Finding patterns is easy in any kind of data-rich environment; that's what mediocre gamblers do. The key is in determining whether the patterns represent signal or noise
Nate SilverDistinguishing the signal from the noise requires both scientific knowledge and self-knowledge.
Nate SilverIf there's a major foreign policy event, the President gets on TV, the Congress doesn't.
Nate SilverWe're not that much smarter than we used to be, even though we have much more information - and that means the real skill now is learning how to pick out the useful information from all this noise.
Nate Silver