BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:researchseminars.org CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:researchseminars.org BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Mike Titelbaum DTSTART:20260130T163000Z DTEND:20260130T173000Z DTSTAMP:20260422T171847Z UID:CompMath/26 DESCRIPTION:Title: Topological obstacles to shared priors\nby Mike Titelbaum as part of Relatorium seminar\n\n\nAbstract\nGiven a finite collection of probabilit y measures defined on subsets of a measurable space\, how can we determine if they are compatible\, in the sense that they can be realized as condit ional distributions of a single probability measure on the full space? Thi s formulation of the consistency problem for conditional probabilities is significant in Bayesian epistemology and probabilistic reasoning\, as it d escribes the conditions under which a collection of agents can reach agree ment by sharing information. We derive a necessary and sufficient conditio n under which joint compatibility is equivalent to pairwise compatibility. This condition is stated in terms of the cohomology of a simplicial compl ex constructed from the given probability measures\, exposing a novel appl ication of algebraic topology to Bayesian reasoning.\n\nSpeaker Bio: Micha el G. Titelbaum is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Depa rtment of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has publi shed Quitting Certainties and Fundamentals of Bayesian Epistemology\, both with Oxford University Press. He received a PhD in Philosophy from the U niversity of California\, Berkeley in 2008. Before doing that\, he was a high school math teacher for four years.\n\n\nModerator: Ted Theodosopoulo s.\nTed is a mathematician who\, after working for years in academia and i ndustry\, transitioned to teaching at the pre-college level sixteen years ago\, the last eight at Nueva\, where he teaches math and economics. Ted ’s research background is in the area of interacting stochastic systems\ , with particular applications in biology and economics.\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/CompMath/26/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR