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@@ -62,6 +62,83 @@ are _deleterious_ to their intended purpose,
in contradiction to the common refrain
that they are "better than nothing".
### Qualitative Labels are Problematic
> [!example] p. 170 (pp.)
> Experts do not agree on the bounds of terms expressing probability
> (e.g. "Likely" vs. "Very Likely").
> [!example] p. 182 (pp.)
> risk matrix type bucketing
> tends to inflate the significance of small risks.
### Expert Opinion Must Be ~~Adjusted~~
Expert opinion is valuable, but its weaknesses must be compensated for.
%% TODO: %%
Experts tend to be good at creating heuristics,
but do not apply them consistently in practice.
> [!example]
> Chapter 7 describes a study where individual experts
> were shown to estimate risk differently for identical cases.
> [!example] p. 198
> Models based on expert opinion consistently outperform the same experts.
#### Estimator Calibration
The book details the statistically observable tendency for people
to underestimate risk and to be overconfident in their beliefs.
It describes the process of "calibration"
by which people can be trained to compensate for this bias
and make predictions far more accurately.
See [[estimator-calibration]] for more.
Chapter 13 introduces the [Brier Score](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brier_score)
as a method of evaluating the performance of an estimator,
equal to the mean squared error of their forecasts.
### Luck Looks Like Skill
> [!cite] Chapter 7 p.154 (pp.)
> Hubbard describes a study which concluded that,
> given the number of German pilots and their overall victory/defeat figures,
> there was a ~30% chance an individual would achieve The Red Baron's record
> _by luck alone_.
He later refers to the popular tendency
to overvalue competence and undervalue luck
in the role of achieving improbable accomplishments
as the "Red Baron effect".
This the unstated other half of the **law of large numbers**:
improbable events become likely with increased sampling.
> How many success stories
> are simply cases of winning a coin flipping tournament?
### There's Always Enough Data
> [!quote] Voltaire
> Perfect is the enemy of good.
> [!quote] Jon Von Neumann
> The truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.
Hubbard challenges the popular rebuttal
that any industry is so niche that
data sufficient for quantitative models
does not exist.
> [!quote] Fallacy of Close Analogy (p.236)
> ...the belief that unless two things are identical in every way,
> nothing learned from one can be applied to the other.
### Utility as a Measure of Value
Expected Value (Probability × Magnitude)
@@ -116,82 +193,6 @@ $$
where $Pr$ is the probability of Payoff.
### Expert Opinion Must Be ~~Adjusted~~
Expert opinion is valuable, but its weaknesses must be compensated for.
%% TODO: %%
Experts tend to be good at creating heuristics,
but do not apply them consistently in practice.
> [!example]
> Chapter 7 describes a study where individual experts
> were shown to estimate risk differently for identical cases.
> [!example] p. 198
> Models based on expert opinion consistently outperform the same experts.
#### Estimator Calibration
The book details the statistically observable tendency for people
to underestimate risk and to be overconfident in their beliefs.
It describes the process of "calibration"
by which people can be trained to compensate for this bias
and make predictions far more accurately.
See [[estimator-calibration]] for more.
Chapter 13 introduces the [Brier Score](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brier_score)
as a method of evaluating the performance of an estimator,
equal to the mean squared error of their forecasts.
### Luck Looks Like Skill
> [!cite] Chapter 7 p.154 (pp.)
> Hubbard describes a study which concluded that,
> given the number of German pilots and their overall victory/defeat figures,
> there was a ~30% chance an individual would achieve The Red Baron's record
> _by luck alone_.
He later refers to the popular tendency
to overvalue competence and undervalue luck
in the role of achieving improbable accomplishments
as the "Red Baron effect".
This the unstated other half of the **law of large numbers**:
improbable events become likely with increased sampling.
> How many success stories
> are simply cases of winning a coin flipping tournament?
### Qualitative Labels are Problematic
> [!example] p. 170 (pp.)
> Experts do not agree on the bounds of terms expressing probability
> (e.g. "Likely" vs. "Very Likely").
> [!example] p. 182 (pp.)
> risk matrix type bucketing
> tends to inflate the significance of small risks.
### There's Always Enough Data
> [!quote] Voltaire
> Perfect is the enemy of good.
> [!quote] Jon Von Neumann
> The truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.
Hubbard challenges the popular rebuttal
that any industry is so niche that
data sufficient for quantitative models
does not exist.
> [!quote] Fallacy of Close Analogy (p.236)
> ...the belief that unless two things are identical in every way,
> nothing learned from one can be applied to the other.
### Value of Information
* Expected Value of Information (EVI)
@@ -211,7 +212,7 @@ EOL translates well to continuous probabilities.
> (collapsing distributions to a single point for "accounting purposes")
> leading to the widespread underestimating of Earth's oil reserves.
The case closely mirrors construction estimating.
The case closely mirrors [[construction-estimating]].
## Critiques
@@ -265,7 +266,26 @@ throughout the book and just pages earlier.
Hubbard makes a strong case against qualitative risk management,
but I found his attempts to introduce alternatives wanting.
## _Loss Models_
## In the Context of Other Works
### _Fooled by Randomness_
[[hubbard_2020_failure]] is in many ways a response
to [[taleb_2001_fooled-by-randomness]].
I'm willing to give [[#_Exsupero Ursus_]] much more slack
after reading Taleb's introduction.
See [[fooled-by-randomness#Qualitative Probability]].
Unfortunately for Hubbard, FbR is about why math is dumb,
and so will always be more popular than tFoRM,
which is about why math is good, actually.
In retrospect it's interesting that the one point the books share
is that [[#Luck Looks Like Skill]],
which is Taleb's basis for why quantitative methods are flawed.
### _Loss Models_
[[hubbard_2020_failure]] is obviously inspired in some part
by [[klugman-et-al_2019_loss-models]] and its prior editions,