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I could see myself being like your PM in some situations, depending on the nature of the data and how it was being used. To give an analogy that might perhaps h
by dataflow 4y ago
I could see myself being like your PM in some situations, depending on the nature of the data and how it was being used. To give an analogy that might perhaps help with understanding the sentiment, imagine how your fellow citizens would feel if the government used some {hot approximation algorithm} for counting votes in the next election, rather than a straightforward count.
- kqr 4y agoVote counts are already approximate. That's why close results are re-counted using slower methods. (Additionally, I would argue more generally that vote counts should be approximate. If a vote is close to tied then we run the largest risk of making an incorrect decision. Better to continue debate and/or refine the proposal until it has wider acceptance. This does not work for selecting government with term limits obviously.)
- dataflow 4y agoThat's an incredibly misleading way to phrase it. The counting algorithm is exact. Errors creep in during execution, resulting in an approximate result. An approximation algorithm is a whole different beast, and that's the point of the discussion here.
- kqr 4y agoDoes really how the error comes into life matter more than the magnitude of the error?
- dataflow 4y agoIt's pretty easy to find out - go pitch some approximate vote counting algorithm (say, 50% random subsampling to get 2x speed? or whatever) to random people on the street, and ask them if they would care if the government decided the president that way.
- naijaboiler 4y agovote counts are approximate. we just make it seem like they are exact!