TKS Session 4: Iginition Challenge 2
For the second session of the Ignition Challenge, we were focused on taking the challenge from idea to reality, in the sense that we could actually begin building out tools/simulations to test or show the efficacy or potential of our idea. All of the activities we did in session today centred around how we can build out these simulations using vibe coding, and what are the tools out there that help us to do that and build these complex analyses in short amounts of time.
Before we got into that focus for the session, we did our Philosophy of the Week (PotW), which was the Allegory and the Cave. The philosophy about the Allegory and the Cave aims to describe how our perspectives and beliefs change based on the kind of “caves” we keep ourselves in. For example, 3 people were held in a cave for most of their lives in front of a fire, where the only things they were able to see were the shadows on the walls of things/people moving behind them. Then, one person is let loose outside the cave into the world and is able to see everything for what it is, not just shadows in the darkness. Then, this person is let back into the cave to try and help the others, but the ideas he presents and things he shares about the outside world are so contradictory to the current lifestyle and beliefs of those in the cave that they don’t want to be saved; they don’t want to accept a new idea because it seems foreign. This type of thing happens all the time when we allow ourselves to be trapped in the caves we form, which can stem from the people we surround ourselves with, the things we constantly hear or are told, or the content we take in. What’s important about this is to identify when you're being blocked from seeing the truth about something because of a cave you’ve put yourself in.
This is important when considering AI, and if you blindly put all your trust into it to create something for you, because it could be wrong, and you could simply be believing everything it puts in front of you, because you have the belief or assumption that “AI is always right,” which could be keeping you from seeing the truth. This is an important philosophy to note when you’re working intensely with AI to create different things like simulations, so it made sense to go through it today.
We did a little overview of what judging looks like for the Ignition Challenge, and because it’s a very self-led challenge, you choose what deliverables you want to commit to, and then you hand those in and will be judged based on the quality of the deliverables you hand in. You can commit to different deliverables like video, article, slide deck, one-pager, website, etc. You choose what you think will be the best way to communicate your idea and what you’ve built.
Now, getting into using AI to create simulations/products for the challenge, we got introduced to a small 2-day sprint challenge we have the option to do, where we use vibe-coding tools (like Replit, Rocket, v0, etc.) to create a real-time climate change dashboard. There are different levels to this dashboard, and it can be something really simple or really advanced. The goal of this mini challenge is to get comfortable with vibe coding and what that may entail, from working with different integrations that connect third-party apps to pulling real-time time accurate data off online resources to be used. You can see my climate dashboard here. You can watch the overview video I made detailing how my climate dashboard works here.
We then got into our challenge groups and brainstormed/started building out ways to use vibe coding to create a simulation/product for our challenge, and how it can help validate our work and what we’ve done. We would realistically spend the rest of this week vibe coding and building out products/simulations for validation and visualizing our ideas for the challenge.
That was a wrap for this session. It was mainly focused on activity-based work using vibe coding tools and trying to find ways to make use of it for the challenge, as well as get some experience with it. It was a really fun session, and I’m happy to keep working with these tools throughout the challenge and in my other projects!
