The world has lost a giant intellect with the death of Professor Hans Rosling, the statistician who breathed life into data and gave humanity an enormous gift. His entertaining and optimistic approach to data analysis is inspirational. His teaching methods will live on in every person who had the good fortune to hear him speak, […]
via Life and Death: The Next Big Thing — Honie Briggs
Statistics and math are not the same beast. Math is about precise relationships, stats is about patterns, and Professor Rosling was about helping people recognize the patterns created by statistics.
Human beings are very good at pattern recognition, but usually that skill is restricted to the small scale – my house, my world, my life. Statistics gives us a tool with which to recognize patterns on a large scale – our country, our planet, humankind. And you don’t have to be a maths wiz to do it. All you need is basic math and logic.
If I could change one thing about education right now, it would be to teach each child about statistics. Maybe then, we would not have a world in which every fact is open to ‘interpretation’.
But don’t watch Professor Rosling’s videos just for his brilliant, visual ways of displaying stats, watch them for the content. However dissatisfied we may be with our world in 2017, I was gobsmacked to learn that the Industrial Revolution – a period in Western history that saw terrible disruptions to the life of the common man – was also the start of an incredible climb up out of poverty. It gives me hope that the Era of Automation will actually lead to an even better standard of living for all of us, not just a few.
Meeka's Mind 
February 14th, 2017 at 7:55 pm
I bloody love stats, (and hate maths!). This is exactly the kind of idea that we need our trusted media to adopt to enable and empower the rest of us so we can understand trends, and data. One of the things I had to do in my previous life was stats; and train staff to understand why it was important and relevant to record things correctly – ticking a box never felt important to them. I wish I had had the skill and techy knowhow of Prof. Roslng (who I discovered only at his BBC Radio 4 obit). The best visual I managed was to describe the relevance of cumulative financial accuracy as a pint of beer – the good bit, the dodgy; tolerable part of the head and the wasted loss of the overspill; resulting in both reduced drinking pleasure, and increased wasted time clearing up. It usually grabbed their attention, but this would have been so much more effective!
Thanks – as always – for sharing such a fabulous post.
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February 14th, 2017 at 10:27 pm
lmao – oh I love that analogy of the beer! I’m so glad to hear that there’s someone else who likes stats but not math! And yes, everyone should have at least a working knowledge of stats. What’s that saying? Damned lies and statistics. We need to know when we’re being flim flammed.
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February 15th, 2017 at 11:54 pm
I used to do my staff’s appraisals in the pub too. (til HR kiboshed it) Can you spot a theme?!
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February 16th, 2017 at 9:07 am
-giggles- Oh…maybe just a wee one. 😀
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February 11th, 2017 at 11:35 am
What a fascinating man! (How come I only find out about these interesting people through their obituaries?) Your video sent me to a TED talk, much the same data, but more in-depth. In that he was able to draw out the differences between life expectancy and wealth within countries. Interestingly he was able to show the connection between increase in standard of living/life expectancy with the decrease of number of children women have and family planning programmes. He didn’t draw out (but I am sure he knew!) that smaller families also go hand in hand with the rise in the education of women. I do wonder if/how those stats have changed since the GFC and the crisis in Syria/Iraq/Turkey etc.
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February 11th, 2017 at 11:52 am
Yes, those correlations seem to be happening in China as well. I guess it’s the age old thing – you can’t have it all. Once women become educated/go to work outside the home, the ability to also have 6 kids diminishes rapidly. -grin- Not to mention the desire to do so. 🙂
And I agree, I hadn’t heard of him either until I read Honie’s post. Wish I had. 😦
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February 10th, 2017 at 7:37 pm
Thanks, Meeks – we need positivity now more than ever *hugs*
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February 11th, 2017 at 9:36 am
Yeah. Is it just me or is there a cloud of anger enveloping everyone at the moment? I’ve found myself being uncharacteristically angry lately. Most of my anger has been directed against our own politicians, but I’ve had heaps left over for you-know-who as well. I think I”m going to look for feel good posts for a while to redress the imbalance. Hate feeling angry all the time. 😦
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February 10th, 2017 at 5:33 pm
An inspiring and uplifting video – thanks for sharing that! I just read that he died of pancreatic cancer. What a terrible loss. Let’s hope we can improve the survival stats on that scourge soon!
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February 11th, 2017 at 9:37 am
Yes. Pancreatic cancer is so horrible and the incidence seems to be rising, or perhaps we just hear about it more now. 😦
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February 10th, 2017 at 2:33 pm
Now there’s a man I’d have liked as a teacher. He enjoys his subject and can make others do so.
He is a sad loss but what caught my attention I’m afraid is that he was born in 1948……..just 3 years before me!
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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February 10th, 2017 at 4:35 pm
And five years before me. 🙂 None of us have guarantees, do we? -massive hugs-
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February 10th, 2017 at 10:52 am
“Maybe then, we would not have a world in which every fact is open to ‘interpretation’.”–Hear hear.
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February 10th, 2017 at 12:38 pm
Thanks.
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February 10th, 2017 at 10:39 am
To see it this way makes it much more understandable and greatly more memorable. Thanks. Hugs
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February 10th, 2017 at 10:42 am
Very welcome, Scottie! -hugs back-
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February 10th, 2017 at 10:31 am
I do hope you’re right.
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February 10th, 2017 at 10:41 am
I admit, the last few weeks, I’ve felt some of the anger that seems to be everywhere these days, but those stats did act as a break on my pessimism. Fingers crossed. 🙂
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February 10th, 2017 at 10:25 am
I undersign this!
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February 10th, 2017 at 10:41 am
Thanks, Pinky. -hugs-
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