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that's not how it works though... you can't argue against numbers, you can absolutely argue against arbitrary numbers (like in this example the premise is tha
by africanboy 6y ago
that's not how it works though...
you can't argue against numbers, you can absolutely argue against arbitrary numbers (like in this example the premise is that the app produces reliable results, which it does not and anyway it should be proved with good, hard to dispute, numbers)
- Barrin92 6y agoOP's point is that all numbers are arbitrary (to varying degrees). The act of quantifying always imposes some sort of framework on what you're trying to look at, and we live in an age of pretty vulgar scientism where this is associated with 'objectivity'. From 'personality scores' for applicants, to social credit scores, and in this case the quality of writing in a newspaper.
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 6y agoRight. The number 3 is inarguable. That 4+2=6 is inarguable. The applicability of a give statistic to a given situation or argument is a much more difficult proposition, but people too frequently treat a statistic as relevant just because it's easy to compute. After all mercury is in retrograde, and that's a scientific fact.
- africanboy 6y agoand they are all non arbitrary (to varying degrees), but arguably some are objectively more arbitrary than others.