The 'Cheetah-corn' Brain ...

What the heck is a Cheetah-corn ??? It is a cross between a Cheetah and an Unicorn ... What has it got to do with this article ???

Just hang in there for me for just a little while ... will set the context and explain so it becomes clear by the end of this article ...

Context: when we solve problems in any Enterprise, it typically involves automation using various software technologies. We break the problem into chunks and start building the pieces (incrementally) towards the end solution...

Few months back, a very good friend of mine brought the topic of an UNUSUAL person we had the privilege and honor of working with. This person was a Cheetah-corn ... just bear with me - will explain ... One could have a conversation with this person on any topic, be it art, computers, electronics, finance, history, medicine, science, sports, technology ... the topic did not matter ... this person was comfortable to delve into the details. This person could explain why the Ottoman (or the Egyptian) empire was created and the events that led to its demise with dates, etc., OR explain at length the difference between a 2-stroke vs a 4-stroke engine, OR even why a P-N-P or an N-P-N transistor and its use in an electronic circuitry ... you get the idea - nothing was off-limits for this person in terms of the knowledge and depth ...

Rewind the tape to the past ...

Now, when the same Enterprise problem(s) were presented to this cheetah-corn person, this person would 'disappear' for about 2 or 3 weeks and would come back with an end product that pretty much solved 90% of the problem in ONE-SHOT. To top that, it would be performant, scalable, observable, and measurable right from the get-go. At first, we felt maybe it was by fluke this person was able to get the solution right in one go. But, we were WRONG !!! Every problem (irrespective of the complexity) was solved in the same 2 to 3 weeks period ... no agile ... no nothing ... the solutions just WORKED !!!

More importantly, after running the solution for a few months in production, as new customer requirements emerged, we had minimal code changes to make as there were well-defined extension points with clean interfaces, that allowed us to keep moving forward for quite some time. In some cases, there were undocumented 'flags' that would enable us to tun-on some new functionality ... it was just MIND-BOGGLING !!!

We did approach the cheetah-corn and ask how this person was able to build the platform as fast as a cheetah and have the far-sight to make the solution so FLEXIBLE ... we did not get any convincing answers ... we were trying to look for insights to codify the pattern(s) and we could not arrive at one ...

Fast-forward to the present times ...

As my friend and me were chatting on the good ol' times, we re-visited this topic and were trying to figure the 'secret-sauce' of the cheetah-corn behavior ... we again hit a brick wall ... but a few weeks back, my friend pinged me back and indicated he may have 'cracked the mystery nut' ...

My friend explained that he was chatting with another friend of his on the topic of AI Neural-nets, etc., and it was then it occurred to him that our brains are SUPER Neural-nets and as we train it more and more through learning and experiments, it becomes smart and skilled. Note that the human brain has two hemispheres - the left-brain and the right-brain ... the left-brain is about facts, logic, numbers, thinking, etc., while the right-brain is about art, visualization, intuition, imagination, etc. When these two hemispheres of the brain are well trained and connected on the various topics, we get the making of a cheetah-corn ...

Here is an interesting article about this very topic and Einstein:

Coming back to the core insight ... it all makes sense now ... it is the CURIOSITY, the little EXPERIMENTS, the DESIRE to learn from the DIVERSE topics, OPEN to any and all ideas, etc., that nourished and enriched the brain of the cheetah-corn. Basically they are constantly tuning their SUPER neural-nets ... for giggles, if we think of the word 'Rome', observe what our brain does - it quickly collects all our experiences with the place 'Rome' and starts playing scenes in the back of our minds (like a movie) ...

In a similar manner, as a person opens their mind to curiosity, learning, and experiments, over a PERIOD of time that person's brain evolves to super capable levels ... when a problem is posed to such a person, their brain is able to arrive at solutions at cheetah speeds (just like we experienced with the word 'Rome') ... it all comes naturally and spontaneously for them ... that is the CORE ENABLER of a cheetah-corn !!!

A personal experience will help reinforce this fact ... was an average student and a loner throughout my school days. My father owned a small polishing shop with some centrifugal dryers, bench top buffing machines, etc. Would often wander-off into the shop to observe the different machines at work. During my high-school year, our school was participating in a state level science fair and for some GOD known reason was assigned to the team with the brightest kids of the class. Our project was to demonstrate a working Thermal Power plant. The idea was to heat water to convert to steam, direct the steam to a turbine that had an attached gear, which in-turn connected to a DC motor with an electric bulb. When the turbine spun fast, it would turn the DC motor, which at certain speeds would generate the necessary energy to turn the electric bulb on. Some of the team members decided to use a lab flask with a nozzle connected to a pipette to direct the steam to the turbine. One of them got the gear and the dc motor from his broken toy car. The main part was the turbine. We all were tasked to find a turbine - we looked in toy stores, science supply stores, etc., to no avail. We just had a day left to find a solution or we would be off the competition. It was at this point had my EUREKA moment as was looking at the cylindrical plastic medical pill bottle lying on the shelf ... it came spontaneously ... Emptied the pill bottle and cut off the top and bottom of the bottle to create a cylinder with open ends. Next, cut the cylinder at the 4 quadrants to get the 4 blades of the turbine. Next, made slits at the 4 quadrants of the bottle cap and wedged each blade into the 4 slits. Finally, put a rod with the gear through the center of the bottle cap ... WALLA .... had a perfect turbine. Remember, was never a bright student and never scored high marks in the class ... we went on to win a first prize at the state level for an innovative design ...

The point is - NEVER STOP looking around and be curious about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING ... NEVER STOP learning ... NEVER STOP experimenting ... over a PERIOD of time you WILL become a cheetah-corn !!!