
Researcher Sam Roweis took his own life last night. Here's one of his lectures. - raganwald
http://videolectures.net/mlss05au_roweis_pgm/
======
danger
A few memories of Sam from a Toronto machine learning student:
<http://blog.smellthedata.com/2010/01/sam.html>

~~~
dwine
And from a fellow researcher: <http://hunch.net/?p=1172>

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theorique
He was head of science club at my high school and also preceded me into the
same college program.

I really admired his talent and drive. This is terrible and sad news.

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sweis
This is sad. He was a co-worker of mine.

Here's more info: [http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2010/01/13/nyu-computer-
scienc...](http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2010/01/13/nyu-computer-science-
professor-sam-roweis-jumps-to-death-in-washington-square-village/)

------
osipov
Sam was a prominent contributor to the field of machine learning and given his
young age he held so much promise. He will be missed.

[http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2010/01/13/nyu-computer-
scienc...](http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2010/01/13/nyu-computer-science-
professor-sam-roweis-jumps-to-death-in-washington-square-village/)

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orionlogic
with these kind of sad news, a phrase always come in to mind; "Permanent
solution to a temporary problem"

~~~
TeHCrAzY
It's unlikely to have been a temporary problem. Depression is pervasive, all
encompasing, and, seemingly, far outside your expreiences to have made such an
uninformed comment.

~~~
CapitalistCartr
It's sure not outside my experiences, and I agree with him. It's a permanent
solution to a temporary problem. I struggled with depression for most of my
life, and I'm still glad I now manage it and have a successful life.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
I'd like to point out that your comment itself is telling. "I'm still glad I
now manage it".. implies that it is still a problem that requires an active
solution (your "management" as it were.) I do not want to belittle your
struggle or minimize your accomplishment of successful management, but most
people who go on anti-depressants will end up back on them again later in
life.

~~~
blackguardx
Being on anti-depressants IS managing it. Deep depression--the kind that makes
you commit suicide--is like being a hole so deep that you can't see any way
out. You lose all motivation to do anything, even things that would help you
out of it. You can't see through the darkness. Anti-depressants are just a
tool to help you out.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
Exactly. And the fact that most people will go on them again (and the re-use
rates go up exponentially as the number of times an individual relapses) was
meant to demonstrate the ongoing nature of the battle with depression.
"Managing" implies an active relationship with the condition, proving my point
that it is not temporary.

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ice_man
I took his Information Theory course at U of T. He was a brilliant guy. I
remember him young and full of life. This is shocking and very sad.

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jimboyoungblood
RIP Sam. You will be missed.

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kurtosis
Nothing much I can add. I didn't know him personally, but I was a huge fan of
Sam Roweis and I learned a lot from reading his papers. It's very sad to think
that there won't be any more.

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elblanco
:(

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araneae
[http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2010/01/13/nyu-computer-
scienc...](http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2010/01/13/nyu-computer-science-
professor-sam-roweis-jumps-to-death-in-washington-square-village/)

"His wife recently gave birth prematurely to a set of twins."

Usually I'm sympathetic to this kind of thing, but that's a pretty horrible
thing to do to his wife.

~~~
jimboyoungblood
I don't think it would be fair or accurate to attribute it to post partum
depression. The challenges Sam and his wife faced were/are extraordinary.

From the comment by "fr_of_sams"
(<http://www.nydailynews.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=84311>):

 _Their children were twin girls. Born over one year ago. Severely premature:
24 weeks gestation. Severely disabled. Require 24-hour nursing care for their
entire lives. Cannot eat, and will be on feeding tubes for the rest of their
lives. Constant medical treatment and medical crises. Maybe someday they will
walk. Maybe not. They will never really talk. The financial pressures on this
couple were severe: they had already used up all insurance benefit limits, and
burnt through their own personal savings with their retirement savings
following rapidly..._

~~~
akadien
Now his wife is left to care for two high-need children, grieve for her
husband, and figure out a way to pay for it all one day (maybe). Looks like he
made the challenges facing his wife even more extraordinary now.

~~~
itistoday
That's one way to look at it.

Another way is to look around yourself and ask whether perhaps there's just a
little something fucked up about a society that would force this couple to go
bankrupt financially and emotionally because their peers will send them to a
life of misery in prison if they refuse to keep two completely handicapped and
malfunctioning children on feeding tubes for as long as is medically possible.
Children so young that they, thankfully, are not even aware of their own
miserable prison of an existence.

Most of the inhabitants of this planet unfortunately suffer from mass-
delusion. We have not yet advanced spiritually or intellectually enough to
grapple with these kinds of situations. When a society insists on keeping
someone or something "alive" at great cost and for no purpose other than to
satisfy their own neuroses, something is deeply wrong, and some people decide,
"To hell with it all."

~~~
sharms
As someone who is considered sane, with no known issues of depression, and a
parent, I can say unequivocally that under no circumstance would I let a child
die, regardless of circumstances. Finances, mortgage, whatever don't factor
for a second into that decision.

Once you have a child, you realize this world isn't about you, and absolutely
all you have left when you pass is your offspring and those who you impacted
in life.

This is a tragedy but in no way should they be condemned for trying to save
their offspring. Everything is not black and white as you would like to
believe it is, and even if it defies your logic, there is definitely more than
one perspective here.

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JabavuAdams
Sad. I was at U of T before his time. What is it about (Toronto) AI
researchers?

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jafl5272
I remember him from grad school.

