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Parable of the Hill Climber
🕑 Added 2018-11-30 16:26:47 +0000 UTC Once upon a time, there was a hill climber.
The hill climber wanted to climb the tallest hill. However, the land was foggy and they couldn't see far. So, they climbed in whatever nearby direction seemed uphill.
They climbed & climbed, and finally reached a peak. “At last,” the hill climber said, “I've climbed the tallest hill!”
What our protagonist has done is known as the "Hill Climbing" algorithm. Given a point on a landscape of possibilities – where higher points represent better states – the algorithm just looks at nearby points (because evaluating all points would be too costly), moves to the "highest" nearby point, and repeats. Eventually, the algorithm will reach a peak.
Just one problem.
That peak may not be the peak.
Our hero is now stuck in what's called a "local maximum".
The hill climber looked to the left. Doesn't seem uphill.
The hill climber looked to the right. Doesn't seem uphill.
The hill climber felt trapped. “Is this all there is?” they thought. “Is life literally all downhill from here?”
Little did they know, there are better algorithms. Algorithms like “Stochastic Hill Climbing” and “Simulated Annealing” solve the local-maximum problem by adding randomness. This causes the algorithm to take worse steps in the short-run, so it can locate better states in the long-run.
Sometimes, you have to leave what's been working for you, and take a step down into the fog...
...to climb to a better place.
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In November, I went on a sabbatical/vacation, to add randomness to my algorithm. I took up sewing, made plushies, studied (very, very intro-level) quantum mechanics, practiced my French in Montréal, hiked through snowy woods, read papers, ate bagels.
I also went to ThinkerCon, where I met hundreds of other internet edu-thing creators! I was on a panel hosted by Robert Krulwich (RadioLab) on exactly the topic of this post: escaping your local maximum.
Vi Hart – awesome human & co-creator of Parable of the Polygons – was on the panel too! Vi's a maestro of escaping local max: first a musician, then YouTuber, then VR researcher, and now getting into AI. It was in talking with Vi I realized:
1) It's okay to go do something totally different, to avoid local max.
2) I've hit local max.
Here's my hill: I explain ideas with single-player, mathematical simulations on a flat 2D screen. I am the king/queen of this hill. But what about ideas that can't be explained through mathematical simulations? What about other forms of play, like role-play, multiplayer, play in Virtual/Augmented/Actual Reality? What about purposes other than "explaining", like collaboration, invention, citizen science, storytelling, art?
Point is: I'm ready to step into the fog.
Over the next 6 months, I'll try one new thing a month. (new for me, anyway) In December it'll be a science experiment, where I'll collect & analyze data using an interactive. After that, not sure yet. All I know is that I want to explore new directions. These new directions might seem downhill at first, and honestly most of them might not pan out.
But trying out new directions was how I got here! I went from comics, to animation, to games, to web tools, to now "explorable explanations". I won't leave explorables just yet, but I think there's still so much more good that can be done through the medium of play.
I don't know what's ahead...
...but I'm truly, genuinely grateful –
– that I get to explore it with all of you.
Thank you.
<3,
~ Nicky Case
Comments
Martin Kletzander
I can't describe how much I wish you the best in searching through the maxima. I haven't reached any myself, so whatever happens you can still be glad that you found at least one local one =) Hearing about ThinkerCon it sounds like a great thing and there are so many creators that I respect and, I would dare to even say, worship. As far as I searched it doesn't look like they share recordings. Would you happen to know of any recordings from there? I, and I believe other people as well, mainly those that are not from US, would appreciate that a lot. Thanks a lot.
Tim S
Wishing you the best in your search for your global maximum.
Mayank Jain
Made a video out of it! Hope you guys like it: <a href="https://twitter.com/firesofmay/status/1069518304623058945" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/firesofmay/status/1069518304623058945</a>
Mayank Jain
Wow! This is exactly what I have been going through since last year! And now I know how to explain it! :D Since last year I moved to work for various cryptocurrencies related startups, from being a developer for more than 5yrs at a local startup I moved to being a community manager, community lead, head of outreach, worked with various startups around the globe, worked with remote teams in different timezones. And now I have hit a local maxima. Since past few weeks, I could feel it. So I picked up another part time role at a startup to explore Growth Associate role where I'll look at conversion rate optimization (CRO) for websites, even though the pay is much less. So in the short run, it looks like a down hill, but it could lead to a much higher hill further away! Thank you for bringing much needed clarity to what I am doing! You are doing a wonderful work!
Glen E. Ivey
This is a great essay and sentiment and I'm grateful you're letting us in on so much of your (personal) thinking. Best of luck to you in your traversal of the fog.
The Roots of Progress
Congratulations on all you've done, and best of luck! I've really enjoyed your explorables, and I can't wait to see what you do next.
Simon Morrow
I am afraid of both heights and peaking young, so this speaks to me. Can we extend the metaphor to collaboration? Is the value that one individual adds to a team dependent on how close they are to a personal local max?
Vi Hart
"Maestro of Escaping Local Max" is going on my new imaginary business cards. Thank you for the shout out, and I enjoyed this post! It gives me new ways to describe this whole discover new paths thing.
Nicky Case
Thank you, Michael! :D > Also, what resources did you use for plushie creation? I've wanted to look into that too and wondered what you'd found useful. Well I only very very very recently got started, and have never even sewed anything before (beyond the occasional stitch in pants). My first introduction was the Klutz Sew Mini Animals kit, which is a combination book-and-kit. It's a very intro-level kit. The next book I'm looking at possibly getting is Stuffed Animals: From Concept to Construction by Abigail Glassenberg. This one goes beyond "follow my exact recipe to get this exact design", and teaches you techniques like darts & gussets to design your own 3d plushies. (I wish there were words to distinguish between those different kinds of how-to guides: the How-To guide that shows you exactly one path, and the How-To guide that shows you how to make your own path) Seems like a more advanced-level book, I might give it a shot after I make a few more plushies. The cat plushie above is actually a simple 2D plushie with a 2D tail stuck to the back, so it can stand upright. I do not yet know how to make 3D plushies (I do not expect plushie-making to benefit my work in any way, but then again I didn't expect learning French to benefit me either, but then incidentally I learnt Spaced Repetition from it, and ended up making a whole explorable on that...)
Michael Huff
Semper Explorandum! Wishing you the best in your future journeys! Also, what resources did you use for plushie creation? I've wanted to look into that too and wondered what you'd found useful.
