The Local Maximum with Max Sklar

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 268 - Pascal's Mugging, Doomsday Clocks, and the AGI Debate Mar 07, 2023

Show notes

Max discovers Pascal's Mugging, the counterpoint to Pascal's Wager. He speculates about the category of errors (and sometimes scams) made by doomsayers in every field including most recently general artificial intellgence.
Probability Distribution of the Week: Gamma Distribution
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 267 - Bernoulli's Fallacy with Aubrey Clayton Feb 28, 2023

Show notes

Could the crisis in modern science be a result of fallacious probabilistic thinking? Mathematical researcher and writer Aubrey Clayton joins the Local Maximum to discuss his book Bernoulli’s Fallacy: Statistical Illogic and the Crisis of Modern Science.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 266 - Simplicity, Complexity, and Text Classification with Joel Grus Feb 21, 2023

Show notes

We are joined by Software Engineer, Data Scientist, and Author Joel Grus for a discussion that ranges from the latest NLP techniques to thoughts on how to think about complexity costs.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 265 - The Multi-Armed Bandit Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

Max talks about the multi-armed bandit - an important concept in the Data Science world. The news of the day is Microsoft's plan to integrate generative text (from open AI) into it's Bing search engine, and whether Google can turn around from negative news stories and compete with this.
Probability Distribution of the Week: Dirichlet Distribution
localmaxradio.com/265
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 264 - Talking Tik Tok, Privacy, and Propaganda with Adam Kovacevich Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

Max talks to Adam Kovacevich, the Founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress in DC, to talk about several issues that have caught to attention of policymakers. We discuss the concerns of the rise of Tik Tok as a potential arm of the Chinese government, and whether similar concerns about domestic services are warranted.
Chamber of Progress: https://progresschamber.org/
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 263 - Relative Probability Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

Aaron talks to Max about his new pamphlet entitled "Relative Probability on Finite Outcome Spaces".
arXiv Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.14555
Probability Distribution of the Week: The Normal Distribution
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 262 - Category Theory, Google Responds, and Another Covid Retro Jan 24, 2023

Show notes

Max describes category theory as a branch of mathematics, and asks whether it will become more important in the age of AI. We then discuss the issues of the day:
- looks at John Stossel's Video on how governments responded to Covid, and where their decisions stand three years later
- Google's Recent Moves in Response to ChatGPT as well as layoffs
Probability Distribution of the Week: Beta Distribution
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 261 - Generative AI's Grand Entrance Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

As Generative AI has captured the imagination, Max thinks about it from many different angles. How does it actually work under the hood? What does it mean for media creators, investors, and job seekers? And what does it mean for humans and their comparative advantage with respect to this new technology? All the big questions of our time!
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 260 - New Year Predictions: Generative AI, Self Driving Cars, and Web3 Jan 10, 2023

Show notes

Max and Aaron start off the New Year with a predictions show for the short, medium, and long term outlook for technical advances. Today's episode focuses on generative AI and self driving cars.
Probability Distribution of the Week: Continuous Uniform Distribution
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

Ep. 259 - New Years Thoughts Jan 03, 2023

Show notes

Max looks back at the previous New Year's episode, and was surprised by how right he was on the changes we saw in our channels of information online this year. He reviews the news of the year, particularly the innovations in AI that have come to the forefront, and comments on Clay Shirky's Twitter rant.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit localmaximum.substack.com

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