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#91 - The Uses and Abuses of Statistics (with Ben Recht)

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Manage episode 504420230 series 3418237
Content provided by Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani, Ben Chugg, and Vaden Masrani. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani, Ben Chugg, and Vaden Masrani or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Professor of electrical engineer and computer science Ben Recht joins us to defend Bayesianism, AI doom, and assure us that the statisticians have everything under control.

Just kidding. Recht might be even more suspicious of these things than we are. What has statistics ever done for us, really? When was the last time YOU ran a clinical trial after all, huh? HUH? After Ben Chugg defends his life decision to do a PhD in statistics, we talk AI, cults, philosophy, Paul Meehl, and discuss Ben Recht's forthcoming book, The Irrational Decision.

Check out Ben's blog, website, and his story about machine learning.

We discuss

  • Ben Recht's theory of blogging
  • Why is Berkeley the epicenter of AI doom?
  • Where the word "robot" came from
  • Is Bayesian reasoning responsible for AI doom?
  • Paul Meehl and his contributions to science
  • Ben Recht's bureaucratic theory of statistics
  • What on earth is null hypothesis testing?
  • What is the point of statistics?
  • "Sweet spots" and "small worlds"
  • Does science proceed by Popperian means?
  • Can Popper get around the Duhem-Quine problem?

Errata

The z-score for the Pfizer trial was 20, not 12!

References

Socials

  • Follow us on Twitter at @BeenWrekt, @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani
  • Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link
  • Become a patreon subscriber here. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations here.
  • Click dem like buttons on youtube

What's Berkeley's next cult? Send your guess over to [email protected]

Special Guest: Ben Recht.

Support Increments

  continue reading

92 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 504420230 series 3418237
Content provided by Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani, Ben Chugg, and Vaden Masrani. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani, Ben Chugg, and Vaden Masrani or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Professor of electrical engineer and computer science Ben Recht joins us to defend Bayesianism, AI doom, and assure us that the statisticians have everything under control.

Just kidding. Recht might be even more suspicious of these things than we are. What has statistics ever done for us, really? When was the last time YOU ran a clinical trial after all, huh? HUH? After Ben Chugg defends his life decision to do a PhD in statistics, we talk AI, cults, philosophy, Paul Meehl, and discuss Ben Recht's forthcoming book, The Irrational Decision.

Check out Ben's blog, website, and his story about machine learning.

We discuss

  • Ben Recht's theory of blogging
  • Why is Berkeley the epicenter of AI doom?
  • Where the word "robot" came from
  • Is Bayesian reasoning responsible for AI doom?
  • Paul Meehl and his contributions to science
  • Ben Recht's bureaucratic theory of statistics
  • What on earth is null hypothesis testing?
  • What is the point of statistics?
  • "Sweet spots" and "small worlds"
  • Does science proceed by Popperian means?
  • Can Popper get around the Duhem-Quine problem?

Errata

The z-score for the Pfizer trial was 20, not 12!

References

Socials

  • Follow us on Twitter at @BeenWrekt, @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani
  • Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link
  • Become a patreon subscriber here. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations here.
  • Click dem like buttons on youtube

What's Berkeley's next cult? Send your guess over to [email protected]

Special Guest: Ben Recht.

Support Increments

  continue reading

92 episodes

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