1335
Comments (62)
sorted by:
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
50
JMaN 50 points ago +50 / -0

It's settled science, you bigot!

No, just kidding... I am furious at these people. There needs to be consequences for actions like this.

36
keepwinning 36 points ago +36 / -0

Ferguson said 'my bad' when revising the model down 2200% 2 months ago. Too bad we're all being held at gun point to 'follow the science' from then and not the science from today.

30
JMaN 30 points ago +30 / -0

I'm starting to think there is some kind of agenda.

14
deleted 14 points ago +14 / -0
21
npbreakthr0ugh 21 points ago +21 / -0

Can anybody tell me now, the difference between the white robed scientists that pull "scientific conclusions" out of thin air to move masses into compliance, and the black robed priests who used "gods words" out of thin translations to move the masses into compliance?

Dont they both just play the same game?

Control source of info and control translation of sources info.....

-4
deleted -4 points ago +4 / -8
3
thingaboutarsenal 3 points ago +4 / -1

Be careful with that edge. Whew lad.

23
muslimporn 23 points ago +24 / -1

You can use non-deterministic simulations to make scientifically assisted predictions and the modelling would be valid at least in principle. Doing things right doesn't guarantee a correct result however.

In this case though they are describing dramatic differences in outcomes which is problematic.

It's not that it's technically non-deterministic but that it is greatly so.

My guess is they will say he ran it a thousand times and took the average from the results. Sometimes that's valid but more often people just do it with the assumption it fixes the problem. A rookie mistake. They assume consensus will find the right answer as is by magic.

22
B3fre 22 points ago +24 / -2

Correct.

Non-determinism in algorithms is okay; machine learning and Monte Carlo simulations do it all the time.

Forming conclusions and acting upon unstable (and buggy) non-determinism is not okay, and that's what happened here.

15
deleted 15 points ago +15 / -0
1
almond_activator 1 point ago +2 / -1

These programs don't even replicate results when run from the same starting point.

This is not because of incompetence; it is by design. In fact, if they did not explicitly introduce chaos (in the form of one or more randomly-generated variables), they would produce the same result from the same seed each time, and that would defeat the purpose.

7
HowardRoark 7 points ago +7 / -0

Yup, my experience with Monte Carlo simulations is in finance, specifically the Trinity Study. As I understand it, with these kinds of simulations, they say that xx% of the time it will yield a certain threshold result. For example, in the Trinity Study, it's safe to withdraw 4% of one's portfolio every year and there is a 95% chance the portfolio will survive one's entire retirement.

In the case of the IMHE model, it was framed as 100% chance and without any thresholds. That doesn't sound right to me.

5
JMaN 5 points ago +5 / -0

You are assuming altruistic motivations.

5
mintyfresh 5 points ago +5 / -0

Do you think this code would have been any better if Ferguson weren't thinking with his dick while writing it? I have my doubts.