Essays

A complex pattern-classification problem,
cast in a high-dimensional space nonlinearly,
is more likely to be linearly separable than in a low-dimensional space,
provided that the space is not densely populated.

- T. M. Cover

Much of human experience is random,
and almost all of it unexpected ...

- J. Gani, one of my mentors

Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.

- Albert Einstein

If you decide you don't have to get A's,
you can learn an enormous amount in college.

- Isidor Isaac Rabi

You will learn much more from
a course that you get an A- in than one where you get an A+.

- Byoung Seon Choi

I sometimes wonder

why people still use the Black-Scholes formula,

since it is based on such simple assumptions

- unrealistically simple assumptions

-Fischer Black

In the end, a theory is accepted

not because it is confirmed by conventional empirical tests,

but because researchers persuade one another

that the theory is correct and relevant

-Fischer Black

Big data is like teenage sex:
everyone talks about it,
nobody really knows how to do it,
everyone thinks everyone else is doing it,
so everyone claims they are doing it.

- Dan Ariely

[Deutsch] „Kaufet nicht verkaufet“ sprach der Rabbi zum Börsenhändler,

vergaß aber zu sagen, wo denn das Komma zu setzen sei:

„kaufet, nicht verkaufet“ oder „kaufet nicht, verkaufet.“

[English] "Buy not sell" said the rabbi to the stock exchange trader,

but forgot to say where to put the comma:

"Buy, do not sell" or "Do not buy, sell."

- https://lippeagrar.de/aktuell/kaufet-nicht-verkaufet

the physical substrate for thinking, the neural system,

but the very fact that it has the form of a network implies

that thought also has graph structure.

This in turn suggests that language and its grammars

― Ulf Grenander

A Calculus of Ideas: A Mathematical Study of Human Thought