MichaelBishop comments on Rationality Quotes - June 2009 - Less Wrong

8 Post author: pjeby 14 June 2009 10:00PM

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Comment author: MichaelBishop 17 June 2009 08:28:21PM 2 points [-]

A good mechanic will often use the following reason: 90% of cars with symptom x problem Y, so that is what I will check first.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 18 June 2009 09:00:44AM *  1 point [-]

A good mechanic will often use the following reason: 90% of cars with symptom x problem Y, so that is what I will check first.

Then, he will discover whether Y is actually the problem (ETA: for this particular car), and if not, discard that hypothesis and look for something else. This essential step is missing from all papers in psychology reporting statistical results. The fault is even worse when those results are reported in terms such as (to take a recent example) "willpower is a scarce resource".