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On 2016-07-05 19:54, William Flynn Wallace wrote:<br>
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<div class="gmail_extra">On Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 3:47 PM, Anders
<span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:anders@aleph.se" target="_blank">anders@aleph.se</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
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<p>Met the author, decided to buy when it came out. We
had a very nice conversation about stochastic gradient
descent in everyday life decisions.</p>
<p>Have the book in my office now.</p>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic
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ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">UhOh,
that means that I won't be able to understand a word of
it! Rats!</div>
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<br>
Sorry, but I got annoyed by that (despite it being meant in jest, so
take this mildly!). It both insults the author by suggesting the
book would fail at explaining its topic, and involves a bit of
coquetry of ignorance ("Haha, I cannot possibly understand that!").<br>
<br>
At least on this list we should always add a "...yet." to any claim
of ignorance or infeasibility. I don't know quantum field theory...
yet. I am not immortal... yet. We do not live in space... yet.<br>
<br>
By the way, the book is very readable and thoughtful. <br>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University</pre>
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