Unlike earlier thinkers, who had sought to improve their accuracy by getting rid of error, Laplace realized that you should try to get more error: aggregate enough flawed data, and you get a glimpse of the truth. "The genius of statistics, as Laplace defined it, was that it did not ignore errors; it quantified them," the writer Louis Menand observed. "...The right answer is, in a sense, a function of the mistakes.
Kathryn SchulzIf it is sweet to be right, then - let's not deny it - it is downright savory to point out that someone else is wrong.
Kathryn SchulzThe miracle of your mind isn't that you can see the world as it is. It's that you can see the world as it isn't.
Kathryn Schulzwrongness always seems to come at us from left field - that is, from outside ourselves. But the reality could hardly be more different. Error is the ultimate inside job. Yes, the world can be profoundly confusing; and yes, other people can mislead or deceive you. In the end, though, nobody but you can choose to believe your own beliefs.
Kathryn SchulzThirty-three percent of all of our regrets pertain to decisions we made about education.
Kathryn Schulz