It's everywhere now. The interpretation of public reaction. It's the way you win arguments. The way you make points. Because our culture grants so much authority to statistics in social debates, the bad ones have great potential to mislead, he said.
People use statistics in the way priests use mysterious language.
The language of science invokes higher authority. We speak Latin. You believe us. What's more, only a handful of scientists are fully trained in complex statistical methodology, he said. It's like flying when it's really foggy and you tend to rely on instruments rather than looking out the window.