• Appropriate_Ant_4629@alien.topB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    We need a name for the fallacy where people call highly nonlinear algorithms with billions of parameters “just statistics”

    Well, thanks to quantum mechanics; pretty much all of existence is probably “just statistics”.

    as if all they’re doing is linear regression.

    Well, practically all interesting statistics are NONlinear regressions. Including ML. And your brain. And physics.

    • KoalaNumber3@alien.topB
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      What a lot of people don’t understand is that linear regression can still handle non-linear relationships.

      For a statistician, linear regression just means the coefficients are linear, it doesn’t mean the relationship itself is a straight line.

      That’s why linear models are still incredibly powerful and are used so widely across so many fields.

      • Appropriate_Ant_4629@alien.topB
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yet still limited compared to even not-very-deep NNs. If the user wants to fit a parabola with a linear regression, he pretty much has to manually add a quadratic term himself.

        I think they’re widely used primarily because they’re widely taught in school.