Think Why?. Cause and Effect as a Key to Thinking

Awarded the 2011 Alan Turing Prize in Computer Science, the scientist and statistician shows how understanding causal relationships has revolutionized science and made breakthroughs in working on artificial intelligence. Correlation is not causation — this mantra, chanted by scientists for... over a century, led to a de facto ban on discussions about causal relationships. Today, this taboo is lifted. The causal revolution, uncovered by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has survived a century of confusion and placed causality — the study of causes and effects — on a solid scientific foundation. Pearl's work allows us not only to know whether one is the cause of another, but it also enables the exploration of realities that already exist and realities that could exist. It demonstrates the essence of human thought and provides a key to artificial intelligence.