Awesome stuff, Matt! I think you may have first learned about the exponential function in my class! So glad to see your serious intellectual prowess at play in these very deep, extremely insightful articles that you write (are you a journalist for a specific publication, or are you a freelance journalist, or are you a blogger who has folks subscribe to your blog?). Anyway, your articles (I've read a few of them already via your mom's Facebook posts!) span a variety of areas of human thought and emotion, and you do a masterful job of tying together truly complex mathematical concepts with truly human emotion, and explain it all in a very digestible way! Bravo to you! One seriously smart, insightful dude you are! -- Norm Lyons
Norm, how wonderful to hear from you! I think you're absolutely right about where I first learned about this stuff. Insights like these are built on years of learning from great teachers like you! The question about what this is made me smile. Probalosophy is meant to be a little corner on the Internet where I can write ideas, share them with folks who are interested, and nerd out a bit. The ideas are already in my head, and this is kind of an opportunity to put the ideas down, clear my mind, and go on building more ideas. I'm in the midst of a PhD at MIT and it takes awhile to complete research, so these posts are ways to get ideas out faster. Maybe some readers will share interesting tidbits that I haven't thought of or point out where I'm wrong or something else awesome. On top of that, the Internet is changing a lot, and I think there's going to be a decentralization of communities driven by peculiar interests rather than general "news" we get from centralized newsfeeds.
Love your reply above, Matt! What are you getting your PhD in? I’m guessing that it’s mathematics and probability related, yes? Don’t know if you remember that I majored in Math at Midd and then got a master’s in Operations Research from Berkeley. We studied stochastic processes, probability modeling, queueing theory, linear and dynamic programming, and concepts like that. Loved that stuff! Best of luck to you at MIT! When will you finally receive your PhD? MIT is a great place! One of my best buddies at Midd was Andy Gray, son of Paul Gray, longtime president of MIT. Take care!
Your guess is absolutely correct, and "related" is the key word. Technically speaking, the PhD is in "Media Arts & Sciences," but media can mean a whole lots of things (petri dish, art, technology, communication, etc.). This particular PhD is intended to be left unspecified at the start and is meant to be a choose your own adventure. For now, my research combines machine learning and behavioral science to build creative technical products and learn more about how decision-making in particular domains (e.g. medicine, media, law) is intertwined with emotions, cognitive biases, and algorithmic support tools. And yes, of course, I know you're also a middkid. I didn't realize you did OR at Berkeley. Very cool stuff, I think that whole field is fascinating. Great to hear from you!
All sounds wonderful, Matt! I’ll stay in touch with you through this website, as I’d love to follow the trajectory of your very cool PhD adventure! Can’t wait to see what kind of career you’ll be pursuing with that PhD and how you’ll be applying what you learned and discovered to make the world a better place! By the way, my wife is a true expert in the application of decision science in her professional work at Fair Isaac (FICO). We talk about this stuff a lot. Yep, we’re nerds....
Awesome!!! Great to be in touch and would be great to connect in real life sometime when I'm back in California. Nerding out together is definitely the sign of a fantastic relationship. Cool to think about how life paths can be so intersecting.
Right on. Python script way beyond me but ‘ not betting my life’ which I can’t afford to lose is a good one. To continue the loop of social affirmation- keep these writings coming. Makes me feel better
:) you might be surprised how simple the python script is. And you're not missing out on anything. I'm glad it offers some comfort for facing uncertainty.
This is awesome, Matt!!! So glad to now know that this blog exists. Although I'm a little behind in understanding the actual mathematics of this, you make it really palatable to my math-averse mind by narrating it with so many insights. Happy to get caught in a loop of social affirmations with you any time!
Awesome stuff, Matt! I think you may have first learned about the exponential function in my class! So glad to see your serious intellectual prowess at play in these very deep, extremely insightful articles that you write (are you a journalist for a specific publication, or are you a freelance journalist, or are you a blogger who has folks subscribe to your blog?). Anyway, your articles (I've read a few of them already via your mom's Facebook posts!) span a variety of areas of human thought and emotion, and you do a masterful job of tying together truly complex mathematical concepts with truly human emotion, and explain it all in a very digestible way! Bravo to you! One seriously smart, insightful dude you are! -- Norm Lyons
Norm, how wonderful to hear from you! I think you're absolutely right about where I first learned about this stuff. Insights like these are built on years of learning from great teachers like you! The question about what this is made me smile. Probalosophy is meant to be a little corner on the Internet where I can write ideas, share them with folks who are interested, and nerd out a bit. The ideas are already in my head, and this is kind of an opportunity to put the ideas down, clear my mind, and go on building more ideas. I'm in the midst of a PhD at MIT and it takes awhile to complete research, so these posts are ways to get ideas out faster. Maybe some readers will share interesting tidbits that I haven't thought of or point out where I'm wrong or something else awesome. On top of that, the Internet is changing a lot, and I think there's going to be a decentralization of communities driven by peculiar interests rather than general "news" we get from centralized newsfeeds.
Love your reply above, Matt! What are you getting your PhD in? I’m guessing that it’s mathematics and probability related, yes? Don’t know if you remember that I majored in Math at Midd and then got a master’s in Operations Research from Berkeley. We studied stochastic processes, probability modeling, queueing theory, linear and dynamic programming, and concepts like that. Loved that stuff! Best of luck to you at MIT! When will you finally receive your PhD? MIT is a great place! One of my best buddies at Midd was Andy Gray, son of Paul Gray, longtime president of MIT. Take care!
Your guess is absolutely correct, and "related" is the key word. Technically speaking, the PhD is in "Media Arts & Sciences," but media can mean a whole lots of things (petri dish, art, technology, communication, etc.). This particular PhD is intended to be left unspecified at the start and is meant to be a choose your own adventure. For now, my research combines machine learning and behavioral science to build creative technical products and learn more about how decision-making in particular domains (e.g. medicine, media, law) is intertwined with emotions, cognitive biases, and algorithmic support tools. And yes, of course, I know you're also a middkid. I didn't realize you did OR at Berkeley. Very cool stuff, I think that whole field is fascinating. Great to hear from you!
All sounds wonderful, Matt! I’ll stay in touch with you through this website, as I’d love to follow the trajectory of your very cool PhD adventure! Can’t wait to see what kind of career you’ll be pursuing with that PhD and how you’ll be applying what you learned and discovered to make the world a better place! By the way, my wife is a true expert in the application of decision science in her professional work at Fair Isaac (FICO). We talk about this stuff a lot. Yep, we’re nerds....
Awesome!!! Great to be in touch and would be great to connect in real life sometime when I'm back in California. Nerding out together is definitely the sign of a fantastic relationship. Cool to think about how life paths can be so intersecting.
Right on. Python script way beyond me but ‘ not betting my life’ which I can’t afford to lose is a good one. To continue the loop of social affirmation- keep these writings coming. Makes me feel better
:) you might be surprised how simple the python script is. And you're not missing out on anything. I'm glad it offers some comfort for facing uncertainty.
This is awesome, Matt!!! So glad to now know that this blog exists. Although I'm a little behind in understanding the actual mathematics of this, you make it really palatable to my math-averse mind by narrating it with so many insights. Happy to get caught in a loop of social affirmations with you any time!