#BAHfest 2014 was excellent and you should watch the video

[usernamenumber]

Yesterday I went with JennyG to the "Bad Ad Hoc Hypothesis Festival" (aka #BAHfest), an event at MIT where six presenters are tasked with using bad science to make convincing cases for absurd hypotheses, and then defend them against a panel of judges. It was fantastic.

I was concerned that as a non-scientist I wouldn't get a lot of the humor, but aside from a couple of things that Jenny assures me were hi-larious jokes about statistical variables, I seriously do not remember the last time I laughed so hard or so much at an event. I really hope I can go again next year!

In addition to being funny, it was also informative, again at least for someone like me without a hard science background. Having seen the way dodgy statistical correlations and the like can be used to a ridiculous extreme there, I think/hope I'll be more likely to notice when it's done in less egregious ways elsewhere.

The full video is online (there's a big chunk of nothing at the beginning, so follow the in-video link at the beginning to jump to the actual start if the link below doesn't go there directly). It's long, but well worth watching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mq7UKQ3Jm4#t=1532

Comments

[londo.livejournal.com]

I think t=2100 might be a better link. The wadsworth constant also proves useful.

[londo.livejournal.com]

Also, as with all recordings, you can hear Jenny in the audience.

[sovay]

Yesterday I went with JennyG to the "Bad Ad Hoc Hypothesis Festival" (aka #BAHfest), an event at MIT where six presenters are tasked with using bad science to make convincing cases for absurd hypotheses, and then defend them against a panel of judges. It was fantastic.

See, that I would have loved to see in person!