David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms: The Book

Re:David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning... by ml_basics on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @05:52PM (#34619211)

Great book by a great teacher. I read this during my masters and was my route into machine learning.

David did many great things but sadly passed away too young in 2016, surely would have continued to have a great positive impact in the world had he lived longer. His other projects included the sustainable energy book https://www.withouthotair.com/ and information theory inspired keyboard software for people with severe disabilities https://www.bltt.org/software/dasher/

I had the honour of being a PhD student in Cambridge during his last year of life, and saw him give talks a few times in our lab. It's truly a remarkable experience to see someone who is a passionate explainer in action. Like how I imagine it must have been to see Feynman in the flesh.

This is a great short video to get a feel for his style of explaining: https://youtu.be/UR8wRSp2IXs

(Writing this post feels wrong because he's had such a positive impact on my life and those of many others, and this post definitely can't do it justice)

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Re:David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning... by azalemeth on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @05:57PM (#34619275)

His books are fantastic and his writing is captivating. It's such a shame he passed -- cancer is a bitch, but the blog post about the radiators in the hospice that he died in are one of the most heart rending pieces of writing I've come across from a mathematician.

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Re:David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning... by ml_basics on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @06:04PM (#34619373)

Is this the post you mean? http://itila.blogspot.com/2016/04/appendix-two-open-letter-t...

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Re:David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning... by azalemeth on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @06:24PM (#34619638)

Yes!

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Re:David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning... by malshe on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @06:54PM (#34619998)

Thanks for sharing your experience. The video link is fantastic!

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Re:David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning... by sideshowb on Thursday February 02, 2023 @08:25AM (#34626172)

As a follow on from Sustaianble Energy he also drove the original version of the my2050 game, which communicates the tradeoffs we need to make in decarbonizing to the general public very well. More recent update here https://my2050.beis.gov.uk/?levers=433233211331111

I've taken this as inspiration for my own transport models, though I have a model with some sliders to drag around I don't have a flashy game yet!

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Re:David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning... by jll29 on Thursday February 02, 2023 @12:32PM (#34630057)

A great communicator and a kind man, indeed.

It's been a privilege to see him lecturing at the Cavendish in 2002.

Here's his last video interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCyidsxIDtQ

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