Papa, but I don’t want the computers to be smarter than us

So, I have been reading a bit about 4IR, artificial intelligence and a few related topics and obviously some of that conversation seeps in when I am having some chats with my kids.

The other day, we were chatting about how advancements in technology can make the life of humans easier and I believe it was a interesting paragraph from the book “AI Superpowers” by Kai-Fu Lee that I might have been reading to them (I thought they would find that bit amusing) when my 10 yr old goes

“but Papa, I don’t want the computers to be smarter than us”

I had to pause, take a moment and break away from the book for a bit and then have a chat with them and we talked about how computers are already better than humans at many things. We talked about being smart or intelligent is very subjective. How we tell a computer to do something for us will decide what it will end up doing.

The conversation got a bit awkward and it sort of escaped the initial intent of her question.

It’s been on mind since…

We sometimes talk about a few other elements of artificial intelligence and computer algorithms
but I have been thinking of making those concepts more accessible to my kids so they can grasp the concepts in a way that when they grow up, they are a bit better equipped to understand the positive and adverse impacts of technology. Ultimately, (I hope) affect the world in more positive ways by taking some time to think about application of technology to better the human experience.

Unlike, what many social networks have done...

Please feel free to connect with me to share how your conversations with your kids are shaping up as it relates to technology

Advertisement

Tableau Dashboard Performance Series: Tip#45: Using Pages in Tableau

Pages is a way for you to create a dashboard or a view that allows itself to show different slices of the same data based on a dimension of your choosing.

Confusing much? Ok, read this quick sub-article here first

OK, now that you know what it does, just know that when you use pages (in the example above being day of the order date, Tableau is still fetching the data for all the dates and just hiding data for all the dates except the one page you are on.

So, does it mean an issue. Not necessarily, but like many other topics I have discussed here, this may just provide a bit of boost in terms of performance by removing pages but that doesn’t mean you remove it completely.

My job here is with this series is to educate you and let you make the best decision for your self.

Tableau Dashboard Performance Series: Tip#41: Utilizing Tableau Native Connectors

Ok, this one seems obvious. However, since I am writing about it, you can guess, that it’s not.

The guidance I would like to give you is to utilize the Tableau provided connectors in cases where it exists. For some of you data-savvy folks, you might have a very good understanding of ODBC connectors and in many cases, you might already have ODBC setup on your machines to connect.

We highly recommend utilizing the option that Tableau provides when you click on the name of the vendor

So, in the example of Oracle, we would want you to use the “Oracle” option and NOT THE “ODBC” option

• 

• 

Tableau Dashboard Performance Series: Tip#39: Set Actions

First read this to understand my perspective on Sets, then read this to understand all sorts of cool things you can do with Set Actions.

Then, sprinkle your dashboard with some Set Actions. This is like a bit of salt or lemon on your dish, just a bit. Don’t overpower your dashboards with too many set actions or you are going to leave your consumers with a disgusted taste

Tableau Dashboard Performance Series: Tip#38: Viz in Tooltip

Viz in tooltips got a huge applause when it was launched at the TC a few years ago, but I tell you, I am not applauding the analysts who are now wanting to use this in every dashboard they build.

There is a specific purpose to building dashboards and that is to give your consumers ability to see things at a high level and yes, also have the ability to slice and dice the data using interactivity and filters.

Viz in Tooltip is a great way to get that next level of understanding that goes with the context but is it a good way to do adhoc analysis. That is the issue when my customers are asking for putting dashboards inside of Vizzes. I am not sure about that.

Any how, here is a way I think of using this features

So, this might a decent example of using Viz in Tooltip

But, this is NOT (as it requires too much thought processing from the consumer).