Re:The Big Alien Theory
by fergussimpson on Wednesday June 02, 2021 @07:50PM
(#27375442)
Ah I see, apologies, I understand your concern.
If we define 'big' and 'small' as being above or below the average (mean) value, then you're quite right that it breaks down for many cases, like the one you gave. But if we define 'big' and 'small' relative to the middle (median) value of the distribution, then it becomes a robust result. Hope that helps!
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Re:The Big Alien Theory
by user-the-name on Thursday June 03, 2021 @03:50AM
(#27378329)
But if you do that, it becomes a truism, and I do not think it actually gives you any useful information any longer.
Re:The Big Alien Theory
by fergussimpson on Thursday June 03, 2021 @06:07PM
(#27388035)
Just so we're clear, you no longer consider this to be a fallacy if by 'high' we use the median as a reference point?
"I am more likely to have been born in a high population country than a low population country"
And you don't think that's useful?