$$ \newcommand{\bsth}{{\boldsymbol\theta}} \newcommand{\nptime}{\textsf{NP}} \newcommand{\ptime}{\textsf{P}} \newcommand{\disteq}{\overset{d}{=}} %linalg \newcommand{\mat}[1]{\begin{pmatrix} #1 \end{pmatrix}} \newcommand{\detmat}[1]{\begin{vmatrix} #1 \end{vmatrix}} \newcommand{\spanb}[1]{\text{span}\{ #1 \}} \DeclareMathOperator{\conv}{conv} % convex hull \DeclareMathOperator{\cone}{cone} \DeclareMathOperator{\vectorize}{vec} \DeclareMathOperator{\matricize}{mat} \DeclareMathOperator{\adj}{adj} \DeclareMathOperator{\diag}{diag} \DeclareMathOperator{\tr}{tr} \DeclareMathOperator{\rank}{rank} \DeclareMathOperator*{\argmin}{argmin} \DeclareMathOperator*{\proj}{proj} % brackets, norms, cardinalities \newcommand{\pa}[1]{ \left({#1}\right) } \newcommand{\ha}[1]{ \left[{#1}\right] } \newcommand{\ca}[1]{ \left\{{#1}\right\} } \newcommand{\inner}[1]{\left\langle #1 \right\rangle} \newcommand{\innercpy}[1]{\inner{ #1, #1 }} \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\left\| #1 \right\|} \newcommand{\abs}[1]{\left|{#1}\right|} \newcommand{\card}[1]{\left\vert{#1}\right\vert} % math vectors \newcommand{\va}{\textbf{a}} \newcommand{\vb}{\textbf{b}} \newcommand{\vc}{\textbf{c}} \newcommand{\vd}{\textbf{d}} \newcommand{\ve}{\textbf{e}} \newcommand{\vf}{\textbf{f}} \newcommand{\vg}{\textbf{g}} \newcommand{\vh}{\textbf{h}} \newcommand{\vi}{\textbf{i}} \newcommand{\vj}{\textbf{j}} \newcommand{\vk}{\textbf{k}} \newcommand{\vl}{\textbf{l}} \newcommand{\vm}{\textbf{m}} \newcommand{\vn}{\textbf{n}} \newcommand{\vo}{\textbf{o}} \newcommand{\vp}{\textbf{p}} \newcommand{\vq}{\textbf{q}} \newcommand{\vr}{\textbf{r}} \newcommand{\vs}{\textbf{s}} \newcommand{\vt}{\textbf{t}} \newcommand{\vu}{\textbf{u}} \newcommand{\vv}{\textbf{v}} \newcommand{\vw}{\textbf{w}} \newcommand{\vx}{\textbf{x}} \newcommand{\vy}{\textbf{y}} \newcommand{\vz}{\textbf{z}} \newcommand{\vzero}{\textbf{0}} \newcommand{\vone}{\textbf{1}} \newcommand{\valpha}{{\boldsymbol\alpha}} \newcommand{\vepsilon}{{\boldsymbol\epsilon}} \newcommand{\vnu}{{\boldsymbol\nu}} \newcommand{\vpi}{{\boldsymbol\pi}} \newcommand{\veta}{{\boldsymbol\eta}} \newcommand{\vsigma}{ {\boldsymbol\sigma}} \newcommand{\vbeta}{ {\boldsymbol\beta}} \newcommand{\vtheta}{ {\boldsymbol\theta}} \newcommand{\vdelta}{ {\boldsymbol\delta}} \newcommand{\vlambda}{ {\boldsymbol\lambda}} \newcommand{\vmu}{ {\boldsymbol\mu}} % common math sets \newcommand{\Z}{\mathbb{Z}} \newcommand{\R}{\mathbb{R}} \newcommand{\C}{\mathbb{C}} \newcommand{\N}{\mathbb{N}} \newcommand{\Q}{\mathbb{Q}} \newcommand{\F}{\mathbb{F}} \newcommand{\T}{\mathbb{T}} % limits \def\sumn{\sum_{n=0}^\infty} \def\limn{\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}} \def\prodn{\prod_{n=0}^\infty} % mathcal \newcommand{\mcA}{\mathcal{A}} \newcommand{\mcB}{\mathcal{B}} \newcommand{\mcC}{\mathcal{C}} \newcommand{\mcD}{\mathcal{D}} \newcommand{\mcE}{\mathcal{E}} \newcommand{\mcF}{\mathcal{F}} \newcommand{\mcG}{\mathcal{G}} \newcommand{\mcH}{\mathcal{H}} \newcommand{\mcI}{\mathcal{I}} \newcommand{\mcJ}{\mathcal{J}} \newcommand{\mcK}{\mathcal{K}} \newcommand{\mcL}{\mathcal{L}} \newcommand{\mcM}{\mathcal{M}} \newcommand{\mcN}{\mathcal{N}} \newcommand{\mcO}{\mathcal{O}} \newcommand{\mcP}{\mathcal{P}} \newcommand{\mcQ}{\mathcal{Q}} \newcommand{\mcR}{\mathcal{R}} \newcommand{\mcS}{\mathcal{S}} \newcommand{\mcT}{\mathcal{T}} \newcommand{\mcU}{\mathcal{U}} \newcommand{\mcV}{\mathcal{V}} \newcommand{\mcW}{\mathcal{W}} \newcommand{\mcX}{\mathcal{X}} \newcommand{\mcY}{\mathcal{Y}} \newcommand{\mcZ}{\mathcal{Z}} % distribs, probability \newcommand{\disteq}{\overset{d}{=}} \newcommand\independent{\perp \!\!\! \perp} \DeclareMathOperator{\Laplace}{Laplace} \DeclareMathOperator{\Poisson}{Poisson} \DeclareMathOperator{\Exponential}{Exponential} \DeclareMathOperator{\Multinomial}{Multinomial} \DeclareMathOperator{\Bernoulli}{Bernoulli} \DeclareMathOperator{\Categorical}{Categorical} \DeclareMathOperator{\Uniform}{Uniform} \DeclareMathOperator{\Binomial}{Binomial} \DeclareMathOperator{\Hypergeometric}{Hypergeometric} \DeclareMathOperator{\GammaDist}{Gamma} \DeclareMathOperator{\NegativeBinomial}{NegativeBinomial} \DeclareMathOperator\sub{sub} \renewcommand{\d}[1]{\mathop{\mathrm{d} #1 }} \newcommand{\dkl}[2]{\mathop{D_\mathrm{KL}}\left({#1}\;\middle\|\;{#2}\right)} \newcommand{\sg}{\mathop{\mathrm{SG}}} \newcommand{\se}{\mathop{\mathrm{SE}}} %operators \DeclareMathOperator{\power}{{\mathcal{P}}} \DeclareMathOperator{\var}{var} \DeclareMathOperator{\cov}{cov} \DeclareMathOperator\mathProb{\mathbb{P}} \DeclareMathOperator\mathExp{\mathbb{E}} \DeclareMathOperator*\mathExpUnder{\mathbb{E}} \DeclareMathOperator*\fat{fat} \renewcommand{\P}{\mathProb} % need to overwrite stupid paragraph symbol \newcommand{\E}{\mathExp} % need to overwrite stupid paragraph symbol \newcommand{\set}[2]{ \left\{ #1 \,\middle|\, #2 \right\} } \newcommand{\CE}[2]{ \mathExp\left[ #1 \,\middle|\, #2 \right] } \renewcommand{\CP}[2]{ \mathProb\left\{ #1 \,\middle|\, #2 \right\} } $$

Articles by category: philosophy

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graph-processing parallel distributed-systems online-learning machine-learning my-whitepapers hardware-acceleration interview-question tools optimization deep-learning numpy-gems joke-post philosophy causal statistics numpy tricks history

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Metaphysics of Causality

01 Dec 2019

If you read Judea Pearl’s The Book of Why, it makes it seem like exercising observational statistics makes you an ignoramus. Look at the stupid robot:Pearl and Jonas Peters (in Elements of Causal Inference) both make a strong distinction, it seems at the physical level, between causal and statistical learning. Correlation is not causation, as it goes.From a deeply (Berkeley-like) skeptical lens, where all that we can be sure of is what we observe, it seems that we nonetheless can recover nice... Read More