Analytics, causation and human evolution

books, Brain size, Evolution, Human Brain, Thinking

About a month back I was giving a training to our team on Analytics and what could be the uses for customers. During that training I spent a lot of time on how Analytics can be used to do correlation and also causation. These are 2 concepts which a lot of people mix up. So I spent a lot of time on that, clarifying doubts.

Today I was reading the book “Framers: Human Advantage in an Age of Technology and Turmoil” by Kenneth Cukier, Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, Francis de Vericourt.

I am right now in the first half of the book. There’s a specific chapter on causation.

If you have been following my blog, you would notice that I have been interested in understanding why humans succeeded in advancing so much while the whole animal kingdom and other living beings are where they were millions of years back. Zebras thousands of years back still had the same stripes and ate grass as they do now. But humans moved from stones to weapons to flying and all kinds of other advancements.

I already believed that because the real estate for the development of the human brain was much larger than other animals , it gave our brain more capabilities to evolve physically. The second reason in my opinion was the motor mechanism where we have the concept of grip which helped us to hold things and also walk on 2 limbs rather than four.

One of the things that the authors are suggesting is the fact that humans had two key skills which the other animals did not. One was the ability to see causation and the other were social skills. With causation they were able to think about how the same causes could be caused to have the same effects while with social skills they could ask for help and collaborate.

While some animals do live in colonies, they don’t seem to seek help for achieving tasks. On the other hand even if you were to put 2-3 kids who don’t know each other into a room, you will soon find that they are playing with each other trying to help each other.

As I read further I will see if they have more information on this subject. But for me , now if I have to give another training on Analytics and its uses, I will have some more content to talk about on how causation has helped humans evolve.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

There is nothing sexy in achieving financial freedom – part 2

Financial Independence, Uncategorized

Yesterday I wrote about how most of these Ultra rich people – Warren Buffet, Tony Robbins, Richard Koch, Robert Kiyosaki – actually followed a system rigorously even when there were roadblocks around the way

The systems required that they had to do some amount of sacrifices. Maybe they did not go out for a date when they were young because they had to ensure that they were closing something as part of their system.

I also realised when I started a bank mandate initially with just a 1000 rupees. Initially it did matter that even before I could utilise the money, the money went out from the bank. But slowly I got used to it and I went on increasing my commitments to the money getting directly debited from the bank into some Investments.

In 3 years I did not realise what a difference that had made to my financial stability. Based on the possibilities that my investments could do, I actually sat down to figure out a date by which if my assets reached a given value I could leave my job and start doing what I want.

While God has been kind in a lot of these endeavours it is also a matter of the systems working and the investments compounding in the background.

For all those young guys if they read this, just a very small portion of their income if they can directly give a bank mandate, for money to be deducted to go into an investment, without they realising, they can all become millionaires.

If you leave it to your discretion that every month you will invest based on what you save…. You will never be able to invest.

The human brain was designed to ensure that it survived and immediate gratification was more important than long term safety. Hence the brain does not allow you to take a chance with your safety of money and wants you to have it till the last moment. But when you have a system to automatically reduce the money from your bank for an investment the brain gets used to the lesser amount of money and you are able to live a similar Lifestyle even with that less money.

Today there are possibilities of various kinds depending on your appetite and the goals that you have to invest in mutual funds in SAP or in a recurring deposit whichever way you want.

Whatever you do and whatever your risk appetite, put a system in place so that it works in the background and gets you to your goal

If you can resonate with my content, a follow on my Facebook Page will be highly appreciated!

Thanks in advance! 🙂

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Miracles happen ….because human beings are good

Financial Independence, Uncategorized

Today’s blog post has nothing to do with finance directly.

In 2013 there was a massive cloud burst and floods in the Uttarkashi area in India. Thousands of pilgrims going to the Kedarnath temple and people living in the adjoining areas got drowned because of the flash floods.

Today I came to know about a boy whose parents and sister had gone for the pilgrimage. Since 2013 there was no news whether they were alive or not. Since their bodies were not found they were not declared dead either. This boy was a student at that time.

Due to the sudden disappearance of his parents and no financial support from relatives, who actually disowned him, he worked at a petrol pump to somehow earn enough money to survive and complete his education.

On 12th April this year, almost 5 years later he got news from a rescue team that his parents were in coma in a villagers home. When he reached there he found that the villager herself was pretty poor, but had taken care of his parents and sister while they were in coma. I am told that his mother and sister are now out of coma and father is still badly unwell.

But when this story was told to me by my friend, both she and I came to this discussion that the miracle was not that in the flash floods the parents and sister of the boy survived but the fact that the villager who herself was not very rich took care of 3 unknown people in coma for almost 5 years. After that when they come back to consciousness, this lady worked with the government authorities to trace this boy who stays in Noida – about 500-600kms away.

There was no money that she got during those years for taking care of the unknown people. During that time this boy, inspite of all the hardships, through his perseverance studied and got himself a decent job and kept his hopes alive of meeting his parents and sister again.

Its the human spirit and the fact that inherently human beings are good that miracles happen. The news channels and papers make out that the world is coming to an end but its people like the villager and the boy who show that the world is still a pretty decent place and all over the world there are human beings who are doing positive things that make this world a much better place to live.

Lets spread the positives to make our world a better place….

Till next time