Total nonsense! Skepticism in the world of big data

The book on how to recognize lies, misinformation, fake news and do not fall on the bait of beautiful graphs, convincing statistics and science -like terms.

Unlike direct lies, nonsense sounds very believable. This is information about which it is impossible to unambiguously say that it is false, but it definitely represents reality in a distorted form. Nonsense can be malicious (for example, fake-nuis), but often simply becomes the result of errors or inattention. Unfortunately, in the era of social networks, nonsense has the ability to quickly spread, which can lead to the most unpredictable consequences. Nonsense uses the language of science and statistics, creating the impression of complexity and at the same time accuracy. Scientificity weakens our attentiveness, and very few are ready to really understand what is reflected in a complex diagram or graphics on a respected site.

From this book you will learn:

- how misinformation, inaccurate information and fake news on social networks are spreading, why people believe them and what three basic approaches to protection from inaccurate information online, online

-how to critically evaluate causal relationships, identify false correlations and notice nonsense in which one concept is replaced by another,

-is it always worth believing numbers and why you need to beware of the zombie statistical (numbers that stubbornly quote outside the context are hopelessly outdated or were originally invented, but they are quoted so often that they do not rest with the world),

- as a sample error can become the main source of confusion and misunderstanding in the analysis of information.

Having read this book, you will understand that it is not necessary to be an expert in statistics, economy metrics, you do not need to be able to analyze the data and do not spend a lot of efforts and burst deep into sources in order to bring the deceiver to clean water - sometimes there is enough critical thinking And ordinary logic.

For whom this book
For those who want to protect themselves from inaccurate information and substitution of concepts.

For everyone who would like to develop critical thinking, learn to see the truth and distinguish it from lies.

from the authors
Our world swept the nonsense*, and we are in the wrong place? We drown.

Most people? It is believed that they recognize it quite well. Get free?, Are they right when it comes to Krasnobai? Brekhne, that is, about what we would call old -fashioned? nonsense. However, to shake the positions of the new -fashioned? It turns out to be especially difficult, because few of us consider ourselves an expert so much as to challenge the information given in the form of numbers and graphs. This is what the Brekhuns of Novoi relies on? Waves. To fight back them, you need to understand how and when to question their statements.

New forms of information technology? Changed communication methods both in science and in society. With the expansion of access to technology, the flow of information increased. We hope that this book will help you to survive before the onslaught of a nonsense and learn how to separate the facts from fiction.

*In the original Bullshit, in the book it will be translated just like that