Not everyone is. But, some kids are just gifted,
at sports especially, you see them excel early. A talent.
I wasn’t that kid.
I knew I was good and wanted to be great since I was very little. But unlike a talented runner, it took me some more experimentation to really dial in what my ‘it’ was in.
I like to win. But when you’re little, you aren’t skilled or experienced enough to be great. Learning humility then is quite important to get through the stage of getting a bunch wrong. Trying soccer, basketball, before trying swimming. I’m horrible at the first two but a fish in water. The trick was to not giving up on the exploration too soon.
I wasn’t a savant. My gift is math but I didn’t pop out knowing statistics. My dad taught me to do arithmetic by calculating the change when we went to the diner after church on Sunday. He taught me geometry when he worked as a land surveyor and carpenter. He taught me mechanics. I changed tires on bring your daughter to work day.
I just have an insatiable desire to understand how the way things are situated or move in space affect the outcome. Intellectually we understand that where you are matters— if you drive on a dangerous roads you’d be more likely to crash — but the math itself is super hard, and new.
Like, think about any other geospatial algorithm… the models built by the NSA to drone strike terrorists? The ads that you can’t figure out how they knew you were talking about a blender last Tuesday. Dynamic navigation to reroute you on Google Maps (or TomTom). It’s all super cutting edge shit.
Loop’s algorithms are on par with these models and triangulated to transfer the benefits to the excluded. It’s much easier to build a model that is racist and not pay attention. It’s much harder to try and account for the legacy of slavery and red-lining and be intentional about removing bias as a part of the optimal outcome. That’s when my ‘it’ factor combined with my training reveals my greatness.