Download or read book On Being a Data Skeptic written by Cathy O'Neil and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2013-09-30 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Data is here, it's growing, and it's powerful." Author Cathy O'Neil argues that the right approach to data is skeptical, not cynical––it understands that, while powerful, data science tools often fail. Data is nuanced, and "a really excellent skeptic puts the term 'science' into 'data science.'" The big data revolution shouldn't be dismissed as hype, but current data science tools and models shouldn't be hailed as the end-all-be-all, either.

Download or read book On Being a Data Skeptic written by Cathy O'Neil and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2013-09-30 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Data is here, it's growing, and it's powerful." Author Cathy O'Neil argues that the right approach to data is skeptical, not cynical––it understands that, while powerful, data science tools often fail. Data is nuanced, and "a really excellent skeptic puts the term 'science' into 'data science.'" The big data revolution shouldn't be dismissed as hype, but current data science tools and models shouldn't be hailed as the end-all-be-all, either.

Download or read book Snowflake Essentials written by Frank Bell and published by Apress. This book was released on 2021-12-15 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understand the essentials of the Snowflake Database and the overall Snowflake Data Cloud. This book covers how Snowflake’s architecture is different from prior on-premises and cloud databases. The authors also discuss, from an insider perspective, how Snowflake grew so fast to become the largest software IPO of all time. Snowflake was the first database made specifically to be optimized with a cloud architecture. This book helps you get started using Snowflake by first understanding its architecture and what separates it from other database platforms you may have used. You will learn about setting up users and accounts, and then creating database objects. You will know how to load data into Snowflake and query and analyze that data, including unstructured data such as data in XML and JSON formats. You will also learn about Snowflake’s compute platform and the different data sharing options that are available. What You Will Learn Run analytics in the Snowflake Data Cloud Create users and roles in Snowflake Set up security in Snowflake Set up resource monitors in Snowflake Set up and optimize Snowflake Compute Load, unload, and query structured and unstructured data (JSON, XML) within Snowflake Use Snowflake Data Sharing to share data Set up a Snowflake Data Exchange Use the Snowflake Data Marketplace Who This Book Is For Database professionals or information technology professionals who want to move beyond traditional database technologies by learning Snowflake, a new and massively scalable cloud-based database solution

Download or read book The Skeptics Guide to the Universe written by Dr. Steven Novella and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An all-encompassing guide to skeptical thinking from podcast host and academic neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine Steven Novella and his SGU co-hosts, which Richard Wiseman calls "the perfect primer for anyone who wants to separate fact from fiction." It is intimidating to realize that we live in a world overflowing with misinformation, bias, myths, deception, and flawed knowledge. There really are no ultimate authority figures-no one has the secret, and there is no place to look up the definitive answers to our questions (not even Google). Luckily, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe is your map through this maze of modern life. Here Dr. Steven Novella-along with Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein-will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories-from anti-vaccines to homeopathy, UFO sightings to N- rays. You'll learn the difference between science and pseudoscience, essential critical thinking skills, ways to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy co- worker of yours, and how to combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments, and superstitious thinking. So are you ready to join them on an epic scientific quest, one that has taken us from huddling in dark caves to setting foot on the moon? (Yes, we really did that.) DON'T PANIC! With The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, we can do this together. "Thorough, informative, and enlightening, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe inoculates you against the frailties and shortcomings of human cognition. If this book does not become required reading for us all, we may well see modern civilization unravel before our eyes." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson "In this age of real and fake information, your ability to reason, to think in scientifically skeptical fashion, is the most important skill you can have. Read The Skeptics' Guide Universe; get better at reasoning. And if this claim about the importance of reason is wrong, The Skeptics' Guide will help you figure that out, too." -- Bill Nye

Download or read book The Book of Why written by Judea Pearl and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Calling Bullshit written by Carl T. Bergstrom and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bullshit isn’t what it used to be. Now, two science professors give us the tools to dismantle misinformation and think clearly in a world of fake news and bad data. “A modern classic . . . a straight-talking survival guide to the mean streets of a dying democracy and a global pandemic.”—Wired Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news abound and it’s increasingly difficult to know what’s true. Our media environment has become hyperpartisan. Science is conducted by press release. Startup culture elevates bullshit to high art. We are fairly well equipped to spot the sort of old-school bullshit that is based in fancy rhetoric and weasel words, but most of us don’t feel qualified to challenge the avalanche of new-school bullshit presented in the language of math, science, or statistics. In Calling Bullshit, Professors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West give us a set of powerful tools to cut through the most intimidating data. You don’t need a lot of technical expertise to call out problems with data. Are the numbers or results too good or too dramatic to be true? Is the claim comparing like with like? Is it confirming your personal bias? Drawing on a deep well of expertise in statistics and computational biology, Bergstrom and West exuberantly unpack examples of selection bias and muddled data visualization, distinguish between correlation and causation, and examine the susceptibility of science to modern bullshit. We have always needed people who call bullshit when necessary, whether within a circle of friends, a community of scholars, or the citizenry of a nation. Now that bullshit has evolved, we need to relearn the art of skepticism.

Download or read book Meet The Skeptic written by Bill Foster and published by New Leaf Publishing Group. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian faith almost always meets skepticism. Are you equipped to effectively handle the skeptic’s questions and debates? Meet the Skeptic is a new approach to equipping believers to engage the non-believing culture. Author Bill Foster takes the multitude of objections and reduces them to four basic categories. Understanding these categories will enable you to effectively share your hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ and clarify the skeptic’s root objection. Foster offers pop culture references and biblical support so that you can: Recognize the Red-Flag Words that prop up objections Ask probing questions and acquire an ear for opportunities Develop an understanding of the skeptics ideas and better fulfill the Great Commission. This easy to read approach to apologetics and evangelism is a field guide to faith conversations. It is written for teens, college students, and adults and can be used as a group study with the leader’s guide and workbook.

Download or read book Skeptic written by Michael Shermer and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer's celebrated columns in Scientific American For fifteen years, bestselling author Michael Shermer has written a column in Scientific American magazine that synthesizes scientific concepts and theory for a general audience. His trademark combination of deep scientific understanding and entertaining writing style has thrilled his huge and devoted audience for years. Now, in Skeptic, seventy-five of these columns are available together for the first time; a welcome addition for his fans and a stimulating introduction for new readers.

Download or read book The 9 Pitfalls of Data Science written by Jay Cordes and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019-07-08 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Data science has never had more influence on the world. Large companies are now seeing the benefit of employing data scientists to interpret the vast amounts of data that now exists. However, the field is so new and is evolving so rapidly that the analysis produced can be haphazard at best. The 9 Pitfalls of Data Science shows us real-world examples of what can go wrong. Written to be an entertaining read, this invaluable guide investigates the all too common mistakes of data scientists - who can be plagued by lazy thinking, whims, hunches, and prejudices - and indicates how they have been at the root of many disasters, including the Great Recession. Gary Smith and Jay Cordes emphasise how scientific rigor and critical thinking skills are indispensable in this age of Big Data, as machines often find meaningless patterns that can lead to dangerous false conclusions. The 9 Pitfalls of Data Science is loaded with entertaining tales of both successful and misguided approaches to interpreting data, both grand successes and epic failures. These cautionary tales will not only help data scientists be more effective, but also help the public distinguish between good and bad data science.

Download or read book The Skeptic s Guide to Sports Science written by Nicholas B. Tiller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-27 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global health and fitness industry is worth an estimated $4 trillion. We spend $90 billion each year on health club memberships and $100 billion each year on dietary supplements. In such an industrial climate, lax regulations on the products we are sold (supplements, fad-diets, training programs, gadgets, and garments) result in marketing campaigns underpinned by strong claims and weak evidence. Moreover, our critical faculties are ill-suited to a culture characterized by fake news, social media, misinformation, and bad science. We have become walking, talking prey to 21st-Century Snake Oil salesmen. In The Skeptic’s Guide to Sports Science, Nicholas B. Tiller confronts the claims behind the products and the evidence behind the claims. The author discusses what might be wrong with the sales pitch, the glossy magazine advert, and the celebrity endorsements that our heuristically-wired brains find so innately attractive. Tiller also explores the appeal of the one quick fix, the fallacious arguments that are a mainstay of product advertising, and the critical steps we must take in retraining our minds to navigate the pitfalls of the modern consumerist culture. This informative and accessible volume pulls no punches in scrutinizing the plausibility of, and evidence for, the most popular sports products and practices on the market. Readers are encouraged to confront their conceptualizations of the industry and, by the book’s end, they will have acquired the skills necessary to independently judge the effectiveness of sports-related products. This treatise on the commercialization of science in sport and exercise is a must-read for exercisers, athletes, students, and practitioners who hope to retain their intellectual integrity in a lucrative health and fitness industry that is spiraling out-of-control.

Download or read book Science and the Skeptic written by Marc Zimmer and published by Twenty-First Century Books TM. This book was released on 2022-02-01 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fake news, pseudoscience, and quackery have become scourges, spreading through society from social media all the way to Congress. The line between entertainment and reality, between fact and fiction, has become blurred. Some of the most crucial issues of our time—climate change, vaccines, and genetically modified organisms—have become prime targets for nefarious disinformation campaigns. Far too many people have become distrustful of real science. Even those who still trust science no longer know what to believe or how to identify the truth. Not only does this result in the devaluation and distrust of real science, but it is also dangerous: people acting based on false information can hurt themselves or those around them. We must equip ourselves with the knowledge and skills to fight back against all this disinformation. InScience and the Skeptic: Discerning Fact from Fiction, you will learn how science is done, from the basic scientific method to the vetting process that scientific papers must go through to become published; how and why some people intentionally or unintentionally spread misinformation; and the dangers in believing and spreading false information. You'll also find twenty easy-to-follow rules for distinguishing fake science from the real deal. Armed with this book, empower yourself with knowledge, learning what information to trust and what to dismiss as deceit. "We're not just fighting an epidemic; we're fighting an infodemic. . . . This is a time for facts, not fear. This is a time for rationality, not rumors. This is a time for solidarity, not stigma."—Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO "Our deepest beliefs should help navigate reality, not determine it."—Michael Gersen, The Washington Post "Journalism is very much about trying to simplify and distribute information about what's new and where advances have been made. That's incompatible with the scientific process, which can take a long time to build a body of evidence."—Kelly McBride, Poynter Institute

Download or read book Describing Inner Experience written by Russell Hurlburt and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-08-19 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A psychologist and a philosopher with opposing viewpoints discuss the extent to which it is possible to report accurately on our own conscious experience, considering both the reliability of introspection in general and the particular self-reported inner experiences of "Melanie," a subject interviewed using the Descriptive Experience Sampling method. Can conscious experience be described accurately? Can we give reliable accounts of our sensory experiences and pains, our inner speech and imagery, our felt emotions? The question is central not only to our humanistic understanding of who we are but also to the burgeoning scientific field of consciousness studies. The two authors of Describing Inner Experience disagree on the answer: Russell Hurlburt, a psychologist, argues that improved methods of introspective reporting make accurate accounts of inner experience possible; Eric Schwitzgebel, a philosopher, believes that any introspective reporting is inevitably prone to error. In this book the two discuss to what extent it is possible to describe our inner experience accurately. Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel recruited a subject, "Melanie," to report on her conscious experience using Hurlburt's Descriptive Experience Sampling method (in which the subject is cued by random beeps to describe her conscious experience). The heart of the book is Melanie's accounts, Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel's interviews with her, and their subsequent discussions while studying the transcripts of the interviews. In this way the authors' dispute about the general reliability of introspective reporting is steadily tempered by specific debates about the extent to which Melanie's particular reports are believable. Transcripts and audio files of the interviews will be available on the MIT Press website. Describing Inner Experience? is not so much a debate as it is a collaboration, with each author seeking to refine his position and to replace partisanship with balanced critical judgment. The result is an illumination of major issues in the study of consciousness—from two sides at once.

Download or read book Build a Career in Data Science written by Emily Robinson and published by Manning Publications. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summary You are going to need more than technical knowledge to succeed as a data scientist. Build a Career in Data Science teaches you what school leaves out, from how to land your first job to the lifecycle of a data science project, and even how to become a manager. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the technology What are the keys to a data scientist’s long-term success? Blending your technical know-how with the right “soft skills” turns out to be a central ingredient of a rewarding career. About the book Build a Career in Data Science is your guide to landing your first data science job and developing into a valued senior employee. By following clear and simple instructions, you’ll learn to craft an amazing resume and ace your interviews. In this demanding, rapidly changing field, it can be challenging to keep projects on track, adapt to company needs, and manage tricky stakeholders. You’ll love the insights on how to handle expectations, deal with failures, and plan your career path in the stories from seasoned data scientists included in the book. What's inside Creating a portfolio of data science projects Assessing and negotiating an offer Leaving gracefully and moving up the ladder Interviews with professional data scientists About the reader For readers who want to begin or advance a data science career. About the author Emily Robinson is a data scientist at Warby Parker. Jacqueline Nolis is a data science consultant and mentor. Table of Contents: PART 1 - GETTING STARTED WITH DATA SCIENCE 1. What is data science? 2. Data science companies 3. Getting the skills 4. Building a portfolio PART 2 - FINDING YOUR DATA SCIENCE JOB 5. The search: Identifying the right job for you 6. The application: Résumés and cover letters 7. The interview: What to expect and how to handle it 8. The offer: Knowing what to accept PART 3 - SETTLING INTO DATA SCIENCE 9. The first months on the job 10. Making an effective analysis 11. Deploying a model into production 12. Working with stakeholders PART 4 - GROWING IN YOUR DATA SCIENCE ROLE 13. When your data science project fails 14. Joining the data science community 15. Leaving your job gracefully 16. Moving up the ladder

Download or read book Why People Believe Weird Things written by Michael Shermer and published by Holt Paperbacks. This book was released on 2002-09-01 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This sparkling book romps over the range of science and anti-science." --Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel Revised and Expanded Edition. In this age of supposed scientific enlightenment, many people still believe in mind reading, past-life regression theory, New Age hokum, and alien abduction. A no-holds-barred assault on popular superstitions and prejudices, with more than 80,000 copies in print, Why People Believe Weird Things debunks these nonsensical claims and explores the very human reasons people find otherworldly phenomena, conspiracy theories, and cults so appealing. In an entirely new chapter, "Why Smart People Believe in Weird Things," Michael Shermer takes on science luminaries like physicist Frank Tippler and others, who hide their spiritual beliefs behind the trappings of science. Shermer, science historian and true crusader, also reveals the more dangerous side of such illogical thinking, including Holocaust denial, the recovered-memory movement, the satanic ritual abuse scare, and other modern crazes. Why People Believe Strange Things is an eye-opening resource for the most gullible among us and those who want to protect them.

Download or read book The Skeptic s Guide to the Paranormal written by Lynne Kelly and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2004 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guaranteed to liven up any dinner party, this delightful, highly readable book offers color photos and scientific case-by-case explanations for 27 phenomena that appear to defy known science, including ghosts and poltergeists, the predictions of Nostradamus, and yogic levitation.

Download or read book Formal Epistemology and Cartesian Skepticism written by Tomoji Shogenji and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book develops new techniques in formal epistemology and applies them to the challenge of Cartesian skepticism. It introduces two formats of epistemic evaluation that should be of interest to epistemologists and philosophers of science: the dual-component format, which evaluates a statement on the basis of its safety and informativeness, and the relative-divergence format, which evaluates a probabilistic model on the basis of its complexity and goodness of fit with data. Tomoji Shogenji shows that the former lends support to Cartesian skepticism, but the latter allows us to defeat Cartesian skepticism. Along the way, Shogenji addresses a number of related issues in epistemology and philosophy of science, including epistemic circularity, epistemic closure, and inductive skepticism.

Download or read book Weapons of Math Destruction written by Cathy O'Neil and published by Crown Publishing Group (NY). This book was released on 2016 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A former Wall Street quantitative analyst sounds an alarm on mathematical modeling, a pervasive new force in society that threatens to undermine democracy and widen inequality,"--NoveList.