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The Equation of Knowledge: From Bayes' Rule to a Unified Philosophy of Science introduces readers to the Bayesian approach to science: teasing out the link between probability and knowledge.
The author strives to make this book accessible to a very broad audience, suitable for professionals, students, and academics, as well as the enthusiastic amateur scientist/mathematician.
This book also shows how Bayesianism sheds new light on nearly all areas of knowledge, from philosophy to mathematics, science and engineering, but also law, politics and everyday decision-making.
Bayesian thinking is an important topic for research, which has seen dramatic progress in the recent years, and has a significant role to play in the understanding and development of AI and Machine Learning, among many other things. This book seeks to act as a tool for proselytising the benefits and limits of Bayesianism to a wider public.
Features
- Presents the Bayesian approach as a unifying scientific method for a wide range of topics
- Suitable for a broad audience, including professionals, students, and academics
- Provides a more accessible, philosophical introduction to the subject that is offered elsewhere
List of contents
Sction I. Pure Bayesianism. 1. On A Transformative Journey. 2. Bayes Theorem. 3. Logically Speaking... 4. Let's Generalize! 5. All Hail Prejudices. 6. The Bayesian Prophets. 7. Solomonoff's Demon. Section II. Applied Bayesianism. 8. Can You Keep A Secret? 9. Game, Set and Math. 10. Will Darwin Select Bayes? 11. Exponentially Counter-Intuitive. 12. Ockham Cuts to the Chase. 13. Facts Are Misleading. Section III. Pragmatic Bayesianism. 14. Quick And Not Too Dirty. 15. Wish Me Luck. 16. Down Memory Lane. 17. Let's Sleep On It. 18. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Abstraction. 19. The Bayesian Brain. Section IV. Beyond Bayesianism. 20. It's All Fiction. 21. Exploring The Origins Of Beliefs. 22. Beyond Bayesianism.
About the author
Lê Nguyên graduated from the École Polytechnique de Montréal with a PhD in applied mathematics, before working as a post-doctoral researcher at MIT. Since 2016, he has been working as a science communicator at EPFL. He also has his own YouTube channel Science4All (in French), with over 170k subscribers.
Summary
This book introduces readers to the Bayesian approach to science: teasing out the link between probability and knowledge. The author strives to make this book accessible to a very broad audience, suitable for professionals, students, and academics, as well as the enthusiastic amateur scientist/mathematician. .
Report
Lê Nguyên Hoang takes us on a fascinating intellectual journey into Bayesianism, cutting across many social and natural sciences. The Equation of Knowledge: From Bayes' Rule to a Unified Philosophy of Science is a real page turner.
-George Zaccour, HEC Montréal and co-author of Handbook of Dynamic Game Theory
