In this week's links we learn how to give honest feedback, train our brains into shape, understand the birth of a word, engage with statistical software, and learn to pick ourselves. Enjoy!
Correlation is a funny thing. A lot of things can be viewed as a correlation, essentially saying whenever X happens so does Y. The interesting thing is how often such correlations can be taken for granted as causality, where one assumes that X causes Y or vice versa. Its a major step moving from correlation to causality, but the difference is often overlooked and correlations are often misinterpreted as causality. Look at this graph below showing an example of how ridiculous such statistical analysis can be. Now in this case we see a “correlation” between Highway Fatality Rate and Fresh Lemon Imports. This is questionable even as a correlation because its difficult to find a real relationship between the two trends, even though the data matches up so well, its most likely coincidence. The more important problem is when this correlation is taken as a causality, assuming that one affects the other. Sure this example is a bit extreme, but someone could suggest that we keep importing more and more lemons to keep the fatality rate down. The important thing here, is to think more critically about the statistics we see in the world. As we’ve heard before, you can make the stats support whatever argument you are trying to make. With this in mind, it is important to question the validity of the statistics and be sure to look
In this week's top links we have an interview with author Tim Feriss, a World Clock tracking stats of 2011, the best business models of 2010, a game focused on typing skills, and an article from Seth Godin on your true friends. Enjoy!
A TED Talk by Hans Rosling at TEDIndia 2009 was focused on Asia’s Rise and more specifically how and when it would happen. As we can see, the balance of power is shifting from the West to the East, the world is getting smaller, and we are seeing globalization in our everyday lives. Check out the video below. Hans Rosling is definitely one of my favorite speakers, as he uses his statistics not only to justify what he is saying, but also create a story around them, which is both powerful and revealing of the truth. I think the key ingredient in all of this is the story factor, which is what makes any interaction come to life. It seems that this idea has been covered many a times as of late, but we all need to learn how to develop this skill, as it is applicable in every manner of life. Check out some other Hans Rosling talks here
An infographic from Degree Scout explores illiteracy worldwide, as well as going into an in depth look at the U.S. The results are quite startling, with poor performance by the U.S. in a number of different areas, which begs the question of how can we aid in resolving illiteracy worldwide when we are still dealing with it ourselves
Exploring. Learning. Sharing. This is essentially what I'm all about and what most of my website is focused around. Be sure to check out my blog, portfolio, and especially my curation efforts to learn more about me and what I do.
