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It wouldn't be the first time Atwood made a generalization based on one data point.
by pchristensen 18y ago
It wouldn't be the first time Atwood made a generalization based on one data point.
- xlnt 18y agoHow is it possible to "generalize" from one data point? The normal method of generalizing is finding a similarity shared across many data points, and proposing it applies more widely. Perhaps one could generalize badly with 2 data points, but isn't it just impossible with 1, and therefore he must actually be doing something else?
- pchristensen 18y agoThat logical impossibility is exactly what I meant when I made the comment. If generalization doesn't work for you, how about this: "This wouldn't be the first time that Atwood came up with a theory that only had to fit one data point." He could just as easily have said that all open source developers are Italian or that Italians can't spend money, and he would have been just as wrong.
- xlnt 18y agook i agree
- michaelneale 18y agoI used to work with Chemical engineers (I was an elec eng) - they had a saying: "one point is a line, two points is a trend" when trying to analyse production data (always only half joking).