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bifarinthefifth

You and I know that it isn't the cock crow that ca

You and I know that it isn't the cock crow that causes the sun to rise. And yet we do know that "...the ball fell because the young lady over there threw the ball” even though in both cases, one precedes the other.

It turns out that a robot can't tell a difference between the two, because a robot can't tell a difference between correlation and causation. For a robot to be endowed with this capability, the mathematization of causation, casual inference, has to be straightened out. This is the story the book tell — the algorithmization of causation.

The authors started with the history of correlation and causation. (And the suppression of the latter in statistical field.) This suppression led to the unnecessary obfuscation in the identification of smoking as a cause of lung cancer, which led to many deaths.

They introduce the ladder of causation, which is effectively the spine of the book: 1) observing (this is the realm of machine intelligence today) 2) intervention (What ifs questions), and 3) counterfactuals (imagination: What if I had done X).

The book carefully climbed up this ladder introducing bayesian networks, confounding and deconfounding, back door adjustment, front door adjustments, paradoxes bursted with casual thinking, structural casual models, etc.

Finally, Dr Pearl ended with an audacious prophecy on machine intelligence — AI systems that can think, AI systems imbued with self awareness. #statistics #bookstagram #artificialintelligence

2 shades of save. 🧤⚽️ #goalie #soccer

2 shades of save. 🧤⚽️
#goalie #soccer

Imhotep is a historical figure. He was the advisor

Imhotep is a historical figure. He was the advisor to pharaoh Djoser (circa 27th century BC) in ancient Egypt. He was believed to be a black man and polymath. .
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In this fictional series, I wake him up from the dead to answer quasi-contemporary questions. Here, he made some comments on sacrifice, and the world in Turmoil
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Link in Bio.
#fiction #philosophy #aphorisms

Theory and Reality tours about a century of rich a

Theory and Reality tours about a century of rich arguments about science. First, the author delved into how does science works? As a social structure, mathematical modeling or empiricism?
The debate between classical rationalism and classical empiricism. The whole gist about the logical positivists (and the ‘grave’ they dug for themselves). Induction, deduction, and what the hell constitute confirmation/evidence in science?
This naturally led to paradoxes and riddles: raven paradox, Goodman’s new riddle of induction, that kind of thing. What more: Popper of course – the problem of demarcation, falsificationism, conjecture and refutations + two solid chapters on Kuhn. Godfrey-Smith also covered theories of explanation (covering, casual, and unification theory) and many other topics.
It’s a nice treat. It reads like an undergraduate textbook on the subject – just technical enough. Might be tedious for a philosophy newbie. #philosophy #science #bookstagram

Goalie Dairies EP03 #soccer #goalie

Goalie Dairies EP03

#soccer #goalie

Goalie Dairies EP02 #soccer #goalie

Goalie Dairies EP02

#soccer #goalie

I probably started playing goalie when I was 10. A

I probably started playing goalie when I was 10. And then I go on and off as a striker. I am still pretty good on my feet but I grew to love being a goalie. Folks like @olamined will kick shots at me after school hours in secondary school (high school) and then I will crash at home only to wake in the middle of the night (and don’t ask me if I felt sleepy in class)
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And then at UNI (college). I went harder with @tayoashley @senolumuyiwa @dejiolagbegi @yisahricacid_donshevy and many others. And we got medals in various university competitions on campus
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At service (after college), I had the most intensive training as a goalie, representing OYO state team at the NYSC games (I even got the best goalie award on camp 😉)
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Somewhere in the middle of all this I played in church soccer team too! with my surest folks! @deleyecakes @deco010 and others
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It’s being many years I left service, these days I will admit I am a bit soft, but I keep the body going with pick-ups and soccer league in town with @allenbodie @slhennjye @o.yeahsir.k @rich_soltar @derksensei and many others
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And here is my GOALIE DIARIES. (featuring: @rich_soltar and @slhennjye ) #soccer #goalie
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PS: And I will admit, I got a little goalkeeper training from @l2ddosh when I was about 11. Just a little. He wouldn’t let me rest if I don’t say it 😂. We go wayyyyy back.

My 2020 summer reading shortlist. Link in Bio. P

My 2020 summer reading shortlist.
Link in Bio.
Photo Credit: @l2ddosh
#bookstagram

As we celebrate the Africa Day, a conscientious ce

As we celebrate the Africa Day, a conscientious celebration is one that ought to check the linens with which we dance, and vet for dirts to be removed. As such, future celebrations might be donned in finer dress.

In this essay I vet the linens. Link in Bio
#Africa

Instagram post 17876762548660083

Instagram post 17876762548660083

3 dozen plus letters to a young farmer — Joel Sa

3 dozen plus letters to a young farmer — Joel Salatins’ would perhaps be my favorite. They speak to diversified portfolio of products, sustainable agriculture and many fine things. And then that Gary Nabhan quote that easily maps out to any worthwhile venture in life: .
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“The most important lesson that farming imparts to the wayward human psyche is the constant need for humility. It does so by reminding us that we are really not ever in control and that we will likely be wrong about the complexities of nature and the economy more often than we are right.” #farmer #agriculture

In this philosophical essay, I looked directly thr

In this philosophical essay, I looked directly through the nature of knowledge (and belief); what it is, the problems with it, and what it does (the implication) for the layman on the street. .
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I started with Hume’s fork. I talked about a Christmas goat and p-values, Severinus Boethius, Momento Mori, and finally an epistemic meditation on the COVID-19 pandemic. .
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Link in Bio.
#essay #philosophy #covid_19

Friends, as we celebrate Easter, I share here an e

Friends, as we celebrate Easter, I share here an essay about the mercy of God, atonement (sacrifice), and the importance of obedience. (Link in Bio)
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He is not here, he is risen” - Luke 24:6. Happy Easter Everyone! #Easter #Christ

Crito, a rich Athenian dude (they say) comes to br

Crito, a rich Athenian dude (they say) comes to break Socrates out of jail following his death sentence. Crito gave arguments for a prison break while Socrates was against. The pithy dialogue in my opinion is deceptively simple touching on social contract, legalism, and justice. Crito argued that while Socrates did no wrong, he would only have to die shamelessly and judged as such among the majority; talkless of some folks who might think his friends are miserly, and couldn't even break the jail to get him out. Socrates disagreed, and reminded Crito cleverly that the tone of the majority shouldn't be confused with validity, the truthfulness of a position. And he went on, and on. But even more tricky is the question raised about civil disobedience and it's (in)justification. #philosophy #bookstagram

“The instinct of most business people is to unde

“The instinct of most business people is to underestimate Africa’s size and potential as a market, and overestimate the challenges of doing business there.” This is one of the salient point in Africa’s Business Revolution’s preamble. There is a mimetic complex around doing business in Africa, the ‘data’ don’t get scrutinized (i.e. the peace-makers that doesn’t make your 10’o clock news, the silent evidences, that kind of thing), and assumptions are not being questioned. Acha Leke et al tried flipping the coin here. Showing what is possible, what is working, and what has worked.
#entrepreneurship #bookstagram #africa

Reading technical papers riddled with scary maths

Reading technical papers riddled with scary maths notation isn’t particularly fun. Searching the web isn’t efficient too (Detexify works ok though), until l came across Mathematical Notation by Edward Scheinerman. It’s largely a reference book, think dictionary for math symbols. It covers many topics in pure maths: logic, geometry, numbers, linear algebra, calculus etc. And then a surprise package at the back: a LaTex reference chart for the notations!
#maths #bookstagram

Reading Pandemics VSI is akin to taking an undergr

Reading Pandemics VSI is akin to taking an undergraduate crash course in the history of pandemics/epidemics over ~140pages of engaging materials. Prof McMillen started off by stating a useful categorization of pandemics: pandemic as an event (comes and goes) and persistent pandemics; the 1918 flu pandemic, the plague and the small pox are examples of the former while tuberculosis, malaria, AIDS are great examples of the latter. .
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10 chapters were devoted to 10 major pandemics/diseases starting with the first identifiable pandemic in history - the Justinian plague (Yestinia pestis) that took place in the mid 6th century, historians were quick to point out that this plague contributed to the downfall of the Byzantium empire. And it showed up in two more waves (pandemics) in various parts of the world wreaking havoc. Small pox, with the earliest trace to the 430BCE plague of Athens. Malaria, a nasty persistent pandemic which still kills hundreds of thousands (majority kids) every year. Cholera, categorized in 7 waves (pandemics); TB; Influenza; and HIV/AIDS...
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Today we face the coronavirus pandemic, and there are lessons we continue to fail to learn from the past: 1) downplaying threats, calculating 'likelihoods' - when the cost to a system is high (say, ruin), neglecting probability is perfectly rational . 2) In most part of the world sanitation and healthcare infrastructure unfortunately still remain terribly poor. Pandemics are very unforgiving to these duo conditions.
#pandemics #bookstagram #history

Imhotep is a historical figure. He was the advisor

Imhotep is a historical figure. He was the advisor to pharaoh Djoser (circa 27th century BC) in ancient Egypt. He was believed to be a black man and a polymath. .
In this fictional series, I wake him up from the dead to answer quasi-contemporary questions. Here, he made some comments on pandemics (coronavirus), fragility of some university departments, focusing illusion, and the ‘package’.
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Link in Bio.
#fiction #philosophy #aphorisms

Given the 'busy' times we leave in, where devourin

Given the 'busy' times we leave in, where devouring huge historical tomes is becoming - and God forbid - an 'abomination'; one can't be more thankful for pithy books like this gem. I learnt a few things about the fallen empire, and hence a few things about the world we live in. The Roman Empire fell in the 5th century CE, but not exactly, as it continued in the form of the eastern Roman Empire which was later called the Bzyantium. The book contains a lot of details about the empire: the political structure, Diocletian reforms, the reign of Justinian, Nika riots, Byzantium and Islam, education in the empire, religious ceremonies, theological and cristological controversy (Tritinarian theology, council of Niceae, etc), Mehmed the conqueror final take over of Constantinople, and many more. 4 stars. #byzantium #history #veryshortintroductions

My first pass at CIML by Hal Daume are the first 1

My first pass at CIML by Hal Daume are the first 10 chapters (decision trees to neural networks), and it does well to fulfill it promises as a very clear introductory text to machine learning. Short chapters, meaningful analogies, without taking anything away from the necessary technicalities. Reading CIML + The Introduction to Statistical Learning book is a starter diet every aspiring machine learning scientist must get on quickly. #machinelearning #bookstagram

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