One particularly disturbing example of sampling bias that makes our expectations for old age more positive than they ought to be is driven by the tendency to mostly see the fittest and healthiest seniors as we’re out and about.
I remember having a conversation with a music critic, maybe 15 years ago, about why music from years ago seemed better than "today's music." The answer I offered is akin to what you've described here as sampling bias.
The music we associate with bygone eras is the "best" of that time period; it's the songs that rose to the top of the charts and kept gaining listeners over the years. The mediocre stuff falls by the wayside. By contrast, the music of today includes all the mediocre stuff that hardly anyone will remember when looking back on it in 20 years.
You get to see in the present the stuff that the "algorithm" of culture mostly hides from the past.
This is good, Tommy. I might need to build on this or at least link to it, in one of mu upcoming Substack or PsychToday posts. The maybe the algorithm will show me a little more love :)
Some college student is currently cut/pasting your essay and will submit it tomorrow.
Very enlightening.
Hopefully they'll get an A
Making my contribution to the algorithm. ;)
One particularly disturbing example of sampling bias that makes our expectations for old age more positive than they ought to be is driven by the tendency to mostly see the fittest and healthiest seniors as we’re out and about.
That's an uplifting thought
Sorry 😞
On the other hand it could help justify some healthy YOLO 😄
I remember having a conversation with a music critic, maybe 15 years ago, about why music from years ago seemed better than "today's music." The answer I offered is akin to what you've described here as sampling bias.
The music we associate with bygone eras is the "best" of that time period; it's the songs that rose to the top of the charts and kept gaining listeners over the years. The mediocre stuff falls by the wayside. By contrast, the music of today includes all the mediocre stuff that hardly anyone will remember when looking back on it in 20 years.
You get to see in the present the stuff that the "algorithm" of culture mostly hides from the past.
Makes sense! Going by my local news, everyone should always shelter in place.
I mostly like the notes with few or no likes, hoping the algorithm will show me more notes like that.
This is good, Tommy. I might need to build on this or at least link to it, in one of mu upcoming Substack or PsychToday posts. The maybe the algorithm will show me a little more love :)
Looking forward to seeing it if you do build on this (also looking forward to your post if you don't)