Quote of the day 25th September 2020

"Dishonest statistics really are toxic, because if we want to use numbers to see the world clearly, we need to be able to evaluate them calmly. We must allow for our emotional reactions, our preconceived ideas and our political leanings.

"At the risk of sounding like Yoda with a calculator, one must resist the fog of anger, denial and wishful thinking if we are to keep the numbers straight in our minds.

"Even when a computer is calling the shots, softer human skills are needed. What has distinguished science from alchemy is not skill or the experimental method but the fact that science has a culture of discussion, scrutiny and the public display of evidence."


(Tim Harford, writing in the Sunday Times) 

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