BBC Focus - 03.2020

FE ATURE INTERVIEW

DRCAMILLAPANG

Camillacompletedher

degreeinbiochemistryatthe

UniversityofBristol,and

wentontogaina PhDin

bioinformaticsfrom

UniversityCollegeLondon.

Hercurrentworkuses

diseaseandcancerdata,

alongwithmachinelearning

methods,tofindpatterns

thatcanbeusedin

healthcareandleadtothe

developmentoftherapies.

Camillais anactive

volunteeringresearcherfor

cancerresearchgroupsatthe

FrancisCrickInstitutein

London,andalsoworkson

herownprojectswithin

psychology,science

communication and the arts.

Camillawasdiagnosedwith
autismspectrumdisorder
whenshewaseightyears
old.Shestruggledto
understandtheworld
aroundher,andonceasked
hermotherif therewas‘an
instructionmanualfor
humans’.Herfirstbook,
ExplainingHumans,is a guideto navigating
life,loveandrelationshipsusingthelessons
she’slearnedinherscientificcareersofar,
drawingonexamplesfromhowthedifferent
proteinsinthehumanbodycanreflectthe
differentrolesina socialgroup,to thewayhow
lightrefractsthrougha prismhelpingherto
break down fear into something manageable.

INWHATWAYDOYOU STRUGGLE TO
COMMUNICATE?
Well,firstlyopen-endedquestionsaren’tmy
forte,I thinkthat’squiteimportantto know.
Thiswholebookhighlightswhyopen-ended
questionsarehard;I’montheautistic
spectrumandI alsohaveADHD,butthat
doesn’tdefineme.I don’tfallvictimto my
neurodiversities.TheyempowermeandI
wouldn’thavebeenableto domyPhDorwrite
my book,Explaining Humans, without them.

WHATISTHEBIGGESTTHINGTHATHAS
SCIENCETAUGHTYOUABOUTHUMANS?
Scienceis stillteachingme.It’snota concrete
thingandthisis oneof thereasonswhyI’m in
lovewithit.It’ssomethingthatis ever-
evolving,andsoarepeople.
It’sveryfluid,that’soneof thelessonsit has
taughtme.I liketo beonthecuttingedgeof
science,andI thinkthatinadvertentlymakes
me more fluid as a person, and less rigid.

WHEREDOESSCIENCEINTERSECT WITH HOW
WEMAKEDECISIONS?
Takemachinelearning[usingpatternsindata
to generatealgorithmsthatcanpredict future
outcomes];it’sinherentlybasedon
psychology.That’swhatwe’retryingto do,to
mimicthehumanbrainandthenscaleit up so
wecangather some kind of insight and
intuition.
Machinelearninguseswhatweknowto
anticipate what we should do in unknown

circumstances,akathefuture.

Theyaimto replicatethe

convolutedlogicanddecision-

makingprocessesthathappen at

smallerscales,buteverso

accurately,inthehumanbrain.

Butcurrently,asmuchasAI

caniteratedatauntilthecows

comehome,humansaremuch

moresuperior,albeitslower,at decisionmaking.

Ourdecisionsarea tadmoreinvolvedand

layeredthancomputers.Neurotypically,we

don’trefreshourbiaseseverytimefromrandom.

Ratherwegatherthemthroughexperiences,

errorsandsuccesses,whichfine-tune our

intuition to infer outcomes.

HOWDOESYOURKNOWLEDGEOFMACHINE

LEARNINGHELPYOUMAKEDECISIONS?

ImagineI ama committedUberEatsuserand

havea strongsenseofroutine(whichisn’ttoo

faroff).Theappinquestionmaypredicta

suggestionandcater– quiteliterally– tomy

needs,theeveningbeforeI’veevenopenedthe

app.Thesamelogiccouldbeparalleledinthe

attempttoanticipatethewhimsandwoesof

closefriendsorpartners,whichis moreofan

experienced,convolutedandrecursiveprocess.

Orindecisionsthatconcernmanypeople.

Thingslike;doI, ordoI notreacttowhen

someoneis reallyannoyingme?Or,whatkind

ofthingdoI saywhensomeoneneedsa hug?

Thesedecisionsarenuancedandrequiresome

levelofknownexperience,somelearningfrom

mistakesanda degreeofself-reflection.

Thisimitatesa moresnazzyversionofAI:

deeplearning.Deeplearningis anadaptive,

reinforcedtraining,anexpertiseacquired

purelythroughitsfreedomandabilitytolearn

fromitsmistakes.Although,deeplearning

operatesinanacceleratedandlowpressured

environment,wherehouseworkandthefear of

human judgment doesn’t get in the way.

SO,ISTHEREREALLYANYSCIENCE BEHIND MY

FAILEDRELATIONSHIPS?

I don’tliketheword‘failed’.I thinkthat’sa very

binarywayofthinking.I mentionthisin

chapteroneofExplainingHumans, it’sbox

thinking,andyou’reeitheroneortheother.You

failoryousucceed.Butevolutionis a bitmore

flexible than that, so a failure in one context 2

“Tobe neurodiverse and

showit, takes a lotofguts.

Youhave toknow how to

trainit, touse it, and not

be hindered by being an

odd shape”