zlacker

> - Medical science handles variation by simply assuming that large enough samples will average out variation. This loses a ton of information as the “average person” is a construct that almost certainly doesn’t exist.

Well, this wouldn't even be that bad, if sample size were actually large enough.

>>eru+(OP)
No I think the point that was being made is that the "average person" idea is not that great if you have huge variance. If I have a uniform distribution from 0 to 1, average is '0.5', but its just as likely to get 0. or 1.

>>frotau+m2
Yes, I know.

My point goes beyond that one: yes, variance is a problem. But _even_ _just_ getting good averages, for all their faults, requires a bigger n than many studies have. Especially observational studies.

>>frotau+m2
The average family with 2.3 children :D

>>eru+(OP)
That's part of it. The sample size is usually super small.

Furthermore, there's the opportunity. With large amounts of data (from software, medical devices, sensors) we can actually tackle this problem at scale.