systems-thinking on S Anand

Baba Is You

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:50:40 +0530

I have this feeling that the skills we need for the AI era might be found in video games.

(Actually, no. I just want an excuse to play games. Self-improvement is a bonus.)

I asked the usual LLMs (Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT):

What are mobile phone games that have been consistently proven to be educational, instructive or skill/mental muscle building on the one hand, and also entertaining, engaging and popular on the other?

… followed by:

In the AI era what skills will become more important and what skills less? For the more important skills, which games teach them most effectively and engagingly?

The only familiar game on all three’s list was Chess. Specifically, analyzing moves teaches how to assess quality (with Lichess’ studies feature). Useful to assess AI quality.

It also mentioned:

Mini Metro: Teaches bottleneck identification and network optimization. Useful for organizational AI adoption challenges.
Human Resource Machine: Teaches assembly (programming language) through puzzle design. Useful for AI workflows.
Polytopia. 30 min strategy games that teach resource management, strategic positioning, optimization.
The Room series. 3D mechanical puzzles where learning one mechanism helps solve others.
Monument Valley. Navigate Escher-style architecture where rotating the world changes the path. Challenges our assumption that 3D space is Euclidean.

But the strongest recommendation was:

Baba Is You. It’s THE game for meta-level thinking. You literally reprogram the rules. Teaches seeing systems as changeable, not fixed. Exceptional for the “how do we restructure this problem?” thinking AI requires.

So, for the last few days, I’ve been playing Baba is You in my spare time.

The “rules” are literally written on the board. When these three blocks “FLAG”, “IS”, and “WIN” are placed next to each other, touching the flag wins. But if I push any block away, the rule breaks.

If I push the the “WALL” block to replace the “FLAG” block, touching the wall wins. So, the trick is to re-arrange the rules to win. I love doing that!

In Everything Bad Is Good For You, Steven Johnson argues that pop culture (video games, manga, soap operas, game shows, etc.) are becoming more and more complex and provide a dopamine kick from problem-solving. Pop culture does have bad side effects (screen-time, addiction, mis-information), and we’re not sure whether strategy games help with memory and planning or it’s the other way around, but I do believe that well-designed games can help us build useful skills.

So, more Baba Is You for me!

Why are you afraid of process

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Why are you afraid of process?

… we bristle when we’re asked for our weekly goals sheets, or when the boss wants us to use a database or when the insurance company requires docs to follow data-driven guidelines. We pass up the tenth novel by a successful author… because the process has become too transparent.

And yet, in many cases, process is underrated.

Process is your ace in the hole when your intuition stops working.

Process is the system that doubles a plant’s efficiency when you’ve done everything you can think of.

Comments

Gautam 26 Apr 2006 6:07 pm: when did you move to infosys consulting? and why?
S Anand 26 Apr 2006 9:04 pm: Moved about a year ago. Wanted to get back into IT.
Anonymous 27 Apr 2006 9:36 am: Is Infosys Consulting into IT?
S Anand 27 Apr 2006 11:08 am: IT consulting, actually.
Gautam 28 Apr 2006 6:40 pm: oh ok. I remember coming to the blog a couple of months back and still seeing BCG :) If you want to move to better IT consulting firm then let me know ;-))
S Anand 28 Apr 2006 7:28 pm: Nah, I’m very happy, thanks!

Compexity Digest

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 12:00:00 +0000

Complexity Digest. A collection of articles on complexity from cyberspace. via missing matter

PhD theses

Sun, 01 Jul 2001 12:00:00 +0000

My friends, Dr. Jani and Dr. Jigs, have written theses on “Local Intelligent Control In Biological Systems And Industrial Processes” and Modified Microporous Aluminosilicates As Novel Solid Acid Catalysts.