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This is a very nice blog post. Quite instructive. Recently, several times I’ve run into people tell me that temps in the U.S. are rising and I’ve wondered why
by stukh 8y ago
This is a very nice blog post. Quite instructive. Recently, several times I’ve run into people tell me that temps in the U.S. are rising and I’ve wondered why they make such a claim. The blog sources the claim and overall the point I take from the blog post is that it’s easy to deceive people since people seek, by and large, confirmation of preconceived ideas rather than the truth.
- mikeash 8y agoI don’t think you actually understood it. Its point is that the temperature really is rising, and you have to resort to tricks to show that it’s not.
- stukh 8y agoI think my comment has been badly misinterpreted given the down voting. I’ve reread my post and I’m not sure why it has been so misinterpreted. Clearly I failed to convey my intent. Obviously the blog post is about how one can construct a misleading graph by cherry picking data. The blog shows how one can cleverly display data to reinforce a prior belief. In this case the prior belief is that temperature is not rising. Recently I’ve encountered a number of people making the claim that temps have been declining. I’ve wondered why this claim is being made and now I know the source. As shown in the blog post the source is a purposefully misleading graph. As stated by the author this misleading graph has recently been making the rounds on the internet.
- mikeash 8y agoI think you must have forgotten a “not” or otherwise made a typo that reversed the meaning of your comment. “Recently, several times I’ve run into people tell me that temps in the U.S. are rising and I’ve wondered why they make such a claim.” As written, your comment sounds like you don’t understand why someone would say temperatures are rising, and ascribe it to confirmation bias rather than climate change.