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The book of why : the new science of cause and effect / Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Basic Books, [2018]Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First editionDescription: x, 418 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780465097609
  • 046509760X
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction : Mind over data -- The ladder of causation -- From buccaneers to guinea pigs : the genesis of causal inference -- From evidence to causes : Reverend Bayes meets Mr. Holmes -- Confounding and deconfounding : or, slaying the lurking variable -- The smoke-filled debate : clearing the air -- Paradoxes galore! -- Beyond adjustment : the conquest of Mount Intervention -- Counterfactuals : mining worlds that could have been -- Mediation : the search for a mechanism -- Big data, artificial intelligence, and the big questions.
Summary: "Everyone has heard the claim, "Correlation does not imply causation." What might sound like a reasonable dictum metastasized in the twentieth century into one of science's biggest obstacles, as a legion of researchers became unwilling to make the claim that one thing could cause another. Even two decades ago, asking a statistician a question like "Was it the aspirin that stopped my headache?" would have been like asking if he believed in voodoo, or at best a topic for conversation at a cocktail party rather than a legitimate target of scientific inquiry. Scientists were allowed to posit only that the probability that one thing was associated with another. This all changed with Judea Pearl, whose work on causality was not just a victory for common sense, but a revolution in the study of the world"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: "Correlation is not causation"--This was one of the standards of scientific belief for a century. Now Pearl and his colleagues establish causality--the study of cause and effect--on a firm scientific basis. Causality doesn't just enable us to know not just whether one thing causes another: it lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It is not just a victory for common sense, but a revolution in the study of the world.--adapted from dust jacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 501 P359 Available 33111009240082
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A Turing Award-winning computer scientist and statistician shows how understanding causality has revolutionized science and will revolutionize artificial intelligence

"Correlation is not causation." This mantra, chanted by scientists for more than a century, has led to a virtual prohibition on causal talk. Today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, instigated by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and established causality -- the study of cause and effect -- on a firm scientific basis. His work explains how we can know easy things, like whether it was rain or a sprinkler that made a sidewalk wet; and how to answer hard questions, like whether a drug cured an illness. Pearl's work enables us to know not just whether one thing causes another: it lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It shows us the essence of human thought and key to artificial intelligence. Anyone who wants to understand either needs The Book of Why .

"May 2018"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 373-404) and index.

Introduction : Mind over data -- The ladder of causation -- From buccaneers to guinea pigs : the genesis of causal inference -- From evidence to causes : Reverend Bayes meets Mr. Holmes -- Confounding and deconfounding : or, slaying the lurking variable -- The smoke-filled debate : clearing the air -- Paradoxes galore! -- Beyond adjustment : the conquest of Mount Intervention -- Counterfactuals : mining worlds that could have been -- Mediation : the search for a mechanism -- Big data, artificial intelligence, and the big questions.

"Everyone has heard the claim, "Correlation does not imply causation." What might sound like a reasonable dictum metastasized in the twentieth century into one of science's biggest obstacles, as a legion of researchers became unwilling to make the claim that one thing could cause another. Even two decades ago, asking a statistician a question like "Was it the aspirin that stopped my headache?" would have been like asking if he believed in voodoo, or at best a topic for conversation at a cocktail party rather than a legitimate target of scientific inquiry. Scientists were allowed to posit only that the probability that one thing was associated with another. This all changed with Judea Pearl, whose work on causality was not just a victory for common sense, but a revolution in the study of the world"-- Provided by publisher.

"Correlation is not causation"--This was one of the standards of scientific belief for a century. Now Pearl and his colleagues establish causality--the study of cause and effect--on a firm scientific basis. Causality doesn't just enable us to know not just whether one thing causes another: it lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It is not just a victory for common sense, but a revolution in the study of the world.--adapted from dust jacket.

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