statistics is a bizarre mix of maths, engineering and philosophy. one moment you’re staring at algebra, next moment you’re trying to write code, then you worry about “what does it mean to say something causes another thing” and “how can we find truth in an uncertain world”
@camjpatrick Pretty good description. The three major aspects
@camjpatrick Right. So different from the popular image of mindless adding up columns of numbers.
@camjpatrick @lastpositivist Folks who understand none of those three disciplines use statistics the most.
@camjpatrick and computer science. statisticians who can't program reliably and know standards and how to maintain code etc do a lot of damage that is never detected
@camjpatrick I would include physics as well. there are the phenomena that stats is about and the ppl representing, relating and making sense of them. You never know on which side causes actually belong (mostly on both or none). wow such a popular post.
@camjpatrick Also epigrams. "That's not an experiment, that's an experience" Fischer. (Iirc)
@camjpatrick We cannot find truth because it is far too complex - we can approximate it rather coarsely by focusing on particular layers and exploring them with limited tools. The human mind itself is a limited tool, though it helps when multiple human minds work on the same layers. 🤭