after-dinner at Trinity [jatp]

at the Isaac Newton Institute [talks]

Here are the slides I edited this week [from previous talks by Pierre and Epstein] for the INI Workshop on scalable inference, in connection with our recently completed and submitted paper on ABC with Wasserstein distances:

at the Isaac Newton Institute

Le Monde on the “dangers” of mathematics

“La responsabilité des mathématiciens semble engagée.”

This post is presumably aiming at a very small (French speaking) audience, but Le Monde published a central Science leaflet this week on the dangers of using uncontrolled mathematical modelling. Resulting in a mismatch of platitudes and absurdities. Blaming mathematicians for about every misappropriate use of mathematics and even more statistics, from the lack of reproducibility in published psychology studies and the poor predictions of flu epidemics by Google to the sub-prime crisis and the prosecutor fallacy. Quoting judicial miscarriages like the case of Lucy de Berk when the statistical arguments were administrated by a psychologist, while a statistician, Richard Gill, was instrumental in reopening the case by demonstrating those arguments were wrong. Objecting to the use of logistic regression for profiling inmates on the probability of recidivism. &tc., &tc… The only item of interest in this really poor article is the announcement of a semester workshop at the Isaac Newton Institute on the use of mathematics in criminal sciences. Which after verification is a workshop on probability and statistics in forensic sciences. With Richard Gill as one of the organisers.

an all-inclusive Cambridge experience

My trip to Cambridge last week was very enjoyable: I have visited Cambridge and the (terrific) Isaac Newton institute enough times in the past twenty years to know my way around and to look forward my next visit… However, having the opportunity of staying in St John’s College with a room next to the Cam river and attending a formal dinner in the magnificent Dinning Hall was a wonderful new experience!

I am always amazed (and obviously envious) of the facilities offered to both students and faculty living in the colleges (not mentioning of course the rich intellectual atmosphere both in colleges and at the faculty of mathematics, expressed e.g. by an astounding list of seminars). My seminar on ABC model choice was well-attended and discussed, despite being at 4pm a Friday afternoon (maybe the beer social in the faculty upstairs right after helped!). And I had time to work quietly on multiple-try MCMC, following thoughts raised both by the comments on the related post and the GPU meeting in Warwick. Add great weather and the opportunity to go for a run next to the rowers in the morning to make for a great (short) trip.