Calibration, Trust, and Deep Learning
You know how you really need to calibrate your drone before you start flying it? And if you don’t do that whole “ spinny ” thing with it, it really acts goofy? Or, sometimes Google Maps gets horked, and the blue dot shows you in the wrong place? And to fix it, you need to do that “figure 8” thing? These are examples of calibration — where the output of an instrument is compared against a reference standard, to make sure that it is correct (and/or set it appropriately). We rely on calibration all the time , heck, modern life would basically be epically disastrous if it weren’t happening behind the scenes. Everything from the standardization of tape measures (think of how that results in the building you are in not collapsing), to voltage regulation (your iPhone is still working, right?), to, well, everything, assumes that instruments are calibrated! Great, but what, you might ask, does this have to do with Deep Learning? The answer is in the form of a questi...