Manfred comments on (Subjective Bayesianism vs. Frequentism) VS. Formalism - Less Wrong
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Fine, let's make up a new frequentism, which is probably already in existence: finite frequentism. Bayes still models finite frequencies, like the example i gave of the chips.
When a normal frequentest would say "as the number of trials goes to infinity" the finite frequentest can say "on average" or "the expectation of". Rather than saying, as the number of die rolls goes to infinity the fraction of sixes is 1/6, we can just say that as the number rises it stabilizes around and gets closer to 1/6. That is a fact which is finitely verifiable. If we saw that the more die rolls we added to the average, the closer the fraction of sixes approached 1/2, and the closer it hovered around 1/2, the frequentest claim would be falsified.
There may be no infinite populations. But the frequentist can still make due with finite frequencies and expected frequencies, and i am not sure what he would loose. There are certainly finite frequencies in the world, and average frequencies are at least empirically testable. What can the frequentist do with infinite populations or trials, that he/she can't do with expected/average frequencies.
Also, are you a finitist when it comes to calculus? Because the differential calculus requires much more commitment to the idea of a limit, infinity, and the infinitesimal, than frequentists require, if frequentests require these concepts at all. Would you find a finitist interpretation of the calculus to be more philosophically sound than the classical approach?
potato,
I don't think there's much value in replying to Phlebas' latest reply.