"The Drunkard's Walk" by Leonard Mlodinow
Jan. 31st, 2009 12:12 pm"The Drunkard's Walk; or how randomness rules our lives" is an interesting non-fiction book that I haven't quite finished, though I started it before Christmas. It investigates how most of our guesses about how random things work are wrong wrong, damnably wrong. It is interesting because it explores the problems of randomness by taking us through how to think about the problem, and it uses the accounts of the historical figures who have done so on paper (and so have left a record of their thought on the issue), to take us step by step through the ever-increasingly sophisticated ways of thinking about randomness.
I have run aground at about the point where Mlodinow has demonstrated that, because the numbers of ballots are so high in most elections, and because human error being what it is, a recount isn't likely to be any more accurate than the first count - nor are any further recounts. I am made anxious by the idea that my utopic vision of society (where everybody gets an equal say) is underpinned by methods where the "true" count can never really be known. It bothers me.
There's also the glee of a mathematician explaining simple-to-the-mathematician things to the great unwashed. I suspect the author never really thought of his audience specifically as dolts, but the feeling I get is that because I don't deal well with math (I transpose numbers at random, but frequently), I am probably being bilked and bamboozled every minute of every day - maybe even including when I'm asleep.
I have run aground at about the point where Mlodinow has demonstrated that, because the numbers of ballots are so high in most elections, and because human error being what it is, a recount isn't likely to be any more accurate than the first count - nor are any further recounts. I am made anxious by the idea that my utopic vision of society (where everybody gets an equal say) is underpinned by methods where the "true" count can never really be known. It bothers me.
There's also the glee of a mathematician explaining simple-to-the-mathematician things to the great unwashed. I suspect the author never really thought of his audience specifically as dolts, but the feeling I get is that because I don't deal well with math (I transpose numbers at random, but frequently), I am probably being bilked and bamboozled every minute of every day - maybe even including when I'm asleep.