You can build a statistical model and that's all well and good, but if you're dealing with a new type of financial instrument, for example, or a new type of situation - then the choices you're making are pretty arbitrary in a lot of respects. Nate Silver arbitrarybuildchoice share on social
The Protestant Reformation had a lot to do with the printing press, where Martin Luther's theses were reproduced about 250,000 times, and so you had widespread dissemination of ideas that hadn't circulated in the mainstream before. Nate Silver 000circulatedissemination share on social
A lot of journalism wants to have what they call objectivity without them having a commitment to pursuing the truth, but that doesn't work. Objectivity requires belief in and a commitment toward pursuing the truth - having an object outside of our personal point of view. Nate Silver beliefcallcommitment share on social
If I had a spreadsheet on my computer, it looked like I was busy. Nate Silver busycomputerlook Change image and share on social
Every day, three times per second, we produce the equivalent of the amount of data that the Library of Congress has in its entire print collection, right? But most of it is like cat videos on YouTube or 13-year-olds exchanging text messages about the next Twilight movie. Nate Silver amountcatcollection share on social
Whenever you have dynamic interactions between 300 million people and the American economy acting in really complex ways, that introduces a degree of almost chaos theory to the system, in a literal sense. Nate Silver actamericanchaos share on social
Distinguishing the signal from the noise requires both scientific knowledge and self-knowledge. Nate Silver distinguishknowledgenoise Change image and share on social
A lot of things can't be modeled very well. Nate Silver lotmodelething Change image and share on social
I actually buy the paper version of The New York Times maybe once or twice a week. Nate Silver buypapertime Change image and share on social
Midterm elections can be dreadfully boring, unfortunately. Nate Silver boredreadfullyelection Change image and share on social