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

Recipient of the 2011 Alan Turing Award in Computer Science, the scientist and statistician shows how understanding causal relationships has revolutionized science and made breakthroughs in the work on artificial intelligence. Correlation is not causation — this mantra, chanted by scientists for over a century, led to a conditional ban on discussions of causation. Today, this taboo has been lifted. The causal revolution, introduced 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 find out whether one thing is the cause of another, but it also enables us to explore realities that already exist and realities that could exist. It demonstrates the essence of human thought and provides a key to artificial intelligence.