The Book of Why | Dana Mackenzie

[00:20:28] "At one point he realized something very fundamental and remarkable, which is if you switch the fathers and sons and you plot the sons side as the independent variable and the other side is independent variable, you get the same thing, you get the same fuzzy thing and you get the same correlation. And so correlation is something that is completely independent of causation."

Highlights of the Show:

[00:01:22] Guest Introduction.

[00:03:02] Where you grew up and what it was like there?

[00:04:23] As a kid, you loved writing, but then you ended up studying math at like the highest levels. Was that something that you foresaw happening? Were you always into math? Was it like a choice between math and writing? How did this play out?

[00:10:13] if anybody who wants to develop and flex writing muscle, do you have any tips for them on how they can develop and cultivate this skill?

[00:14:18] In view of your book "The book of Why", what is this computational cognitive faculty that humans certainly acquired that our chimpanzee cousins did not?

[00:17:28] Concept of counterfactuals.

[00:24:48] "Every statistics book says correlation is not causation. And they forget to tell you what is causation."

[00:41:55] What is the ladder of causation?

[00:48:57] "Smoking causes cancer", discuss.

[01:01:11] What is the do operator all about? What makes it so revolutionary and special?

[01:16:00] It is one hundred years in the future. What do you want to be remembered for?

[01:17:58] What are you currently reading?

[01:21:13] What song do you have on repeat?

[01:25:29] What is one of your favorite comfort food comfort foods?

[01:25:53] What have you created that you are most proud of?

[01:26:03] Who inspires you to be better?

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