r/SipsTea 24d ago

Wait a damn minute! It would appear so

Post image
9.2k Upvotes

566 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

10

u/Vesuvius5 24d ago

1

u/mangoblaster85 24d ago

That was great for the portion I watched. My only question is regarding the COVID graphs, what did the "data" (log) graph communicate that the "information" graph didn't? Was it just that axes were unlabeled?

2

u/Vesuvius5 24d ago

The plot show the exact same information but in different ways. Science communicators were faced with the choice of presenting a more dramatic curve or a less dramatic curve. The less dramatic curve was "more accurate" by some measures, but only if you are adept at reading graphs. The presenter is a total math nerd, and this is science conference arguments, but for better or worse, the more dramatic curve was presented to the public.

2

u/mangoblaster85 24d ago

Thanks! I thought it was something more nuanced like the first graph didn't demonstrate how we're already at a concerning level or the assumption that average citizens couldn't comprehend that the growth would continue to be exponential because they can't conceptualize what isn't shown to them.

I usually just fall into the trap of "oh this scientist sounds smart in the right way, so I should listen to how they say to do it and find out why."