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Excerpt from the Obituary, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times The Times] <ref>[http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/associates/permanent/good.htm Obituary, The Times - Brilliant mathematician and Bletchley Park codebreaker who laid the foundations of modern statistics] hosted by [[Atlas Computer Laboratory]]</ref>
To statisticians, Good is one of the founding fathers of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_statistics Bayesian statistics], an approach to the discipline based on work of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bayes Thomas Bayes] in 1764. In it one forms a view of the phenomenon under study, quantifying one's uncertainty in terms of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probability_distribution probability distribution] (the prior distribution). One then draws a sample, obtaining data, and uses the data and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayes%27_theorem Bayes's theorem] to update this prior uncertainty to give a new distribution, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_distribution posterior distribution]. This approach - the Bayesian paradigm, as it is now called - was little used before Good's work but was given an important boost by his 1950 book and his extensive subsequent writings, and is firmly established today. Good's other interests included [[Artificial Intelligence|artificial intelligence]] - in particular, training computers to play chess and philosophy.
=HAL 9000=
<span id="HAL9000"></span>[[Marvin Minsky]] and [[Jack Good]] were adviser of the 1968 [[:Category:Arthur C. Clarke|Arthur C. Clarke]] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick Stanley Kubrick] film [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_%28film%29 2001: A Space Odyssey], concerning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine Self-replicating machine] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000 HAL 9000], the '''H'''euristically programmed '''AL'''gorithmic computer, and were referred to both in the movie and the book <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_%28film%29#Accuracy 2001: A Space Odyssey | Science | Accuracy]</ref> <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Minsky#Biography Marvin Minsky from Wikipedia | Biography]</ref>.
=From Russia with Love=
=See also=
* [[The Computer History Museum#Codebreaking|From Codebreaking to Computing - Video]] from [[The Computer History Museum]]
* [[Point Value#TheoreticalAttempt|Point Value - Theoretical Attempt]]
* [[Alan Turing#DeathOfAlanTuring|The Strange Life and Death of Dr Turing - Video]]
[[Category:Levy Quotes|Good]]
[[Category:Good Quotes|Good]]
[[Category:Arthur C. Clarke|Good]]
[[Category:Film|Good]]
