The link to his dataset is missing. Show me the raw numbers, I want to make my own conclusions.
Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
121–130 of 248 posts
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the point? It's satire
People seem to take it as some sort of impressive critique of statistics and the scientific method. Similar to "there is a Replication Crisis, vaguely speaking, so your bigot facts don't matter." No, the replication crisis is mostly a function of low sample sizes and misinterpretation, if a paper has a decent number of people and isn't being interpreted by an activist (like, ie, the social researchers themselves), it…
How can you think this is a critique of statistics? People are liking it because it's a clever brand of internet snark involving knowledge of statistics. You can say it's shallow and just for people who want to flatter themselves with how knowledgable they are, but it's hardly a critique of the field of statistics, just a critique of bad statistics.
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Statistics are meaningless without a rigorously examined causal model of the phenomenon under investigation. In my experience of statistics education, the art of crafting causal theories was scarcely addressed.
The average citizen doesn't need to craft casual theories, they need to be able to look at them critically. Yes, an introductory statistics course doesn't cover everything, but it's absolutely the 20% effort that gets 80% of the results. Most of the worst misinformation I've seen lately surrounding covid, vaccines, etc, would be solved if everyone had a basic understanding of introductory stats as currently taught. I…
> The average citizen doesn't need to craft casual theories, they need to be able to look at them critically
Yes, I agree, and this is precisely my point. My experience with introductory stats was a heavy focus on the technical details, when in fact what would be more effective is focusing on statistical logic.
I’m specifically thinking that something like Judea Pearl’s The Book of Why would be good to introduce early in stats education.
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#124This reminds me of the sort of light poking of common "correlation is not the same as causation" and "beware of confounding factors" statistical failures behind the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster "clearly reduction in pirates has caused global warming!" [0]. But it's a major in modern public discourse, and one for once that I'm quite willing to lay heavily at the feet of the public education system. Easily on…
Statistics are meaningless without a rigorously examined causal model of the phenomenon under investigation. In my experience of statistics education, the art of crafting causal theories was scarcely addressed.
This is very true. Systematic bias in observational data collection (astronomy etc.) as well as systematic bias in experimental data collection (particle physics etc.) isn't accounted for in statistical analysis of that data.
A classic example I recall is a Feynmann story, where a group of researchers were getting very statistically sound and repeatable results of very unusual and unexplained particle track behavior in a cloud chamber. Feynmann looked at the data and said "you probably have a tiny piece of metal in the cloud chamber somewhere" and that turned out to be the explanation.
Similar examples in the social sciences include systematic bias in the preparation and administration of IQ tests to different groups of people (see Charles Murray's 'Bell Curve' vs. Stephen J. Gould's 'The Mismeasure of Man').
Hundreds of other examples can be found across all scientific disciplines, unfortunately. To quote the smartest PI I ever worked for "There's a lot of BS in statistical analysis".
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#125I understand why the author is laying the smackdown on Alex Berenson, but sound statistical reasoning was murdered within the first month of the pandemic and has been absent ever since.
Care to explain what you mean?
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Statistics are meaningless without a rigorously examined causal model of the phenomenon under investigation. In my experience of statistics education, the art of crafting causal theories was scarcely addressed.
The average citizen doesn't need to craft casual theories, they need to be able to look at them critically. Yes, an introductory statistics course doesn't cover everything, but it's absolutely the 20% effort that gets 80% of the results. Most of the worst misinformation I've seen lately surrounding covid, vaccines, etc, would be solved if everyone had a basic understanding of introductory stats as currently taught. I…
"Most of the worst misinformation I've seen lately surrounding covid, vaccines, etc, would be solved if everyone had a basic understanding of introductory stats as currently taught."
I think a lot of it is more ideological at the "average" citizen level - on both sides. Most people aren't looking at the data, they're believing whatever they're told that aligns with their personal beliefs.
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#127global average temperature vs number of pirates: https://www.spaghettimonster.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/...
Sid Meier's Civilization predicted it!
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#128Great, but are we just gonna forget all of this when reading "data-backed" social justice activist claims?
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#129Why is the ghostbusters graph obviously just a photoshop relabeling of the covid vaccine graph?
> I have checked the underlying dataset myself and the graph plotted above [the photoshopped one] is correct. People under 60 who watched the 1984 Ghostbusters movie are twice as likely to die as people who watched the 2021 Ghostbusters movie. The overall deaths in Britain are running well above normal.
The poster of this article is observably a liar. Perhaps there is some kind of point to be made here, but I'll wait until someone honest attempts to present it.
Re: Is watching the 1984 Ghostbusters movie killing people?
#130Yes, smugly mocking people's very valid concerns will surely win them over. Don't study the figures, just do as we say!
Did you study the figures in the blog post? On what basis do you believe the concerns are "very valid"? I do agree with you that mockery is unlikely to win hearts and minds, but the whole problem here is that the concerns are not valid and the people with concerns are not studying the figures and the people they're arguing against are not saying "just do as we say," and yet the concerns persist.
That and once you start making television appearances and publishing books, your claims are fair game.