{"id":29471,"date":"2022-11-10T10:33:51","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T18:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29471"},"modified":"2022-11-10T10:33:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T18:33:51","slug":"how-can-we-know-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/how-can-we-know-anything\/","title":{"rendered":"How can we know anything?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe more you see, the less you know. The less you find out as you go. I knew much more then, than I do now.\u201d These opening lyrics to U2\u2019s <\/span>City of Blinding Lights<\/span><\/i> constantly ran through my mind as I read Tom and David Chivers\u2019 <\/span>How to Read Numbers<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>[1]<\/span> Countless articles, statistics, and \u201cfacts\u201d based on numbers have entered my brain throughout my life. In reading this book, my eyes were opened to how numbers can be manipulated in order to communicate an idea, regardless of whether the idea is based on facts or not. How many articles have I believed that were released into the world by a researcher whose aim was more to get published than to execute thorough research communicated in an accurate way? Unfortunately, the platform of the media has incentivized scientists to make their research \u201cclick-worthy\u201d in order to attract attention.<\/span>[2]<\/span> How many clicks one gets is the marker of success, not fidelity to honest research.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this post, I will highlight an article that communicated information to the audience that may not be worth following. After that, I will close with a question and an invitation in how to think and lead well in a world where it seems \u201cthe more you see, the less you know.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Surprising Secret to Longevity<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

What does it take to live to be 101 years old? Well, according to a Fox News article that interviewed a woman named Mary Flip, the secret is \u201ctequila.\u201d<\/span>[3]<\/span> Well, I can do that! Forget regular exercise and a plant-based diet! This is the secret.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it is not that easy, or fun. A deceptively written title may be effective in attracting attention (it certainly got mine!). But it is no more helpful of a source in guiding its audience towards becoming centenarians any more than business advice from Kim Kardashian can guarantee entrepreneurial success in a lean start-up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the many ways this article goes wrong is <\/span>survivorship bias<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>[4]<\/span> This article would be far more credible if it took into account many people who drank tequila and observed how many of them lived to be over 100. But it does not. In order to attract an audience, a woman who is 101 years old happens to attribute her long life to tequila is highlighted as evidence of tequila as the secret of longevity. Could tequila be a factor in living a long life? Though doubtful, I will give this statistic that you can trust: when David drinks tequila, there is a 100% chance of a good time happening. So, let\u2019s raise a glass of tequila, not for the sake of longevity, but in celebration of the gift of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Question<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

While reading <\/span>How to Read Numbers<\/span><\/i> I wrote down this question: How can we know anything? This book disturbed me. I discovered that I am too trusting of data I come across. Now, the trick is to not disbelieve everything I read. Though there is much information out there to disregard, there is also a great deal of useful information that helps us live wisely in the world. Maybe I know less than I think. Fortunately, through reading <\/span>How to Read Numbers<\/span><\/i>, I have collected more critical thinking tools to aid me in filtering what is to pay attention to and what is baseless, attention-grabbing clickbait.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An Invitation<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

What does this mean for us as leaders in an information-saturated, ever-changing world? How do we lead with wisdom when there is an abundance of skewed numbers communicating misinformation right in our pockets?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The teacher in the Old Testament wisdom book, Ecclesiastes, has a regular refrain \u201cThere is nothing new under the sun.\u201d My contention is this: as leaders in a world that rapidly discharges both credible and false information, we need a humble, critically-thinking posture that is not swayed by novel clickbait.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/span> Tom Chivers and David Chivers, <\/span>How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News<\/span><\/i> (W&N, 2022).<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/span> Ibid. 110.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/span> Sarah Rumpf, \u201cWoman Celebrating 101st Birthday Says Tequila Is the Secret to a Happy Life,\u201d Text.Article, Fox News (Fox News, November 9, 2022), https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/lifestyle\/woman-celebrating-birthday-tequila-secret-happy-life.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/span> Chivers and Chivers, <\/span>How to Read Numbers,<\/span><\/i> 142-147.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe more you see, the less you know. The less you find out as you go. I knew much more then, than I do now.\u201d These opening lyrics to U2\u2019s City of Blinding Lights constantly ran through my mind as I read Tom and David Chivers\u2019 How to Read Numbers.[1] Countless articles, statistics, and \u201cfacts\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2076,2440,2077,2441,180],"class_list":["post-29471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chivers","tag-fox-news","tag-how-to-read-numbers","tag-tequila","tag-u2","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29472,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29471\/revisions\/29472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}