If I were to invent a symbol for a new religion, or new social movement, it would be the Bell Curve. As I understand things (simple undergraduate course on statistics, nothing deeper) then it is the Law of Large Numbers that informs us about probability. It's clear that Amazon "knows" I might be more likely to buy a popular physics book by, say, Brian Greene, if I bought a book by Carlo Rovelli. If I search for a new baseball bat online, I'm not surprised to see targeted ads for, say, a new baseball glove. It all gets more complicated than this, of course. If I do a search for far-Right groups in America, does that mean I want to join one, or I want to know what they're up to? Miscalculations, like in international relations, are possible.
If I were to invent a symbol for a new religion, or new social movement, it would be the Bell Curve. As I understand things (simple undergraduate course on statistics, nothing deeper) then it is the Law of Large Numbers that informs us about probability. It's clear that Amazon "knows" I might be more likely to buy a popular physics book by, say, Brian Greene, if I bought a book by Carlo Rovelli. If I search for a new baseball bat online, I'm not surprised to see targeted ads for, say, a new baseball glove. It all gets more complicated than this, of course. If I do a search for far-Right groups in America, does that mean I want to join one, or I want to know what they're up to? Miscalculations, like in international relations, are possible.