Statistics
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain. Most of the talks that we looked at this summer made controversial statistical claims about either medical therapies or human behavior. In our 2020 early fall series, we will sharpen our critical thinking skills by discussing videos on the use and abuse of statistical reasoning. In an age of alternative facts, these skills will give us valuable weapons for statistical self-defense. This five-part sequence starts on Tuesday 15 September and runs until Tuesday 13 October.
15 September 2020
Alan Smith, "Why You Should Love Statistics," TED 2017, 12:40
https://www.ted.com/talks/alan_smith_why_you_should_love_statistics
22 September 2020
Alex Edmans, "What to trust in a "post-truth" world," TED 2018, 17:47
https://www.ted.com/talks/alex_edmans_what_to_trust_in_a_post_truth_world
29 September 2020
Mona Chalabi, "3 ways to spot a bad statistic," TED 2017, 11:45
https://www.ted.com/talks/mona_chalabi_3_ways_to_spot_a_bad_statistic
6 October 2020
(1) Gerd Gigerenzer,"Why do people fear the wrong things?" TED 2020, 4:21
https://www.ted.com/talks/gerd_gigerenzer_why_do_people_fear_the_wrong_things
(2) Alex Gendler, "Can you outsmart this logical fallacy?" TED 2019, 3:21
https://www.ted.com/talks/alex_gendler_can_you_outsmart_this_logical_fallacy
(3) Lea Gaslowitz, "How to spot a misleading graph," TED Jul 2017, 3:49
https://www.ted.com/talks/lea_gaslowitz_how_to_spot_a_misleading_graph
(4) Mark Liddell, "How statistics can be misleading," TED 2016, 4:04
https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_liddell_how_statistics_can_be_misleading
13 October 2020
Peter Donnelly, "How juries are fooled by statistics," TED 2006, 21:20
https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_donnelly_how_juries_are_fooled_by_statistics