Day3: Garry Kaparov

The reason : He proved that human and machine can work together.

Garry Kasparov is the grand master who is said the strongest chess player in the history. He was ranked No.1 when he was 21 years old and he had been No.1 until he was 41 years old. Also, he was the last hope of human being against the computer chess machine Deep Blue from IBM. But he failed the match that happened 17 years ago. What is happening now? The chess program on our smart phone can beat grand master now.

He wrote “how life imitates chess” in 2007, I read this book every month. For me, the book is like the modern version of “the art of war”.  Here is what I learned from him and the book.

• The distinction between tactics and strategy is very important. Whereas strategy is abstract and based on long term goals, tactics are concrete and based on finding the best move right now.
• Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

He taught us the difference tactics and strategy is very important.

• Winning creates the illusion that everything is fine.
• You must train yourself, want to do better even when the thing is going right.

These quotes are very important for us. When we succeed or accomplish something. We might be arrogant enough to feel that we did it because we had worked hard or we have the talent. But, at that time, we are going to go weak because we tend to overestimate what we have done. We have to train ourselves hardest and analyze earnestly when we win otherwise we will lose the next time.

• The attacker has always advantage. I used to attack because it was only thing I know. Now I attack because I know it works best.

This is also warning for us. When we get older, and have some saving or have something to protect like family, We might lose enthusiasm to challenge because they already have what we needed. We need to keep attacking to our goal otherwise we cannot accomplish something in our short life. Do it today and take advantage of being an attacker.

• Your life is your preparation.

So, I am writing this blog. I am challenging 31 days of writing but I won’t be able to write more than what I have read, experienced, and prepared. I think every event in life works same. We will have the chance or the adversity in our life, but we only have what we have prepared for or against it. God might help us but we cannot accomplish more than we have prepared.

• We are the best when human and computer work together.

After historical defeat by the chess computer as a best mind of human beings, he said “if I cannot beat them, join them.” I am so impressed by him. If I were him, I would just give up everything, I would feel lose everything. But, he was different. He started the human + computer tournament. On the game, people may use computer. Do you know what happened? For the first tournament, the winner was an amateur chess player with 3 computers. Then, he got these important conclusions.

The team of human + computer > the strongest computer or the strongest human

And one more,

A weak human + computer + superior process > a strong computer + inferior process or a strong human + inferior process

So, we got these conclusions 15 years ago. So don’t worry too much for Terminator or Matrix because the team might be the best when human and computer work together whatever the team does.

The other quotes I like.

• ‘’Why?’’ turns tacticians into strategist.
• The person who knows how will have always a job. The person who also knows why will always be his boss.
• Self-awareness is essential to being able to combine your knowledge, experience and talent to reach your peak performance.
• Better decision making cannot be taught, but it can be self-taught.
• Every move has a consequence.
• Every step, every reaction, every decision you make, must be done with a clear objective.