Beat the Machine with the Abstract

If you are wondering what skills can the machines not learn, at least in near future, here is one.

As a wise person said, ‘ Jobs of the past were Muscle. Jobs of the current are Brain. Jobs of the future are Heart’.

While algorithms are distilling movie story lines and even creating a movie from an algorithm generated story line, creative pursuits are still some thing that would keep you in good stead for the future.

One such key skills is Abstract Thinking. How does it matter ? For innovation, radical differentiation, problem solving and for many other situations, abstract thinking is critical. It is simply not about thinking at a higher level. It is about elements and their interaction at a level that you are able to explain a complex thing. It is abstract thinking that helps you find gaps/identify new solutions/think different and effect different outcomes.

How common is it? Not so common. If you get mired in details, it is difficult to abstract out and find the picture that you are missing. Abstract also demands that you be comfortable with the fuzzy, uncertain and the vague.

Typically you would find someone who is good with rational ( engineers, mathematicians, accountants, scientists…) or those good with the creative ( designers, painters, visualisers, advertising folks…) but not both. Today’s problems or challenges need both these approaches to make a difference.

It is also one of the skills that a machine may take time to ‘learn’. Or may be not!