The Weird Connection between AI and Life

Gradient Descent and the Great thing called Life

If you look closely at a blank canvas, you might find art and meaning in that too. Well, that’s modern art, right?

So back to the point. For all the people who do not know about what gradient descent is, it is basically a technique that the AI uses to ‘learn’.

Now here is a very common problem that arises. There is a metric called the learning rate, called alpha, which you have to choose that determines the speed of the model arriving to the optimal solution. Here is where the fundamental dilemma arises. If you choose a learning rate too big, it will probably miss the ideal solution and will keep bouncing around it. If you choose something too slow, it will probably take a LOT of time.

Now from a simple perspective, you should choose a small enough rate, right? Well technically, you are right. But the point is that you do not have all the time in the world. Atleast not unless your boss is a spiritual guru. And that’s where the connection starts to appear.

You see, if you’re too slow in life, yes things might be comfortable, but you’ll probably find your peace after a long long time. And you don’t want to be in the optimal zone at your deathbed. That’s just too long. On the contrary, if you’re too fast, you’ll probably be bouncing around, thinking money and fame will get you all the peace in the world, but obviously that’s no true. You might just be bouncing around that optimal and never quite feeling settled even after achieving everything that people call ‘success’.

And that’s where you have to choose your alpha. Just like in the AI world of finding it hit-and-trial method, you should also give yourself the time and patience to explore yourself. Find your model’s parameters, which are the ones that really matter and which ones can be ignored. Eventually, you’ll be close to them, if not at the exact ideal values.

So keep looking, don’t settle. Find your alpha. And eventually, you’ll find your ideal life. Or something very close to it at the very least.

Hasta-la-vista.