EXPLAINING “THE END OF THE REIGN OF STATISTICS”. I think that what Michael Malone means by “the end of the reign of statistics” is more easily understood as “the end of the reign of making statistical inferences about populations by means of small samples”. Malone says: “For 400 years, we’ve been forced to sample complex systems and extrapolate. Now, with big data, it is possible to measure everything….”
The day of big data in the medical field can’t happen too soon. I have posted several times to that effect. For example, I posted here that: “…there should be comprehensive collection of data on treatment for every tumor in the national tumor registry, including all off-label uses of drugs in cancer treatments. I suspect that one reason that clinical studies have a short half life is because of necessity they deal with small samples. We now have the computing power to collect massive amounts of data. I believe that if you have a serious illness, your treatment should become a data point in evaluating treatments.”