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Re: Kevin's posts



In article <403nhu$hl2@news-e1a.megaweb.com>,
KENNY MORSE <kennystar@megaweb.com> wrote:
>As for the second study you posted, this dude took 200 samples????
>That's NOT a study. That is slice of something, but nothing I recognize.
>Anyway, YOU tell ME....when the speed limit goes up to 50 from 35,
>YOU believe that people won't exceed it??  REALLY???
>If ONLY that were true, I could devote my full time to my job at CBS,
>and not spend 8 hours a week with these people.
>
>Kev...as I said, I appreciate your time and effort, but in my classes,
>I do NOT use studies....percentages etc. to explain MY position 
>because most people realize that few studies reflect any general reality,
>and usually a skewed or biased reality from the get go.  Only when the
>study agrees with one's position is it accepted, isn't it?  If the study
>showed what I say is really happening,  YOU'D be saying it's flawed
>or skewed.

You continue to astound me with your audacity, Mr. Traffic. Judging from
these paragraphs, your entire criticism against this study is (A) He
only took 200 samples. How many samples would YOU recommend? 2000?
2,000,000? (B) It goes against intuition, i.e. what YOU believe, and
therefore CANNOT reflect reality, because You Said So.

Tell me this, Kenny. Would you believe ANY scientific study that
contradicted you?

Also, let me construct a situation here. Let's say that you assert that
the majority of drivers on a particular stretch of highway with a 40
mph speed limit are driving at 47 mph, something you believe from
a combination of your own experience, talking with others who drive
that stretch of road, and a comparison of the speeding tickets of those
who've received them on this stretch. Now say that you received a 
$200,000 grant from a private donor to sit in the bushes for a year
with a radar gun measuring everybody's speed. The majority of drivers
are measured as driving 42 mph. What is your reaction to this? Pick one.

A. Hmm. All that talk about everybody driving 47 mph here, and it
turns out that people are really driving 42 mph after all.

B. There must have been something wrong with the way I was taking the
measurements. No way could people have been only driving 42 mph!

C. Studies? I don't need studies....percentages etc. to explain MY
position, because most people realize that few studies reflect any kind
of general reality, and usually a skewed or biased reality from the get go.
Only when the study agrees with my position will I accept it.

Also, do you have any faith at all in science or the scientific method?
Have you ever taken any science classes? Are all scientists full of
it, or only ones that do traffic studies?

-- 
Adam Villani
addam@cco.caltech.edu
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~addam
"I was in this prematurely air-conditioned supermarket..."


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