How to solve problems
Most people when the say they don't know how to solve a problem or when they get stressed about not being able to come up with a solution, this generally happens because they don't understand how the brain works or have a very wrong understanding of it. Most people try to force a solution as if the solution will appear out of thin air.
In Machine learning, there are certain concepts called Neural Networks and Unsupervised learning. When a model is trained, it is fed data sets and a way to process that data set. There are two ways for that: supervised and unsupervised. In Supervised learning method, the developer explicitly tells how to process the data. In the unsupervised learning method, no specific way is provided to the model. So the data is taken in and the model tries to identify patterns in it. THe more relevant data it has, the better it learns. Neural networks are one example of unsupervised learning models. The name is no coincidence. It is inspired by how the brain processes information.
Our brains are very efficient at processing information and making connections between the data points. When we set out to solve a problem, we start by understanding the problem and collecting relevant information about it. The more info we have, more the chances to be able to solve the problem. Here's where people make the mistake. We think that we are the ones solving the problem. When infact, we are only supposed to feed our brain with related data points.
You might have noticed that sometimes when you are not able to solve a problem, you take a break and when you come back, suddenly the solution appears in your mind. How does that happen? How does the solution come when you are not even thinking about it. That's because, we don't solve it; our brain does. It had enough information and when you gave it a break, it was able to process it and come up with a solution.
So, instead of trying to work your brain, work with it. If you feed it enough related information and trust it to solve the problem, it will. If it cannot it simply means that you don't have enough data to solve it. So go and figure out what is missing and get it.
Only worry about collecting data and let your brain worry about making the connections. If you can internalize this, you will be able to solve, with the help of your brain of course, any problem that comes in your path.
tags: #brain #psychology #neurology #ML #musings
links: