Thanks to a friend I recently stumbled across this article by Melanie Mitchell in the New York Times on machine learning and its limitations. It highlights that despite the huge advances especially in deep learning, machines are still pretty far from ‘understanding’ things the way we do. They make mistakes we never would, are susceptible… Read More Getting at meaning is hard

‘Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.’ (gapminder.org/factfulness-book/) If you read one non-fiction book this year, make it ‘Factfulness: Ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think’ by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund. If the name of… Read More Factfulness

While travelling, we spent lots of time on the road. And in some countries, traffic seemed pretty chaotic. To check whether this perception was correct, we checked rates of road deaths. These seem to be usually reported as a number per 100’000 inhabitants per year. And indeed, some roads travelled are more dangerous than others:… Read More Road deaths, or: what do people die of?

More on books! One book,  ‚Lean in‘ by Sheryl Sandberg, has long been on my list, but But I’ve also been skeptical. Sandberg encourages women to ‘lean in’ fully, not holding anything back because of societal and/or internalised barriers and norms. While I still think this is not the major problem underlying the whole gender… Read More Travel reads: gender

Unrestrained by thoughts about work, deadlines, and the chores of everyday life, and stimulated by all the new things I see every day, my mind has been able to wander and wonder much more freely during our travels. There’s so much freedom in simply having the curiosity and energy to ask very simple questions, inspired… Read More Travel: a time to wonder

As a traveller, costs matter – one might or might not be able to afford a longer stay in a less/more expensive place. But of course it also matters for the locals, especially in relation to their income. Traversing different countries, I have wondered quite a bit about the cost of living, income, and income… Read More Travel numbers: costs

A 6-month trip certainly provides ample time for reading, right? 4.5 months in, I have managed to read 18 books, mostly fiction, and lots of it fantasy, plus some – such as George Orwell’s 1984 – that have been on my list for a long time. I have also tackled a few non-fiction books, and… Read More Travel: A time to read