Xueba's computing system

Chapter 96 Justify yourself
"What are the technical details of the food delivery algorithm? Tell me about it." Professor Zhang leaned back on the sofa tiredly.

"I'll send you the document."

"No need. Try not to save documents involving algorithmic details on your phone." Professor Zhang rubbed his temple. "I don't have the energy to read any documents right now. Just tell me about it."

Lin Yuan had previously polished the AI Feng Shui model very carefully, and even used the machine of the Haotuan company to run a code verification. In the end, the instructor didn't even want to look at it.

It seems that the instructor does not care much about the technical details of the algorithm. Perhaps he just mentioned it casually out of interest in the technology.

“After I graduated last year, I worked as a food deliveryman for more than half a year. At that time, I thought that today’s food delivery and routing algorithms have too many shortcomings.

After much thought, I think a large Internet company like Haotuan must not be short of computing resources.

Even if computing power resources are expensive, it is only a one-time investment.

What Internet companies love most is to tell stories by grasping the ‘model’. Algorithm iteration involves updating the model, and they cannot help but invest resources in it.”

“The delivery problem in the food delivery industry today cannot be solved even if all resources are spent.

So why can’t we solve this problem even if we spend so much resources? I will start from the most basic elements of AI training.”

Professor Zhang listened to Lin Yuan's story, and his technical intuition told him that after all the preparations, Lin Yuan would soon reveal the answer. So Professor Zhang subconsciously stopped kneading his temples.

Lin Yuan continued, "The basic elements of AI training are nothing more than data collection, model building, and computing power investment."

"Based on my experience working at Haotuan, they have the financial resources to purchase sufficient computing power equipment. So computing power investment is not a problem. As for model building, it is nothing more than making various fine-tuning based on deep neural networks. The most advanced theoretical papers in the industry are open to everyone, so this is essentially an investment in manpower. In essence, it is the same as the investment in computing power equipment, just spend money.

In this case, Haotuan does not seem to be short of money at the moment.

So, I focused on data collection.”

"Data collection? What do you mean specifically? Is the data collected by the food delivery platform insufficient, or is there a missing piece of data in the collected data?"

"The data they collected is incomplete. Teacher, think about it, the food delivery industry is a model where merchants and riders work together to serve diners through food delivery platforms. The most critical factor here is all the factors related to time.

The time it takes a rider to get from one place to another is the time it takes for a merchant to deliver a meal.

However, since these time-related factors are difficult to collect, we can only resort to experience and regulations.

For example: the specified delivery time for an order, the specified serving time for a meal.

This type of time is supposed to be flexible, but in practice it becomes a rough estimate of experience.

So there are cases of deliverymen running red lights, and conflicts between deliverymen and merchants over the speed of serving food.

These time-related variables are actually completely affected by the world we live in. The weather on that day, the quality of local employees, even the local customs, and the local economic development level will all affect the final time factor.

However, it is very difficult to collect these things, and it is simply impossible to achieve using the data collection methods commonly used in the AI field today.

So, I changed my mindset and stopped collecting these parameters directly because I didn't know how to do it.

Just like in ancient times when people saw doctors when they were sick, those old Chinese doctors did not know modern medical knowledge, nor did they have any modern medical testing equipment to assist them, but this did not affect their ability to treat people.

Our ancients thought of another way - to build their own theoretical system, which is the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine.

This theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine is actually an intuitive perception of the world we live in. "Dampness, heat, wind and cold" and "like cures like" are the most intuitive perceptions of this world. Although such theories cannot be included in the scope of modern science, from a practical point of view, they are very useful in some aspects. "

Professor Zhang listened attentively and stood up. "You mean, we can use the thinking mode of traditional Chinese medicine to collect different data for the takeout industry?"

"That's right. Chinese medicine is closely related to the traditional Yin-Yang, Feng Shui and Five Elements. It emphasizes the balance of Yin-Yang and the harmony of the Five Elements, and emphasizes the harmonious coexistence of people and the surrounding environment. So, I thought of collecting data from the perspective of Feng Shui."

"Feng Shui?" Professor Zhang was almost shocked. "You introduced ancient fortune-telling into the cutting-edge field of AI in modern IT technology?"

Lin Yuan disagreed and said, "Many people say that AI training is just computer fortune-telling. They are similar in nature."

"Ah?" Professor Zhang was stunned for a moment, then immediately relieved, "Hahaha~~~, what a similar effect. If you explain it this way, it does make sense. When humans face extremely complex things, they always try to use simple models to understand it. Fortune-telling is one way, and AI is also another way.

But AI is at least supported by mathematical formulas, although the process by which these mathematical formulas work is too complicated and beyond the scope of human cognitive ability. But there are no mathematical formulas for fortune-telling. "

"But, teacher, the mutual influence between people and the environment is happening all the time. For example, if we discharge sewage into a river, how much impact will this action have on us? A single discharge of sewage may be evaluated using mathematical formulas, but what about every breath we take?

I stepped on a blade of grass while walking, I released a fish, I saw a beautiful scenery, and I planted a plant.

How can we describe these tiny interactions between people and the environment with mathematical formulas? At least mathematics has not yet developed to this level. But such interactions happen every moment. "

Professor Zhang paused for a moment and said, "You are now beginning to sound philosophical."

"Um... I try my best not to touch such abstruse things as philosophy."

"So what does your current model look like?"

"Of course I don't have the ability to use a model to cover such a complex relationship between man and nature. So I changed my way of thinking - since it is too complicated to sort out, it is better to simplify it to the extreme. It is similar to the idea of Tai Chi Yin and Yang, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things.

I embedded the communication between people and the natural environment into the language system of Feng Shui, which emphasizes the three elements of heaven, earth and man. I further refined this idea and summarized it with three parameters: the right time, the right place and the right people.

(End of this chapter)