We want to get 80%-85% of predictions right, not 100%. Or else we calibrated our estimates in the wrong way.
Nate SilverRead
A lot of news is just entertainment masquerading as news.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques how news can often prioritize entertainment over factual reporting.
Nate Silver suggests that much of what is presented as news is actually designed to entertain rather than inform. This statement highlights the blurring of lines between genuine journalism and sensationalized content, indicating that audiences may be consuming information with an entertainment mindset rather than seeking truth or depth.
Themes
NewsEntertainmentMediaJournalismTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about media responsibility, this quote could be used to underline how some platforms prioritize ratings over reliability.
More from Nate Silver
All quotes βWe're not that much smarter than we used to be, even though we have much more information - and that means the real skill now is learning how to pick out the useful information from all this noise.
Nate SilverRead
Racism is predictable. It's predicted by interaction or lack thereof with people unlike you, people of other races.
Nate SilverRead
One of the pervasive risks that we face in the information age, as I wrote in the introduction, is that even if the amount of knowledge in the world is increasing, the gap between what we know and what we think we know may be widening.
Nate SilverRead
A lot of journalism wants to have what they call objectivity without them having a commitment to pursuing the truth, but that doesn't work. Objectivity requires belief in and a commitment toward pursuing the truth - having an object outside of our personal point of view.
Nate SilverRead
The quest for certainty in forecasting outcomes can be the enemy of progress.
Nate SilverRead
Similar quotes
A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.
C. S. LewisRead
Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human Nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?
George WashingtonRead
How loved, how honored once, avails thee not, To whom related, or by whom begot A heap of dust alone remains of thee 'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be!
Alexander PopeRead
The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one's self.
Baruch SpinozaRead
The bond between a man and his profession is similar to that which ties him to his country; it is just as complex, often ambivalent, and in general it is understood completely only when it is broken: by exile or emigration in the case of one's country, by retirement in the case of a trade or profession.
Primo LeviRead
We do not have to die to enter the kingdom of Heaven, In fact we have to be fully alive. When we are truly alive we see that the tree is part of Heaven and we are also part of Heaven. The whole universe is conspiring to reveal this to us. Peace is available and when we touch it everything becomes real. We become ourselves, fully alive in the present moment.
Nhat HanhRead