Standard Deviations
Did you know that chicken eggs can influence how computers generate random events? Or that humans can postpone death until after important ceremonial occasions? Or live three to five years longer if they have positive initials, like ACE?
All these 'facts' have been presented with a straight face by researchers and backed up with convincing statistics. In Standard Deviations, economics professor Gary Smith walks us through the various tricks and traps we so often fall into. Today, data is so plentiful and our reliance on computer analysis and AI so entrenched that researchers spend precious little time distinguishing between good, meaningful deductions and rubbish. Not only do others use data to fool us, we fool ourselves.
Drawing on breakthrough research in behavioural economics by luminaries like Daniel Kahneman and Dan Ariely, and taking to task some of the conclusions of Freakonomics, Standard Deviations demystifies the science behind the statistics.
Gary Smith received his PhD in Economics from Yale University and taught there for several years before moving to Pomona College, California, where he is Fletcher Jones Professor of Economics. His research has appeared in outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Wired, and he is the author of many articles and books, including The AI Delusion and Standard Deviations.