"What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" (2014) by Randall Munroe

[DonRocks]

On 12/7/2019 at 5:19 PM, Pat said:

Read this if you dare: How Is WAR Calculated, Really? Breaking Down A Single Play To Find Out.

Quite an impressive work of research and analysis. The differences between the main entities that calculate their stats from the same data is pretty fascinating.

Okay, I've read this interesting article. I'm also reading a book, "What If?" by Randall Munroe, subtitled "Serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions."

Comparing the human brain to a computer, Munroe says: "Humans, for example, are probably still far better at looking at a picture of a scene and guessing what just happened."

Any parent could look at this picture for five seconds, and figure out what most likely happened, whereas a computer, even the computers of tomorrow, might take a million-billion-trillion calculations to reach the same conclusion (granted, that might take less than five seconds, but you get what I mean):

It will be a century after my death when computers finally figure out that Brooks Robinson was the greatest defensive baseball player that ever lived, but I already know, just as surely as I know the sun will rise in the morning.

[DonRocks]

In the book "What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd, Hypothetical Questions," page 114 addresses a very topical problem:

"If Everyone on the Planet Stayed away from Each Other for a Couple Weeks, Wouldn't the Common Cold Be Wiped Out?" 

A highly recommended, five-page chapter that can easily be read in ten minutes, and will (kind of) remind you of what we're all going through.