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Reminder: the terms "statistics" and "statisticians" come from the common root word "statist". I am a trained, practicing statistician (clinical and medical, n

by apathy 10y ago

Reminder: the terms "statistics" and "statisticians" come from the common root word "statist". I am a trained, practicing statistician (clinical and medical, not governmental) and this always gives me pause. "Data science" is a shitty term, because science without data isn't science at all. Moreover, these days it's just long for "IT guy". But I'm not sure what's better as a term for the real thing, where experimental design and inference are as important as predictive accuracy in one specific context. Anyways. Statistics was always built around statism.

deleted 10y ago
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severine 10y ago
I'm not sure I get your point, care to elaborate?
- chris_wot 10y ago
  He's wrong, that's not correct. In fact it comes from "state", statism is a term referring to the actions of a highly centralised government who handle economic planning and controls. "Statism" is a term that has been around since the 1850s, but "statistics" is a term coined by Gottfried Aschenwall in the late 1770s.
  - apathy 10y ago
    Well, I didn't claim to be a trained historian, which is probably the correct training for this type of work. Based on your temporal evidence, I must concede the point. However, I did not actually pull this straight out of my ass: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/statist http://www.thefreedictionary.com/statist Thanks for the history lesson (seriously). I learned from it.
- openfuture 10y ago
  stat·ism ˈstādˌizəm/ noun noun: statism a political system in which the state has substantial centralized control over social and economic affairs. "the rise of authoritarian statism"
tstactplsignore 10y ago
This is kind of a nonsequitur. The etymology of a word does (obviously) not imply anything about the social impact that the use of statistics has and is just a clever anecdote. I haven't seen any marxist criticism of statistics itself, which is telling considering marxism is a ruthless critique of everything. Obviously a state or corporation can use any tool (science, technology, writing, math) for its own gain or detriment, and that fact speaks nothing to the general social utility of that tool- it also doesn't speak to whether or not specific uses of that tool by a state or corporation are legitimate or self-serving. Also, "Data Science" doesn't refer to Science with Data, but the study of data analysis itself, and for that purpose is a reasonable albeit often unnecessary term.
robrenaud 10y ago
Were Einstein's thought experments not science? There was no data.
- apathy 10y ago
  Usually that gets filed under theory or philosophy.

by apathy 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

severine 10y ago

I'm not sure I get your point, care to elaborate?

chris_wot 10y ago
He's wrong, that's not correct. In fact it comes from "state", statism is a term referring to the actions of a highly centralised government who handle economic planning and controls. "Statism" is a term that has been around since the 1850s, but "statistics" is a term coined by Gottfried Aschenwall in the late 1770s.
- apathy 10y ago
  Well, I didn't claim to be a trained historian, which is probably the correct training for this type of work. Based on your temporal evidence, I must concede the point. However, I did not actually pull this straight out of my ass: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/statist http://www.thefreedictionary.com/statist Thanks for the history lesson (seriously). I learned from it.
openfuture 10y ago
stat·ism ˈstādˌizəm/ noun noun: statism a political system in which the state has substantial centralized control over social and economic affairs. "the rise of authoritarian statism"

tstactplsignore 10y ago

This is kind of a nonsequitur. The etymology of a word does (obviously) not imply anything about the social impact that the use of statistics has and is just a clever anecdote. I haven't seen any marxist criticism of statistics itself, which is telling considering marxism is a ruthless critique of everything. Obviously a state or corporation can use any tool (science, technology, writing, math) for its own gain or detriment, and that fact speaks nothing to the general social utility of that tool- it also doesn't speak to whether or not specific uses of that tool by a state or corporation are legitimate or self-serving. Also, "Data Science" doesn't refer to Science with Data, but the study of data analysis itself, and for that purpose is a reasonable albeit often unnecessary term.

robrenaud 10y ago

Were Einstein's thought experments not science? There was no data.

apathy 10y ago
Usually that gets filed under theory or philosophy.