Juking the Stats
Why Hacker News recommends it
Used as a go-to illustration of Goodhart's law and statistical manipulation in institutions.
What it is
A short clip from The Wire in which police officers manipulate crime statistics to make the numbers look better. It dramatizes how metrics get gamed.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2018 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Cites oldgradstudent · 2018-05 · on “Uber vehicle reportedly saw but ignored woman it struck”
The problem is that a lot of accidents are not reported and even injury severity can be very subjective (especially if there's an interest to do so[1]). I prefer counting fatalities because it's a hard endpoint - bodies are hard to hide. [1] [this video]
Cites max76 · 2019-05 · on “SAT to Add ‘Adversity Score’ That Rates Students’ Hardships”
This was a huge theme throughout the television series The Wire. Here is a clip that specifically shows Goodhart's law working in education. [this video]
Cites CPLX · 2022-02 · on “Biologist decided to disavow his own study”
At this point we are all just living in The Wire all the time. So many of our institutions have been corrupted from the inside by the more ruthless nature of careerism that’s taken over the modern world. Bond rating agencies endorse junk debt, doctors say opiates aren’t addictive any more, epidemiologists say the politics of your protest determine if it’s safe during a pandemic, elite educational institutions tell you going into crippling debt will be good for you. Literally every institution, including ones supposed to serve the public, is rotting from the inside out from people bullshitting to keep their job or get promoted. [this video]