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#quantification

1 post1 participant0 posts today
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Miguel Afonso Caetano

Although there's lots of corporate bullshit in what is written in the article linked below (namely, the stuff about self-driving cars), some insights do really standout.

"For leaders steering their organizations through this turbulent transition, what lies beyond the spreadsheet? It’s everything that won’t fit in a cell: the skills that refuse to be tallied, the open-ended problems with no reliable precedent, the intangibles—trust, taste, and the subtle dimensions of quality and experience—and the conviction to press ahead even when every metric says “wait.” Manage only what you can measure, and you surrender the most valuable ground to rivals who cultivate what can’t be counted. Amar Bose, the sound and electrical engineer who founded the Bose Corporation, proved the point: while others worshipped spec-sheet numbers, he zeroed in on how music sounded to people in real rooms—a quality no existing metric could catch—and in doing so, he rewrote the rules of the audio industry.

Directionally, the prescription is simple. Back wildcard bets with fuzzy ROI, reward teams that reframe problems and lean into the unknown, and rotate talent through roles that confront uncertainty across R&D, new markets, and complex customer, partner, and policy interactions. Carve out slack time and engineer cross-team collisions to spark serendipity and idea recombination. Treat those pockets of planned ambiguity not as liabilities, but as strategic assets."

hbr.org/2025/06/what-gets-meas

Harvard Business Review · What Gets Measured, AI Will AutomateIn the age of AI, what gets measured gets automated. As models grow more powerful, any task that can be turned into data—from spreadsheet analysis to therapy sessions—is increasingly within reach of automation. The underlying playbook is clear: define the task, feed it data, attach rewards, and apply compute. As AI slashes the cost of measurement, even minor activities become economically viable to automate, expanding the reach of AI into nearly every industry. What remains defensible are tasks defined by ambiguity, creativity, or uncertainty—places where outcomes can’t be easily quantified or where human judgment still prevails. For leaders, the challenge is to manage both the measurable and the unmeasurable, investing not just in automation, but in the intangibles—taste, trust, vision, and adaptability—that AI can’t yet replicate.
#AI#GenerativeAI#Automation
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Estelle Platini

"Modern civilisation has a number of extremely delicate and highly interconnected components whose graceful degradation is effectively impossible."

It is "much easier to break things than to build them up. The government administrations of Britain, France and Germany for example, were set up at a time in the nineteenth century when the rising middle classes demanded a properly functioning state[…]. It took perhaps a generation for professional, neutral public services to fully emerge."

"Forty years of globalised neoliberalism have broken our societies, our economies and our political systems, and we no longer have the ability to put them back together."

braveneweurope.com/aurelien-th

Brave New Europe · Aurelien - The End? - Brave New EuropeThere must be some way out of here … surely? Cross-posted from Aurelien’s substack A scene from Samuel Beckett’s Endgame The original idea behind these essays when I started them three years ago, was that [...]
#civilService#statehood#bureaucracy
Public
Miguel Afonso Caetano

"Rather than using metrics as the sole truth when it comes to assessing academic performance, we should put them in perspective. We could do this by complementing quantitative metrics with qualitative information. Narratives, discussions of assumptions, and explanations can give back much-needed context to interpret metrics. Read a job candidate’s working paper instead of counting her publications in journals. Metrics can be great conversation starters, but should not replace our understanding of what (a) good research(er) is.

If we don’t change our use of metrics, research quality itself may suffer. Peter Higgs, the Nobel laureate who passed away last year, warned in an interview: “Today I wouldn’t get an academic job. It’s as simple as that. I don’t think I would be regarded as productive enough.” The pressure to produce and perform in the short term can come at the expense of scientific progress in the long term. A more critical stance towards metrics and rankings is essential if we want to enhance the quality and credibility of research."

socialsciencespace.com/2025/01

Social Science Space · How Research Credibility Suffers in a Quantified Society - Social Science SpaceTo address research credibility issues, we must reform the role of metrics, rankings, and incentives in universities.
#Science#SocialSciences#Quantification
Public
Matthew Conroy

I learned about cycling-related Eddington numbers recently.

Your Eddingon number is the largest integer n such that you have ridden at least n kilometers on at least n days (not necessarily consecutively: any days at all).

I wrote some code to find mine.

With data from 2001 to 2024, my Eddington number is 102. (I rode for many years before 2001, so my true number is somewhat (maybe just a little) higher, but records are scarce.)

So, I have ridden at least 102 kilometers on at least 102 days, and I have not ridden at least 103 kilometers on at least 103 days. In fact, I've ridden at least 103 kilometers on 101 days, so I'll need to do that just twice more to get my Eddington number up to 103. Sounds like a nice goal for 2025.

One can also use miles. An amusing thing to note is that you cannot simply convert the Eddington number in kilometers to the Eddington number in miles as you would a distance.

My Eddington number in miles is 68. 68 miles is about 109 kilometers, so my Eddington number in miles is both larger and smaller than my Eddington number in kilometers.

One can, of course, apply this to running, walking, swimming, or really any other quantifiable activity. What would be some interesting activities to apply this to?

One can also restrict the time period and look at one's Eddington number for, for example, single years. In the period 2001-2024, my (km) numbers ranged from 25 to a max of 61. The last time I was at or above 40 was 2017 (I've been in a slump since then).

Let me know if you'd like the (simple) code I wrote to calculate these numbers.

Let me know your Eddington number(s)!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_E

en.wikipedia.orgArthur Eddington - Wikipedia
#eddington#cycling#quantification
Public
Arthur Gron

On Saturday went to the Horse Pull at Markham Fair.
The winner were the Wessel's from Mindon Ontario. Pulled over 10,000lbs the required 15ft.

They competed in the Heavy Weight class, were a team of horses has a combined weight over 3400lbs.

The sled held almost a small wall of concrete on it.

#Ontario#horse#math
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💧🌏 Greg Cocks

Old-Growth Mapping In Patagonia’s Evergreen Forests Must Integrate GEDI Data To Overcome NFI Data Limitations And To Effectively Support Biodiversity Conservation
--
doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2024. <-- shared paper
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #spaceborneLiDAR #LiDAR #ecologicalmapping #forestbiodiversity #ecologicalconservation #remotesensing #forest #Chile #Patagonia #NationalForestInventory #NFI #IslaMagdalena #LagoVerde #GEDI #biomass #spatialanalysis #vegetation #tree #corrleation #metrics #biodiversity #habitat #oldgrowth #ecosystem #NASA #GlobalEcosystemDynamicsInvestigation #fieldmeasurements #conservation #Aysén #Aysen #carbonstocks #evergreen #drone #UAV #AGBD #chilean #opendata #quantification #quantative

photo - forest. waterfalls and glacier, Aysén region, Chile
maps and images - Locations of the forest conservation projects surveyed in the Chilean Patagonia. We present: the Chilean Patagonia extension (a), the forest conservation projects locations (b), aerial footage acquired during the drone-lidar mapping campaign in September 2023 (c) and ground footage acquired during the same campaign (d).
schematic - Research workflow from data collection, retrieval of GEDI data, description of the reference field tree estimates, point cloud filtering, and generation of products and comparisons of aboveground biomass density (AGBD) estimates at two scales: small-scale operational (existing conservation projects) and at landscape level using all evergreen forests in Aysén’s region.
maps with imagery - Distribution of GEDI high-quality estimates of aboveground biomass density (AGBD) and layout of the canopy height models (CHM) derived from lidar data for the conservation projects in Isla Magdalena (adjacent to the protected National Park) and Lago Verde.
Public
Lyla Mehta

Terrific papers in
@WaterAlternatives Special Issue on 'The Politics of Water Quantification'.

Numbers promote specific values & interests & manufacture control/ consensus on issues such as ecological 'crises', scarcity & efficiency thus obscuring uncertainty, social dynamics & attention to justice & equity

#Water #Quantification #Accounting

water-alternatives.org/index.p

www.water-alternatives.orgCurrent IssueWater Alternatives | A journal on water, politics and development, Water Alternatives An interdisciplinary ejournal on water, politics and development
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Jon Awbrey

Peirce's 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Discussion 2
• inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/04

Re: FB | Daniel Everett

One thing I've been trying to understand for a very long time is the changes in Peirce's writing about math and logic from 1865 to 1885. If there's anything I've learned from reading Peirce in the often dim light of intellectual history it is to be wary of progressivist assumptions — but unlike many of his other fans I apply that caution also within the body of his own work. Long story short, from 1865 to 1885 I see progress on several fronts but also bits of backsliding from his more prescient early insights. So it's a puzzle … and it will take more study to ravel out the reasons why.

Resources for reconciling Peirce's two accounts —
1. The 1870 account of logical involution
2. The 1885 account of universal quantification

Peirce's 1870 “Logic of Relatives” • Selection 12 • The Sign of Involution
• inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/06
Comments —
(1) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/06
(2) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/06
(3) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/06
(4) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/06
(5) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/06

Peirce's 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Selections
(1) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/03
(2) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/03
(3) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/03
(4) inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/04

Peirce, C.S. (1885), “On the Algebra of Logic : A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation”, American Journal of Mathematics 7, 180–202.
• jstor.org/stable/2369451

#Peirce #Logic #AlgebraOfLogic #LogicOfRelatives #RelationTheory #CategoryTheory
#Semiotics #PredicateCalculus #Quantification #LogicalInvolution #ComputerScience

Inquiry Into Inquiry · Peirce’s 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Discussion 2Re: FB | Daniel Everett One thing I’ve been trying to understand for a very long time is the changes in Peirce’s writing about math and logic from 1865 to 1885.  If there’s a…
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Jon Awbrey

Peirce's 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Discussion 1
• inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/04

Re: FB | Daniel Everett

DE:
❝One of the most important papers in the history of logic. “On the Algebra of Logic” was the first to introduce the term “quantifier”.

❝Peirce, C.S. (1885), “On the Algebra of Logic : A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation”, American Journal of Mathematics 7, 180–202.
• jstor.org/stable/2369451 ❞

As far as quantification by any other word goes, Peirce had already introduced a more advanced and “functional” concept of quantification in his 1870 “Logic of Relatives”. The subsequent passage to Fregean styles of first order logic would turn out to be a retrograde movement toward syntacticism (a species of nominalism), as seen in the general run of what fol‑lowed in the fol‑lowing years.

See ☞ Peirce's 1870 “Logic of Relatives”
• inquiryintoinquiry.com/2019/09

Especially ☞ “The Sign of Involution”
• inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/06

The connection between logical involution and universal quantification which Peirce put to use in his 1870 Logic of Relatives will turn up again a century later with the application of category theory to computer science and both of those in turn to logic. Just one more time Peirce was that far ahead of it.

See ☞ Lambek and Scott (1986), Introduction to Higher Order Categorical Logic, Cambridge University Press.
• oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey/

#Peirce #Logic #AlgebraOfLogic #LogicOfRelatives #RelationTheory #CategoryTheory
#Semiotics #PredicateCalculus #Quantification #LogicalInvolution #ComputerScience

Inquiry Into Inquiry · Peirce’s 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Discussion 1Re: FB | Daniel Everett DE: One of the most important papers in the history of logic.  “On the Algebra of Logic” was the first to introduce the term “quantifier”. Peirc…
Continued thread
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Jon Awbrey

Peirce's 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Selection 3
• inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/03

❝On the Algebra of Logic❞
❝A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation❞

❝§1. Three Kinds Of Signs❞ (cont.)

❝For instance, take the syllogistic formula,
\[\begin{array}{clcl}\text{All}&M&\text{is}&P\\&S&\text{is}&M\\\therefore&S&\text{is}&P.\end{array}\]

❝This is really a diagram of the relations of \(S,\) \(M,\) and \(P.\) The fact that the middle term occurs in the two premisses is actually exhibited, and this must be done or the notation will be of no value.

❝As for algebra, the very idea of the art is that it presents formulæ which can be manipulated, and that by observing the effects of such manipulation we find properties not to be otherwise discerned. In such manipulation, we are guided by previous discoveries which are embodied in general formulæ. These are patterns which we have the right to imitate in our procedure, and are the icons par excellence of algebra. The letters of applied algebra are usually tokens, but the \(x, y, z,\) etc. of a general formula, such as

\[ (x + y)z = xz + yz, \]

❝are blanks to be filled up with tokens, they are indices of tokens. Such a formula might, it is true, be replaced by an abstractly stated rule (say that multiplication is distributive); but no application could be made of such an abstract statement without translating it into a sensible image.❞ (3.363).

#Peirce #Logic #AlgebraOfLogic #RelationTheory
#Semiotics #Icon #Index #Symbol #Quantification

Inquiry Into Inquiry · Peirce’s 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Selection 3Selection from C.S. Peirce, “On the Algebra of Logic : A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation” (1885) §1.  Three Kinds Of Signs (cont.) For instance, take the syllogisti…
Continued thread
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Jon Awbrey

Peirce's 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Selection 2.3
• inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/03

❝On the Algebra of Logic❞
❝A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation❞

❝§1. Three Kinds Of Signs❞ (cont.)

❝With these two kinds of signs alone any proposition can be expressed; but it cannot be reasoned upon, for reasoning consists in the observation that where certain relations subsist certain others are found, and it accordingly requires the exhibition of the relations reasoned with in an icon.

❝It has long been a puzzle how it could be that, on the one hand, mathematics is purely deductive in its nature, and draws its conclusions apodictically, while on the other hand, it presents as rich and apparently unending a series of surprising discoveries as any observational science.

❝Various have been the attempts to solve the paradox by breaking down one or other of these assertions, but without success. The truth, however, appears to be that all deductive reasoning, even simple syllogism, involves an element of observation; namely, deduction consists in constructing an icon or diagram the relations of whose parts shall present a complete analogy with those of the parts of the object of reasoning, of experimenting upon this image in the imagination, and of observing the result so as to discover unnoticed and hidden relations among the parts.❞ (3.363).

#Peirce #Logic #AlgebraOfLogic #RelationTheory
#Semiotics #Icon #Index #Symbol #Quantification

Inquiry Into Inquiry · Peirce’s 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Selection 2Selection from C.S. Peirce, “On the Algebra of Logic : A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation” (1885) §1.  Three Kinds Of Signs (cont.) I have taken pains to make my dis…
Continued thread
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Jon Awbrey

Peirce's 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Selection 2.2
• inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/03

❝On the Algebra of Logic❞
❝A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation❞

❝§1. Three Kinds Of Signs❞ (cont.)

❝But tokens alone do not state what is the subject of discourse; and this can, in fact, not be described in general terms; it can only be indicated. The actual world cannot be distinguished from a world of imagination by any description. Hence the need of pronouns and indices, and the more complicated the subject the greater the need of them.

❝The introduction of indices into the algebra of logic is the greatest merit of Mr. Mitchell's system. He writes F_1 to mean that the proposition F is true of every object in the universe, and F_u to mean that the same is true of some object. This distinction can only be made in some such way as this. Indices are also required to show in what manner other signs are connected together.❞ (3.363).

#Peirce #Logic #AlgebraOfLogic #RelationTheory
#Semiotics #Icon #Index #Symbol #Quantification

Inquiry Into Inquiry · Peirce’s 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Selection 2Selection from C.S. Peirce, “On the Algebra of Logic : A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation” (1885) §1.  Three Kinds Of Signs (cont.) I have taken pains to make my dis…
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