny: Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lennysan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Itamars background(04:35) How his time working on Gmail shaped his philosophy of opinion-based development(08:35) Lessons from developing Gmails tabbed inbox(13:40) A brief overview of Itamars book, Evidence-Guided(14:30) Balancing founder creativity with an evidence-based approach(17:32) Advice on how to push back against founders(19:36) Signs you arent as evidence-guided as you may think(21:13) Itamars GIST model for becoming more evidence-guided(23:51) How to set overarching goals using his value exchange loop(28:45) North star metrics vs. KPIs(33:47) Using ICE to assess the value of ideas(37:39) Itamars confidence meter(44:28) Speed of delivery vs. speed of discovery(46:14) How to apply Itamars frameworks based on company type and stage(49:09) First steps in becoming more evidence-guided(50:21) Next steps in testing(55:41) The task layer in the GIST framework(1:02:54) Thoughts on roadmapping(1:04:56) How OKRs fit into the whole picture(1:07:11) Lightning roundReferenced: Itamars presentation slides: https://itamargilad.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Podcast-Slides.pdf What differentiates the highest-performing product teams | John Cutler (Amplitude, The Beautiful Mess): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/what-differentiates-the-highest-performing-product-teams-john-cutler-amplitude-the-beautiful-mess/ Evidence-Guided: Creating High-Impact Products in the Face of Uncertainty: https://itamargilad.com/book-evidence-guided/ The co-founders of Google in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/profile/larry-page-and-sergey-brin Kanban: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira The ultimate guide to OKRs | Christina Wodtke (Stanford): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-okrs-christina-wodtke-stanford/ Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/ The ultimate guide to A/B testing | Ronny Kohavi (Airbnb, Microsoft, Amazon): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-ab-testing-ronny-kohavi-airbnb-microsoft-amazon/ ICE framework: https://growthmethod.com/ice-framework/ Sean Ellis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanellis/ RICE scoring model: https://www.productplan.com/glossary/rice-scoring-model/ Idea Prioritization with ICE and the Confidence Meter: https://itamargilad.com/the-tool-that-will-help-you-choose-better-product-ideas/ Assumptions Mapping: https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase2-define/assumptions-mapping What is Dog Fooding, Fish Fooding a Product?: https://matt-rickard.com/fishfooding-dogfooding-product SVPG books: https://www.svpg.com/books/ The Lean series: https://theleanstartup.com/the-lean-series Dreaming Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/c/DreamingSpanish ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/ Lennybot: https://www.lennybot.com/Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at http://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
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Episode What sets great teams apart | Lane Shackleton (CPO of Coda) - Mirchi Plus
The timeless charm of of ‘Chaturanga’ – Daily Pioneer
Chess has been part of societies across the world. Its roots can be traced to ancient India, where it was known as Chaturanga, a game simulating battlefield
IIn the world of sports and intellect, Chess, or the Game of Kings as it is known, holds a special place. From prodigies like 18-year-old R Praggnanandhaa, or 'Pragg, Magnus Carlsen and Bobby Fischer to grandmasters like Vishwanathan Anand, Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and others, the game has evolved in the past two decades.
Chess has a rich and storied history that spans centuries. One of the most captivating chapters in the tale of chess's evolution can be found in India. From its origins as a courtly pastime for Indian royalty to becoming a globally recognized sport, chess in India has a remarkable journey that showcases both cultural influence and individual excellence.
Imagine the ancient kings and generals strategizing their military moves on the chessboard, the precursor to battles fought on the battlefield. Known as "Chaturanga" in ancient India, chess brilliantly simulated the four divisions of the Indian military: infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots. These divisions corresponded to the modern chess pieces of pawn, knight, bishop, and rook. The game wasn't just a pastime, but a mirror reflecting the art of war and strategy.
Intriguingly, the game's influence extended beyond the battlefield. The Mahabharata, a cornerstone of Indian epic literature, featured a chess match between the Pandava prince Yudhishthira and the deity Shiva, who had assumed the guise of a Brahmin. This match conveyed vital moral lessons, underscoring the importance of strategy, foresight, and decision-making in the Indian cultural context.
From its origins in India, chess embarked on an epic journey along the Silk Road, a network of trade routes connecting the East and West. It arrived in Persia in the 6th century, where it underwent significant modifications and earned the name "Shatranj." The allure of chess continued to grow as it travelled through the Islamic world and eventually reached medieval Europe, enchanting minds and shaping strategic thinking.
The Mughal Empire, which ruled over India from the 16th to the 19th century, played a significant role in the evolution of chess. The Mughal rulers, particularly Akbar, fostered an environment of intellectual and cultural exchange, not just playing the game himself, but also organizing grand chess tournaments with players of various backgrounds.
Fast forward to the 19th century, when chess underwent a metamorphosis. Standardized rules and international competitions emerged, leading to the crowning of the Austrian-American Wilhelm Steinitz as the first official World Chess Champion in 1886. Steinitz's groundbreaking contributions, including insights into positional play and the endgame, revolutionized chess strategy and elevated the game to new heights.
Germanys Emanuel Lasker, Steinitz's successor, was a polymath who brought innovation and adaptability to the chessboard. His 17-year reign showcased his exceptional skill and comprehensive understanding of chess dynamics, securing his place as a true legend.
Wikipedia mentions that one of the most influential figures in the revival of chess in India (read Asia) was Mir Sultan Khan (later settled in Pakistan from 1947 to 1966), a humble servant from British India who rose to become a formidable chess player. In an international chess career of less than five years (192933), he won the British Championship three times in four tries (1929, 1932, 1933), and had tournament and match results that placed him among the top ten players in the world.
The mid-20th century heralded a significant shift as the Soviet Union rose as a chess powerhouse and World Champions like Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Tigran Petrosian emerged from the Soviet chess school, each contributing unique strategies and playing styles. However, it was the electrifying rivalry between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky during the 1972 World Chess Championship that captivated the world, with Fischer ultimately claiming victory and capturing the imaginations. The late 20th century brought the enigmatic Garry Kasparov into the limelight. Kasparov's tactical brilliance redefined chess strategy. His match against IBM's Deep Blue in 1997 etched his name in history, showcasing the intersection of human ingenuity and computational power.
Back home, it was Vishwanathan Anand, who went on to become India's first Grandmaster in 1988. Anand's incredible skill and strategic brilliance elevated him to the status of a chess legend. He would later become the World Chess Champion, a title he held from 2000 to 2002 and then from 2007 to 2013. Anand's successors, including P. Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, and Koneru Humpy, have also made significant contributions to the world of chess.
The 21st century has witnessed chess's resurgence, thanks to technological innovations. Online platforms and apps have democratized the game, allowing players of all skill levels to engage, learn, and compete globally. Moreover, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have transformed chess analysis and preparation, with engines like Stockfish, AlphaZero, and Leela Chess Zero providing unprecedented insights.
Beyond the game's intricacies, Indian cinema has shown the prowess of the game in various forms style, strategy, crime and culture. For example, Satyajit Rays "Shatranj Ki Khiladi" painted a vivid picture of the game's cultural significance. The film transported audiences to the era of nawabs and their obsession with the game, portraying chess as more than just a pastime.
Chess is a training ground for patience and perseverance. In a world consumed by the allure of mobile phones and digital screens, chess offers a refreshing and timeless escape a game where history, culture, and innovation converge on a 64-square battlefield, making it timeless, vibrant and engaging.
(The writer is programme executive, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti; views are personal)
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The timeless charm of of 'Chaturanga' - Daily Pioneer
Creating New Stories That Don’t Suck – Hollywood in Toto
I was four years old when my father took me to the theater to see Star Wars.
From that moment, until that calamitous day in 1999 when The Phantom Menace debuted, the Star Wars trilogy was everything storytelling should be.
In the past few decades, stories like the ones I grew up loving have been in short supply, leaving me to ask:
And, of course
Hollywood in Toto helped to introduce me to The Critical Drinker. It was the Drinker who reverse-engineered the cultural and political rules that govern modern storytelling and why those rules result in terrible movies.
After watching a few dozen Drinker videos, I was convinced that I could create an epic adventure better than anything Hollywood is churning out these days: one that ignores the rules supposedly demanded by modern audiences and the mobs of fanatics on social media.
Further, I was determined to create something special for a very ordinary reason: I wanted to impress a girl. My creation had to be good because the girl I needed to impress is a very special one: my wife of 25 years.
That leads me to my concept
Imagine a computer algorithm that can know your hopes, dreams and deepest desires better than even your friends and family do. It can use that knowledge to persuade you to do whatever its owner wants you to do.
The possibility that such a technology could one day exist seemed terrifyingly plausible, given that tech giants sit atop enormous mountains of data about every one of us. Further, with all of the devices in our midst, they can spy on us and communicate with us in a multitude of ways.
Having learned something about the psychology of influence, I found it easy to think of persuasion as a rule-bound endeavor, much like the game of chess or the Japanese game called Go. Long before the world stood in amazement at the capabilities of ChatGPT, I had become deeply unsettled by the abilities of an AI program called AlphaZero that had revolutionized both chess and Go (mastery of Go had eluded computer science far longer than chess).
What if AI could master persuasion the way it has mastered these games? What use would it be put to? The first use seemed obvious. It would be used for the same purpose as any new technology: to get girls. But what then? The results amazed and terrified me.
I began to imagine a tech billionaire who owns an algorithm that can persuade and manipulate people more effectively than any human being can. Algorithm in hand, Neville first uses his program to seduce Meghan Peters, a Hollywood starlet whom he could never attract on his own.
Nevilles problem is that he owes the Chinese a lot of money. They come to him with their concerns that his program, while effective, is not perfect. Theyre tired of having to imprison dissidents for political crimes. It reflects badly on China on the world stage. They threaten to collect on their debts and ruin Neville if he doesnt perfect his program.
Neville is unable to meet their demand. The sheer complexity of the world makes the task of perfecting the program as he originally conceived it impossible. He and his team find a clever but terrifying workaround, one that solves the problem in the most horrifying way imaginable. His new weapon of persuasion interests both Chinese and American politicians.
To make Nevilles evil plan terrifyingly plausible, I had to take the reader through it one devious step at a time. If the reader doesnt see whats coming, it has grown organically out of the story. But if the reader begins to sense whats coming, the eventual payoff is even more terrifying.
To accomplish that, I realized I would have to out-Crichton Michael Crichton by filling my budding techno-thriller with lots of real-world techno: physics, mathematics, complex systems, psychology, computer science, and network science.
Additionally, having spent the past decade on a program of self-education, I was also able to fill the work with law, art, history, opera, and political intrigue, all of it working to enhance the plot and deepen the characters.
What kind of heroes could overcome the plans of an AI-backed genius whose work is by nature secret?
Realistic but positive and inspiring, I designed a cast of the most American of heroes: ordinary and imperfect characters of every background who have, (in varying degrees) some of the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
Not knowing exactly what theyre up against, they all get in over their heads and they have to find their way out. Only one of my male characters is an incompetent laughingstock. Without having to cater to modern audiences I was able to build female characters who are genuinely strong rather than the strong female character we see so much on screen.
The men in Kingmaker are the kind you would recognize from your everyday life rather than the hyperactive hyper-emotional hyper-talkative children forced into mens bodies that todays insecure, effeminate, emotionally fragile Hollywood screenwriters imagine men to be.
The heroes in Kingmaker arent trying to establish some unreachable Utopia. They dont strive to be empowered because the desire to control the lives of others hardly seems like a noble calling fit for a hero.
Instead, theyre concerned with the same things we all are concerned with: finding work, finding love, finding meaning, finding forgiveness, exposing injustice. The obstacles they face are the same obstacles we all face: constant lying from our betters, utopian educators alienating our children with indoctrination, and the sheer amount of effort it takes to truly grow and achieve anything worthwhile.
In their pursuit, they show us all what we can become with courage, conviction, humility, and effort. In their quest, they uphold the best of our nations legacy and urge us to defend it from those who would tear it down.
As a writer, I wanted to experience the world from a multitude of perspectives by creating characters who are different from me. Some of my heroes are different from me in the trivial dimension of race. But theyre also different on the more important dimensions of experience, profession, and worldview.
For instance, although Im an orthodox Jew, one of my heroes is a Catholic priest.
After reading about Chinese spy Christine Fang who seduced Congressman Eric Swalwell and other American politicians, I just had to have a honeypot spy of my own to spice up the plot. The result was Mei Hua Chang, a dangerous wild card in the plot of Kingmaker. Shes a femme fatale whose sex appeal is only exceeded by her cunning.
To execute her character properly, I could only get her clothes off but once. In all of her other interactions, shes required to play the cards shes dealt to perfection. I always relished the challenge of writing her scenes.
WWCDD: What Would Critical Drinker Do?
By the time I finished planning the novel out, I had something like five plots going simultaneously. It reminded me of the HBO series Game of Thrones (but unlike George RR Martin, I actually finished writing the book, and unlike the HBO series, I provided an ending that works).
In order to tame all those plots into a coherent whole, I made a careful study of my characters, their backgrounds and their emotions. I attended to the practicalities of what my characters were attempting to do.
Inspired by Critical Drinker, I made a careful study of setup and payoff. Every plot point either had to set up an important payoff later or be the payoff of an earlier setup. (My daughter Leah nicknamed the book Chekhovs Arsenal.) That one Critical Drinker video became the inspiration for an entire method of writing that guided the whole process.
A writer could do much worse than to ask himself, What would the Drinker do?
Critical Drinker observes that modern screenwriters, bent on replacing legacy characters with their mediocre creations, seem to hate their fans. I was raised in a different generation. I drew on the teaching of Dale Carnegie.
He said of the great American magician Howard Thurston, that he would remind himself before every performance how much he loved his audience. I did something very similar before sitting down to write. That was easy because I was writing to impress the love of my life.
More than that. I began sending pieces of Kingmaker to my friend Martin. He devoured them and asked for more. Energized by his encouragement, I was able to keep on writing even when the going got difficult.
Critical Drinker once commented: One of the most disgusting hallmarks of modern screenwriting is the denigration of the past in a desperate attempt to elevate the present. The bastardization of other peoples work to service your own.
Kingmaker skewers all of those who would deconstruct the arts, architecture, and legacy popular culture IPs, revealing them to be dangerous, power-hungry operatives. It does so in ways that spring organically from and contribute to the plot.
For instance, when it dawns on my two main heroes that their favorite comic book movie series has lost interest in telling the great stories they once told, that realization dawns on each of them at different times. That difference moves the plot forward.
While Critical Drinker takes to task what the custodians of popular culture have done to the IPs they have been entrusted with, others have pointed out that the same thing is happening to high culture as well. Kingmaker addresses that and imagines what the next step will be for the arts if those who would deconstruct them get their way.
If a technology like Nevilles existed, which political party would be the one to use it?
The answer is obvious: either of them. Any political party can have ruthless operatives, opportunists, and time-serving apparatchiks. It should be obvious to every American that one party isnt the domain of well-meaning idealists while the other is the one for evil wannabe tyrants. If Machiavelli has taught us anything hes taught us that the public would never know which leader is virtuous and which one is simply an effective Machiavellian. Party affiliation cant help the public tell the good politicians from the bad.
While Kingmaker addresses issues such as lawfare and election integrity, which is currently associated with the political right, that issue is genuinely critical to all Americans. Governments that are secure enough in their power that they dont have to answer to the people have done some tremendously depraved things to keep and increase that power.
In those one-party states such as Saddams Iraq, it was extremely dangerous to be a member of the Baath party.
When offered Nevilles tool to increase their power, the villains in Kingmaker do not hesitate to add members of their own party to the proscription list.
In any political system, the strategy for getting and keeping power is the same: reward the people who keep you in power and punish those who oppose you. That goes for a dictator who depends on a small number of people to keep him in power and a Republic that (hopefully) governs with the consent of the people at large. The evil Party operatives in Kingmaker are not evil because of which party they choose. Theyre evil because as Machiavelli and Game Theory teach us, good politics frequently requires evil behavior.
Unlike modern moviemakers, I dont dictate my answers to complex questions to my readers. In fact, I have no idea how to answer many of the thorny questions posed by Kingmaker. For instance, what is consent in an age of powerful persuasion?
How do we make it so that the government truly can be said to have the consent of the governed? Did Meghan Peters genuinely consent to Jerry Nevilles advances after she had been seduced by his computer algorithm? I invite the reader to think through questions like these about the topic of consent with me. I dont attempt to answer them, even in a book entitled Consent.
One reason I dont attempt an answer is an important truth that Jerry Neville knows about the human mind: our brains are not sophisticated enough to genuinely understand a board game any more complicated than checkers. Equipped with that kind of brain, I realize that were going to have to grope our way through these issues and learn from experience rather than trusting some smarty-pants who says hes figured it all out for us.
I didnt want anything about Kingmaker to be dictated to me by a publishing industry that is busy editing out the offensive bits of James and the Giant Peach. Instead, I followed my vision.
Paul Joseph Watson has famously argued that populism is the new punk. Every step of this project has been influenced by the 1970s punk ethos of DIY or Die. I immersed myself in the nitty-gritty of every stage of this production: background learning, writing, editing, formatting, and the recording and editing of the audiobook.
The only thing I didnt do was design the cover. That was left to my friend Richard Smotherman. The result was a product I was so confident about that I put Consent, the first volume of Kingmaker on YouTube for free.
Facing down the impossible odds
If the culture war against those trying to destroy our heritage is to be won, we have to become creators. Its a risky business. The odds against hitting it big are long. The thought of daring greatly and having the world reject your work is not one that everybody can bear. Still, it must be done.
Simply finishing Kingmaker has been a reward unto itself. For the past two years, I have gotten to experience the greatest drama I will ever encounter. I started with a simple premise and thought as deeply as I could about what I had created.
Thinking deeply about simple things leads to wonderful discoveries. I was constantly delighted and surprised by what my characters did and the way the plot twisted and turned as I tried to wrestle five stories into a coherent whole. All the while, the project was spiced by the persistent question I asked of myself: Can you do this?
For two years, I willed that answer to be yes. No matter what, for the rest of my life, I will be able to say that I stared down those impossible odds and kept going when I thought I couldnt. In the process, I created something wonderful.
I hope you will take that risk and join me in creating culture. Our nation needs it. You might even impress your wife.
Attorney and polymath Ari H. Mendelson is the author of the Kingmaker trilogy. His previous novel was Bias Incident: The Worlds Most Politically Incorrect Novel. Before beginning the Kingmaker Trilogy, Mendelson dedicated himself to home schooling his four children. You can find his books at Amazon.com and GoodReads. Follow him on Twitter (X) via @kingmakerseries.
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Creating New Stories That Don't Suck - Hollywood in Toto