Shortcuts, Creativity, and Deep Learning | Marcus du Sautoy

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Memorable Quotes from the show:

[00:34:25] "...one has to learn the power of the short cut in statistics, which, you know, I tell the story about the we had this advert when I was a kid which which stated eight out of ten cats prefer a particular type of cat food. And, and we had a cat and I never remember anybody asking our cat what cat food it likes. So it was very striking that when I got to university, I learned about the power of sampling and the fact that, you know, to be able to there are 7 million cats here in the UK. How many cats would you have to ask to be confident enough to make that statement about?"

Highlights of the show:

[00:00:40] Guest Introduction

[00:03:08] Talk to us about where you grew up and what it was like there.

[00:08:15] Math is kind of just the language we use to describe it. What are your thoughts?

[00:10:49] From your viewpoint, do you think math is an art? Is it a science? Is it a combination of art and science. How do you how do you view this?

[00:13:52] What was it about Gauss when we talk about Mathametics?

[00:19:02] Is there any virtue in human laziness?

[00:21:52] Aristotle, idleness and noble leisure. Discuss.

[00:21:59] Speaking of creativity and putting you out of a job, can you discuss a little more about what you talk about in your book about it?

[00:27:18] Speaking of creativity, you took time in this pandemic to write a play. How is that coming along?

[00:29:44] Fringe Festival in Winnipeg and London Fringe in London.

[00:30:07] You shared a story in the book about how we can use math to fight off of vampires. If you could recount that story.

[00:33:47] What are some dangers of using statistical shortcuts that we should be on high alert for?

[00:39:34] "...data science can be dangerous if it's not combined with a deep understanding of where the data comes from."

[00:40:33] Why is it that our that our brains aren't very good at assessing probabilities?

00:44:14] Why is it that some people find that shortcut that Reverend Bayes discovered so controversial?

[00:47:02] You talked about the philosophical view of probability. Is it frequentist approach, the Bayesian approach? How do you view probability? What's your take on that?

[00:49:41] What is the Lovelace test and in what ways is it different from the Turing test?

[00:56:25] You talk about a few different types of creativity in your book, please eloborate.

[01:06:17] What is it about a mathematician's mindset that is deterministic and foolproof and of engineers?

[01:09:34] It is 100 years in the future. What do you want to be remembered for?

Random Round

[01:10:46] What was your best birthday and how old were you at that birthday?

[01:11:42] What's the worst movie you've ever seen?

[01:12:06] What would you do on a free afternoon in the middle of the week?

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