Vanishing Gradients

Episode 16: Data Science and Decision Making Under Uncertainty


Listen Later

Hugo speaks with JD Long, agricultural economist, quant, and stochastic modeler, about decision making under uncertainty and how we can use our knowledge of risk, uncertainty, probabilistic thinking, causal inference, and more to help us use data science and machine learning to make better decisions in an uncertain world.

This is part 2 of a two part conversation in which we delve into decision making under uncertainty. Feel free to check out part 1 here but this episode should also stand alone.

Why am I speaking to JD about all of this? Because not only is he a wild conversationalist with a real knack for explaining hard to grok concepts with illustrative examples and useful stories, but he has worked for many years in re-insurance, that’s right, not insurance but re-insurance – these are the people who insure the insurers so if anyone can actually tell us about risk and uncertainty in decision making, it’s him!

In part 1, we discussed risk, uncertainty, probabilistic thinking, and simulation, all with a view towards improving decision making.

In this, part 2, we discuss the ins and outs of decision making under uncertainty, including

  • How data science can be more tightly coupled with the decision function in organisations;
  • Some common mistakes and failure modes of making decisions under uncertainty;
  • Heuristics for principled decision-making in data science;
  • The intersection of model building, storytelling, and cognitive biases to keep in mind;
  • As JD says, and I paraphrase, “You may think you train your models, but your models are really training you.”

    Links

    • Vanishing Gradients' new YouTube channel!
    • JD on twitter
    • Executive Data Science, episode 5 of Vanishing Gradients, in which Jim Savage and Hugo talk through decision making and why you should always be integrating your loss function over your posterior
    • Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb
    • Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner
    • Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
    • The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail by Nate Silver
    • Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
    • ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      Vanishing GradientsBy Hugo Bowne-Anderson

      • 5
      • 5
      • 5
      • 5
      • 5

      5

      11 ratings


      More shows like Vanishing Gradients

      View all
      a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

      a16z Podcast

      1,001 Listeners

      Data Skeptic by Kyle Polich

      Data Skeptic

      470 Listeners

      Super Data Science: ML & AI Podcast with Jon Krohn by Jon Krohn

      Super Data Science: ML & AI Podcast with Jon Krohn

      296 Listeners

      DataFramed by DataCamp

      DataFramed

      269 Listeners

      Practical AI by Practical AI LLC

      Practical AI

      190 Listeners

      Last Week in AI by Skynet Today

      Last Week in AI

      281 Listeners

      Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST) by Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

      Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

      88 Listeners

      Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

      Dwarkesh Podcast

      354 Listeners

      No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

      No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

      125 Listeners

      This Day in AI Podcast by Michael Sharkey, Chris Sharkey

      This Day in AI Podcast

      190 Listeners

      Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast by swyx + Alessio

      Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast

      63 Listeners

      The AI Daily Brief (Formerly The AI Breakdown): Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis by Nathaniel Whittemore

      The AI Daily Brief (Formerly The AI Breakdown): Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

      424 Listeners

      The Next Wave - AI and The Future of Technology by Hubspot Media

      The Next Wave - AI and The Future of Technology

      57 Listeners

      Training Data by Sequoia Capital

      Training Data

      36 Listeners

      High Signal: Data Science | Career | AI by Delphina

      High Signal: Data Science | Career | AI

      4 Listeners