Vikas Kushwaha

I see the history of human civilization as a story of human creations. In the light of that perspective, what enables humans to create? – quality software, art, stories, inventions, and so on. I am interested in this question both on an individual and societal level. What cognitive faculties, methods or ways of thinking lead individuals to create such works? How should a society be organized so that it flourishes and creates abundance of such works? Can we build theories, frameworks, and tools that aid individuals and societies in continuing this process of creation for tackling more complex and often subjective problems representing the next set of challenges for humanity?

Currently working towards my Phd on developing a Theory of Understandability with Prof. Subhajit Roy and Prof. Sruti S Ragavan. Ability to gauge understandability of things – whether they make sense and how hard is it to process them cognitively, can be considered as a cognitive faculty – study of which is relevant to my larger quest as I elucidate above. In the process of my Phd, I aim to explore questions like: What are the generalizable aspects of information artifacts such as text, code, plans and interfaces that make them more or less understandable to humans? How can we outline foundations for developing measures for these aspects? What is the connection between adaptable (generalizable, composable and shareable behaviours or representations) systems and understandability of artifacts contained in or produced by such systems? Read my research papers here.

Previously, I was a senior software engineer at Goldman sachs, where I worked on designing and developing libraries and frameworks spanning data visualization, data versioning, data contracts, document information extraction (patent, github) and automated data storage optimizers over my 10 years there.

Before joining Goldman Sachs, I graduated from IIT Kanpur with a B.Tech - M.Tech dual degree in CSE. My master’s thesis was in the area of programming language design for parallel, distributed and concurrent programming.

I am also interested in studying cultural systems, their various aspects and evolutions. This is again in service of my larger quest: how should a society be organized so that it leads to human flourishing and creation of abundance of interesting works. More specifically in Indian context, what community building systems (rooted in India’s Dharmic way of thinking) can help us get there? Read my articles on this subject here.

I love visiting new and unique places – enjoying art, architecture, cuisine, customs, and how their aesthetics come together in the backdrop of nature, making travel plans for it and organizing or designing things/ideas in general.