Evolution - Part 8

Tumaini was feeling full of energy.  He knew that he was on the path the universe had traced for him.  Being with Akili in this journey only added energy to what he was feeling.  As they made their way down from the high-plateau valley, Tumaini would spend long hours teaching Akili how to observe causality beyond what she was able to do.  Tumaini loved spending time with Akili.

More importantly, Tumaini was teaching Akili how to communicate with the plant world.  This proved to be especially difficult for some reason.  It was like the physical, emotional, and mental connection he had with Hekima and the plant world was a unique gift he had and not something that could be taught.  He wondered if there were others in the world that had this special ability and whether their purpose and path for this life was similar to his.  

In the City, Akili introduced Tumaini to her uncle, Kusudi. A young, smart, and driven executive at a small investment firm in the city. Akili explained that she worked with Tumaini at the university and that they were there to test some mathematical models on the pricing of financial assets.  She explained that they had jointly developed the models and that what made them unique was that they incorporated subjective variables like weather, emotions, astronomy and other things that focus on bigger things.

Kusudi was intrigued about the idea of exploring new ways to gain an edge in predicting price movements and about the possibility of making lots of money so he told them he was happy to help.

Tumaini began by explaining some of his background, were he came from, and more how his understanding of the world had evolved.  He did not mention his ability to communicate with the plant world around the universe.  He admitted that he did not know how financial markets worked and that they were hopping he could teach them the ins and out of his world.

Kusudi agreed with the condition that he would work closely with them in developing and testing the models.  In return, he also offered them a place to stay.  Kusudi had a small but beautiful house in a neighborhood close to the financial center of the city, full of trees, with a large and beautiful park with a lake at the end of his street.  He explained that this park was one of the favorite places for people in the city to relax with family and friends.  Lots of people go there to play, paddle boats in the lake, read, or have picnics with their loved ones.

Once they were settled, Tumaini and Akili set out to begin learning and Kusudi set out to teach them everything he knew about financial markets.

Once Tumaini understood the basics, he was surprised how easy it was for him to intuit where prices for certain things were going next.  He wondered why Akili and Kusudi couldn't feel it.  Tumaini was excited because this predictive ability hadn't yet incorporated Hekima's and the plant world's input.  He could only speculate of the possibilities once these variables were part of the process.

At first, with the little money they had saved, Tumaini and Akili began testing things.  First, identifying things that were not necessarily priced cheaply but things that people as a collective were beginning to feel like buying.  They equate it to knowing where the next wave was going to begin forming in the ocean.  Like those patient surfers they had seen on the beach patiently waiting for the next wave they could ride all the way out to the sand.  They always loved to see their smiles after a successful run.

At first, it was hit and miss.  Even though the selected assets always eventually went up in price, the timing of it was unpredictable.  The rise in price could take a day or a whole month to begin to materialize.

At this point, Tumaini would also spend a few hours everyday at the park observing and feeling the people in the city.  He would look and interpret how people played with their pets, how animated conversations were around a picnic blanket, the toys and the food that people brought, and he would also combine and correlate these observations with the world at large incorporating things like weather, wind movements, sounds from the trees, bird sounds, and the sound of the ocean in the distance.

Tumaini wanted to develop his predictive model in layers.  A few variables at first and adding complexity as the simpler models began to work and prove themselves.  This onion-like approach, one layer of complexity at a time, allowed him to ensure that each layer added strength and additional predictiveness to the model and not the other way around.

Akili and Kusudi were excited about the gradual improvement of the model but they found it frustrating at times because only Tumain was able to provide the information for some of the more subjective variables.  He was the only one that had the ability to observe and feel things around him that others could not.

Akili was able to follow in the early layers of the model collecting data and understanding the more esoteric variables but as the model grew in complexity she was unable to follow.  Kusudi was happy to just observe and help.  He understood that his role was that of the facilitator to ensure that Tumaini and Akili were able to continue their work unimpeded.

 

One of Tumaini's biggest discoveries was how his mathematical model was slowly becoming and behaving like a biological organism.  The model was not only able to predict behavior based on a number of inputs but it had also developed feedback loops allowing results to also become inputs that affected behavior. 

Tumaini was also having daily conversations with Hekima through the trees in the park. He enjoyed how the trees in the park would acknowledge his presence every morning through the movement of their branches.  He would connect with them and bring Hekima into the group conversations they would have about philosophy, the universe, the world, humankind, and his work.  

They all seemed excited about what he was doing and where all this was going.  They could envision a better future for all living things on this planet once the work was completed.  After all, driving a world from a net negative use of resources, to a zero sum equilibrium, and, then, all the way to a net positive world was no small feat.

A future world that would foster and accelerate evolution as it was intended was very exciting to the trees and to Hekima.  It felt to all of those involved in this effort that this may actually be their purpose for being.  And having a common and aligned purpose with all those around was very exciting.

At this moment, Tumaini heard Akili running towards him at the park with some papers in her hand.  Akili finally said, as she caught her breadth, that their model may be creating unintended chaos in some parts of the world.

Tumaini and Akili ran back to find Kusudi.