Why do we believe lies just because there’s a graph attached? How can we develop a sixth sense to detect statistical disinformation? Data scientist and University of Washington professor Jevin D West, co-author of Calling Bullsh*t: The Art Of Scepticism In A Data Driven World, talks to Ros Taylor about the warping of COVID statistics by selection bias… how our brains are built to fall victim to false correlation… Sigmund Freud on cocaine… and why sharing information as soon as you see it is like picking a sweet up of the street and eating it.

“It’s almost as if data falls from the skies and lands on our desk, and we can’t question it. But we can.”
“If there’s a rule, it’s share less, think more.”
“If I wanted to gauge the average height of the population I wouldn’t go to an NBA game. That’s selection bias.”

Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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War On The Bullsh*t: How to spot when DATA is lying to you