NIPS 2017 Test of Time Award "Machine learning has become alchemy.” | Ali Rahimi, Google

[@offchan]

Hey Vsauce, Michael here.

[@Burn1nSun]

damn

[@krishnagowda2291]

Spits out cereals while laughing

[@soundcryCOM]

I literally thought that was him haha

[@nickt6201]

The absence of peer review in this field is a major issue.

[@feebdaed]

are you drunk or what?

[@Gidowan]

we dont know what electricity is.

[@divergentunity5020]

Unfortunately his whole argument fell apart when he started trying to talk about and relate to something he has zero knowledge of: alchemy. Learn to square the circle first and then continue with the modern day children toys.

[@davidalm2148]

It's the analogy that matters. An argument stands and falls on its own merits, and using an analogy is only fallacious if the analogy isn't analogous. The question is - is alchemy analogous to modern day ML? Which parts of alchemical practices was he actually referring to? I'd argue that he wasn't referring to alchemy as much as he was referring to science in the middle ages, where people found partially effective solutions to problems, but their explanations for the phenomena were incredibly inaccurate - creating misconceptions which stayed in the scientific community for centuries - until rationality prevailed and a better understanding was achieved.