Does the Same Data Mean the Same Conclusions?

Before discussing this challenge, a few notes:

• I intentionally picked a neutral topic (the Dollar shortage) because when you have multiple people who disagree over data, the context may be controversial. Most people don't care about the Dollar shortage.
• Because people may be unfamiliar with the Dollar shortage, I briefly cover why the shortage exists and why the system creates this shortage.
• Udemy students in my Automating ETL course will get an extended version and breakdown of this.
• This video addresses the myth that "if we all had the same data, we'd all agree" with an example. This has never been nor will ever be true. With the same data, humans will fall into the Tower of Babel Syndrome.

One popular myth is that if we all had the same data, we'd all come to the same conclusions. Check out the example of where this is completely wrong in When 2 People Disagree Over Same Data - Brent Johnson and Luke Gromen (Example). As you can see, two people can be aware of the same data, yet have different conclusions over the same data. This isn't new. The Tower of Babel Syndrome is when humans try to achieve something together without realizing that the very nature of doing so will cause delineation, disagreement and dissolution. This syndrome occurs throughout history from a macro to micro level. It also happens with data as well. Simply having more data won't unite people - it will divide.

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Both Brent Johnson and Luke Gromen provide a great example of two individuals who disagree over the same data, but disagree respectfully. Sadly, this is rare (though the US dollar shortage is a neutral topic). If we can't explain our opponent's side as good as they can, then we're not interested in a discussion, but being right and this will go nowhere. Also, keep in mind before ever debating that very few people will change their mind after a debate, but strengthen their viewpoint. While I don't discuss what actually changes people's mind in the video, I do teach this topic from time to time and it's worth noting that debate is at the bottom of the list. I loved to debate in college, but one quick conclusion I came from debating was that it wasted time.

As a note, there are other views on this topic such as a view from a Chinese general about the US dollar. Other views outside of Brent and Luke's view may be more accurate in the long run since both Brent and Luke come from an American perspective. Given that I chose a topic where two people were disagreeing and disagreeing respectfully, I only looked at Brent and Luke for the video.

Since this post discusses data, one important note I always make to my readers is to avoid the Soviet Paradox. In 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved, even though the Soviet Union was one of the most educated societies in human history. Unlike other countries, the Soviet Union had more data than any other country along with some of the smartest people in the world. Yet the Soviet Union dissolved and ended without existing more than 100 years. Unfortunately, data have little to do with success. In addition, data often divide people even when the people are looking at the same data sets. Be extremely careful with assuming more data are better because data analysis is seldom associated with success.