The Curse of Digital Creators – Honest Metrics
The thumbnail is a representation of damaged bombers from WWII after enduring anti-aircraft fire. Each white dot marks a bullet hole.
Imagine that you were in charge of reducing bomber losers to enemy fire. What would you do? Which parts of the bomber would you reinforce? Your first instinct was probably the same the military had: to add extra armor to the parts where the bullets landed.
But then, a statastician pointed out they were taking the wrong approach. They overlooked a small, yet important detail. WWII anti-aircraft fire was precise enough to hit planes, but not enough to aim to specific parts. You can assume that the bullets hitted parts of the bombers at random. Now, look at the propellers. They’re spotless. How is it possible?
The answer is simple: if they got hit there, the bomber crashed. The surviving planes might have looked like a swiss cheese, but they remained functional enough to return to base. These planes told a story, but the dead pilots would tell a different one, if they could.
