Statistics
A collection of numbers pretending to be facts, frequently used as evidence for a claim, that provide no insight into how anything actually works.
Statistics are currently being used to support ‘data driven’ modelling so powerful entities can pursue their own motives while sounding deferential and transparent.
An opportunity for the inexperienced to be part of important conversations. By referencing or citing a statistic, the speaker attains the status of a participant in matters they do not understand.
For the initiated, it is clear that numbers are a plaything of the motivated mind - they can be used to support or oppose virtually anything the author demands. The author decides which data is collected or omitted, which categories exist as well as their parameters, and which clarifying or obfuscating framings are present. It is due to these factors that, while presented as disinterested non-fiction, statistics are far more often accurately described as contrived fan-fiction.
Beyond the motivations of the statisticians themselves, we have to contend with the motivations of their peddlers. Statistics are the motherlode of motivated reasoning and confirmation bias. They are selectively raised to support a prescribed vision while ignoring or even denouncing those that contradict the peddler’s position. This dynamic will in turn magnify certain positions over others, whether the facts are salient or not; we tend to skip the verification phase of our own opinions.
Statistics can serve as a valuable repository towards the pursuit of truth, just as they can be weaponized to prey on our shortcomings if they are engineered as such.
Similar to a scientific STUDY, while they convey information, they are not a substitute for understanding. While it may be nice to be part of a conversation, it does not mean that we have anything worthwhile to contribute.
Do we fundamentally understand the issue, or are we simply regurgitating numbers to effect change?
Posted: 13 Feb 2023
