Anecdotes v Statistics

When do a handful of anecdotal events observed in a complex system prove millions of unseen events? Almost never. Our vast time-tested literature on statistics must guide our extrapolations in these situations and anyone suggesting otherwise should be ignored. These were my thoughts as I read this Tweet by psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman. In a comment to this Tweet, Scott mentions these specific problem areas: “Tail ratios, normal distribution, statistical significance, probability, hypothesis testing . . .”

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

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