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Showing posts with the label scholars

Generals, Politicians, and Pundits

An interesting point about our military leaders and those of any responsible country is that they are scholars of war, conflict, weapons, strategy and tactics.   They all attend a war college to learn their craft.   Almost all have read extensively on the subject.   Some are historians of their profession. Many are articulate communicators about their operations, needs, equipment, troup strength, training, and promotion practices. They are sincere professionals – whether you agree with them or not. Now contrast this with the typical politician, especially elected officials.   Few have studied politics.   Few understand much more than pre-written talking points on any topic.   Few have any training on compromise and the other crafts of legislation. Most leaders probably rely more on intuition and instinct than any form of analysis. Putting your faith in politicians is therefore a risky belief. Next contrast this with pundits and news commentators.   Now we are dipping down yet

New Truth - as Only I See It

There are two infamous publications in the world of scholarly activities, "The Journal of Irreproducible Results" and "How to Lie with Statistics."   One is a spoof on science truth published regularly (http://www.jir.com/); the second is an actual book.   The journal is interesting and funny.   But the book is well known to all practitioners, and the best of them know how to use statistics as needed to make a point, a claim, or a theory.    In a recent NY Times article by George Johnson (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/science/new-truths-that-only-one-can-see.html) the veracity of many publications are taken to the veracity task.   It is claimed that up to 80% of all publications are in error or just plain false. To quote from the article "It has been jarring to learn in recent years that a reproducible result may actually be the rarest of birds. Replication, the ability of another lab to reproduce a finding, is the gold standard of science, reassur