serhii.net

In the middle of the desert you can say anything you want

16 Apr 2017

How more data can make you more wrong (Replays in slow motion more likely to convict)

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/08/how-more-data-can-make-you-more-wrong/


More data = more ways to create the picture you want or need; also different videos shown give a different reaction

Seen at speed, his raising of his hand looked nothing more than an involuntary and instinctive act of self-defence. Viewed in slow motion (as the third umpire saw it), it seemed a wilful and deliberate act of wicket–preservation. In the first instance, everything happened so quickly that it seemed impossible that Stokes had time to think; in slow motion it seemed impossible that he hadn’t.
those ‘juries’ shown a slow-motion replay were more than three times as likely to convict as those who saw events at the correct speed. The effect diminished when the footage was shown at both speeds, but persisted: such juries were still one and a half times more disposed to find the gunman guilty.
A fairly good rule of thumb is that the more data you have, the more gold is contained therein… but at the price of an even greater volume of false gold
Constructing an inaccurate but plausible narrative is much easier when you can cherry-pick from 50 pieces of information than from five.

Nel mezzo del deserto posso dire tutto quello che voglio.