Break the Rules, Become an Expert

Today we are going to chat about  creativity and breaking rules. This includes very cool information about robots and one of the biggest games of all time. This is a CHONKY blog post so you can listen to it here.

Before we get to today's story.

We tend to think that mastery and expertise lives in following a known path. We consider what status quo approaches can give us the results that we desire and we follow those approaches by following paths that don’t always serve us. 

When it comes to our careers we follow these status quo paths cause us to receive status quo results and wonder why we are so bored and frustrated by our lives. 

And before you consider it, no, going back to school won’t resolve this.

After supporting hundreds of people in creating liberation and well-being in their professional paths, I can confidently say that resolving this looks like taking the time to honor your unique vision and voice. This also looks like giving yourself space to play and uncover a creative approach to your work so that it can become something magnificent. 

In the income REBELLION we know there is wisdom in deviating from the status quo and how this is a necessary part of survival…

I’ve seen incredibly successful former 7-8 figure entrepreneurs  and business owners fail and fall short in their new businesses because they attempt to bring outdated concepts of scarcity, lack, coercion and fear to a new market that is rooted in authenticity and truth. 

On the other hand, I’ve seen new business owners absolutely thrive because they believe in themselves, take imperfect action, build powerful relationships, and operate with fearless persistence. 

The key differentiating point between those who fly and those who fall? The ability to build a relationship with your creative self that is so strong you don’t care about looking foolish. 

Side note: want a space to start building your values aligned income stream that honors your creativity and brilliance? Click here to learn more

Now let me tell you a story about how robots learn this crucial skill. 

Just a few years ago where artificial intelligence really started to be taken a serious contender compared to human intelligence? Where AI began to be seen as a creative and intuitive force with critical thinking skills that are comparable to my own and yours?

In 2016, researchers created an AI program that was designed to be a champion of Go, a game with a history dating back more than 4,000 years in China. 

This was no ordinary feat.While researchers created simulations to beat world masters at chess, a game like chess has around 20,000 potential game plays one can use to be successful. Go on the other hand, has an infinitesimal amount of choices one can play in a single game to be successful. 

Experts in the game approach mastery as a mesh between intuition and art. Like an artists brush strokes on a canvas, the way one approaches go, is individualized and unique. The way you express yourself through go is meaningful and a reflection of one’s spirit and soul.

A move you play at the beginning of the game can have a ripple effect on game play hours down the line and each component of the board is small piece of a larger story. 

Going even further, the intimacy of the sport lives in the relationship between the two players. It’s the chattiness or lack of conversation. It’s the body language and observation of a shift in facial expression when you have a severe gain or loss. 

Lee Sedol mastered go at a young age, while some would describe his approach as chaotic others would acknowledge his keen sense of intuition and strategy, all would agree that he truly was excellent at what he did. 

At 33 years old, Lee Sedol was an 18 time world champion at the sport and some would argue that he was one of the greatest known go players of all time. A true prodigy, his expertise in the game began as a child and grew more special as time moved on. 

When you treat your life’s work as a canvas of potential and possibility, your work becomes Art. This was true for Sedol.

“I want my style of Go to be something different, something new, my own thing. something that no one has thought of before.” Lee Sedol remarked about his craft. 

Now before I tell you more about this story, let me be clear. Artificial intelligence freaks me out. I don’t think that feeling will ever go away, particularly as its advancement encroaches on our uniqueness, our likeliness, and our ability to create and be paid for those creations. 

Yes, I see the value in it, however I will still be critical and skeptical of these tools until I see them promote more gentleness and freedom to the world at large. 

What I find fascinating about AI is how the mind has been studied in order to create a synthetic duplicate. The development of AI has allowed us to understand what makes the most brilliant human brains brilliant. 

The cold and calculating nature of technology shines a light on how that brilliance can cause us to get in our own way, how we get in our own head, and possible forms of difference we can lean on when we are ready for change. 

This was seen in the training of AlphaGo, the AI program that set out to compete against Lee Sedol. The match was expected to be an easy win for Sedol with maybe the robot coming in to claim a single win. Approximately 80 million people sat on the edge of their seats anticipating this match. 

The AlphaGo robot took 2 years to develop using relatively simple tools compared to what we have in AI now. Researchers at the time believed it would be another 10 years of development for the robot to be able to come close to beating an expert in the game due to the complexity and magic needed for people to be successful in their craft. 

The match was a set of 5 games to be played over the course of 5 days. 

The first match Sedol entered the room confidently. Certain he would win against the computer, with maybe a single loss. His game play was fast paced and assured. 

Sedol lost this initial match 

The interesting shift came on day two. Perhaps Sedol underestimated his opponent. He approached the game with a measured and slower pace compared to the day before. 

Go is a game where early on you can decide between two types of plays. An offensive approach to the game or a defensive approach to the game. 

AlphaGo did neither and instead came up with a third option. Everyone was in awe. They looked at the program as if it made a mistake. Others laughed at the move as something foolish. 

The play used was something so rare that only 1 in 10,000 people would choose to make it. Sedol was in so much shock from the move that was made that he walked out of the room. 

In 4,000 years of existence not a single master has opted to play this move in this way. Frustrated and uncertain Sedol began to think, did the robot really gain a mastery of the game so grand that it could see something that the greats could not?

This move led to a cataclysmic series of events to Sedol’s downfall. AlphaGo won this tournament 4 to 5 and Sedol was the only human to ever win a single game against an AI counterpart. 

When I first learned of this story, I felt heartbroken with the grief of the intangible loss of our world’s inevitable growth. I felt the grief of the loss of beauty and hope that this victory symbolizes. These feelings felt more intense once I learned that Sedol retired from Go after this defeat. 

The second thought I felt was a deep sense of curiosity. How can an early stage AI robot understand and excel at a game that was so innately human? How can technology be innovative and uniquely creative beyond human imagination? And what can we learn from all of this?

The moment that shook this game up was when the computer used an amateur move. 

It was when it made a decision that most called foolish, saw the potential outcome in that shift, and took action (knowing that the computer could problem solve its way out of most challenges) 

How was this creativity manufactured? The AlphaGo system taught itself how to play this game. The researchers programmed this software after giving it hundreds of thousands of go matches to watch from amateur to expert and then the software played millions of games against itself until it became an expert in Go. 

The software wasn’t programmed by looking at literature on the game of Go or through listening to expert synthesis on the topic. The greatest tool of learning was watching, imitating, and then innovating. 

The computer was only able to be creative because it didn’t play by our book of right or wrong. It took the inputs of what success could potentially look like and wrote its own path on what to do to ensure success. 

You can Nerd out on the full story around this pivotal moment of history HERE

So let’s talk about it. What rules do you hold because you were taught there was a “correct” way? 

What if the playbooks we are taught to live by are simple distractions from the wisdom we hold within ourselves?

What if we constrict our creative spirit and natural curiosity by following the status quo  “right” and “wrong” guidance?

On your life’s work, what does it mean for you to embrace the art and beauty in what you do?

What other thoughts around AI, creativity, and innovation do you hold? 

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