Understanding Progressive Training Through the Framework of Randomized Coordinate Descent

We propose a Randomized Progressive Training algorithm (RPT) -- a stochastic proxy for the well-known Progressive Training method (PT) (Karras et al., 2017). Originally designed to train GANs (Goodfellow et al., 2014), PT was proposed as a heuristic, with no convergence analysis even for the simplest objective functions. On the contrary, to the best of our knowledge, RPT is the first PT-type algorithm with rigorous and sound theoretical guarantees for general smooth objective functions. We cast our method into the established framework of Randomized Coordinate Descent (RCD) (Nesterov, 2012; Richt\'arik & Tak\'a\v{c}, 2014), for which (as a by-product of our investigations) we also propose a novel, simple and general convergence analysis encapsulating strongly-convex, convex and nonconvex objectives. We then use this framework to establish a convergence theory for RPT. Finally, we validate the effectiveness of our method through extensive computational experiments

Sociology and the Complexity of the Modern World

W artykule prezentujemy cztery strategie socjologii wobec społecznej złożoności oraz wobec rozwoju nauk o złożoności. Strategia pierwsza sprowadza się do ogłoszenia przez socjologię własnego bankructwa lub postawienia się w roli skromnego konsorcjanta w ramach transdyscyplinarnych przedsięwzięć badawczych. Strategia druga to podkupienie stylu eksplanacyjnego i kultury metodologicznej nauk o złożności. Strategia trzecia to zaciąganie u teorii złożoności długu terminologicznego. Strategia czwarta zaś, najtrudniejsza, to rozwijanie własnej, socjologicznej teorii złożoności.The paper presents four strategies that sociology employs in the face of social complexity and the development of complexity science. The first strategy comes down to announcing bankruptcy on the part of the discipline or playing the role of a minor consortium member in transdisciplinary research projects within complexity science. The second strategy is 'buying' the explanatory style and methodological culture of complexity science. The third one is becoming indebted to complexity theory terminology. The fourth strategy, the most difficult one, is to develop its own, distinct sociological theory of complexity